Volume 63 Number 70
Produced: Sun, 11 Feb 18 07:30:11 -0500
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Birchat Cohanim (2)
[Joel Rich Sammy Finkelman]
Chazakot
[Joel Rich]
Defending Traditional Practices
[Joel Rich]
Going to Shul when not feeling well
[Carl A. Singer]
Horses in Biblical Times
[Sammy Finkelman]
Mixing nuschot hatefila
[Joel Rich]
Neural networks and halacha
[Joel Rich]
Telling the truth
[Joel Rich]
Was Rav Soloveichic "Orthoprax"?
[Sammy Finkelman]
Zemanim
[Sammy Finkelman]
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From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Tue, Feb 6,2018 at 03:01 AM
Subject: Birchat Cohanim
Susan Buxfield wrote (MJ 63#69):
> Joel Rich (MJ 63#68) wrote:
>
>> If one is in Eretz Yisrael and davens shacharit in a minyan which often does
>> not
>> have any Cohanim present to duchen. Is he required to seek a minyan which has
>> Cohanim?
>
> This question is relevant also to outside Israel on the Yomim Tovim but one is
> certainly not required to!
>
>> If it is optional, but not required, is it preferable to do so?
>
> Bircat Cohanim is a mitzvah, so if you can go to a another minyan - why not?
While it is clear that there is a mitzvah on the Cohanim to bless, it is less
clear that there is a mitzvah on the Yisraelim to be physically present at the
blessing. If the cost is the breakup of a minyan one would have to decide which
is the higher priority.
KT
Joel Rich
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From: Sammy Finkelman <sammy.finkelman@...>
Date: Fri, Feb 9,2018 at 04:01 PM
Subject: Birchat Cohanim
Joel Rich wrote (MJ 63#68):
> If one is in Eretz Yisrael and davens shacharit in a minyan which often does not
> have any Cohanim present to duchen.
>
> Is he required to seek a minyan which has Cohanim?
Well, the simplest way to reason about this, is, if that were truly the
(accepted) Halacha, you surely would have heard about it, and people would be
constantly, or at least periodically, told that, the way they are told to daven
with a minyan.
So that can't possibly be right. This is meta point but it is nonetheless, I
think, valid.
> If it is optional, but not required, is it preferable to do so?
I know that it is considered preferable to be in a bigger minyan (B'Rov Am
Hadras Melech) but also in a more far away minyan (that you would get greater
sechar halichah) so I think there can't be any kind of obligation to attend such
a minyan or the amount of sechar would not be a consideration. (in this example,
I think the reason for the more far away minyan would be to help it out, or
continue a personal custom)
That is not to say this could be preferable from a purely personal point of view
- you might want to be the recipient of Bircas Kohanim.
Which brings up the question: Are there places and times women deliberately go
to a minyan mainly or solely for the purposes of receiving Bircas Cohanim?
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From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Tue, Feb 6,2018 at 03:01 AM
Subject: Chazakot
Susan Buxfield wrote (MJ 63#69):
> Joel Rich (MJ 63#68) wrote:
>
>> Is anyone aware of any social psychology experiments which would inform on
>> the current status of chazakot (presumptions) of chazal? (e.g., ein adam
>> choteh v'lo lo, ein adam meiz panav lifnei bal chovo). [A person won't sin
>> if he personally receives no benefit, a person doesn't have the gall to deny a
>> loan to the lender's face.]
>
> Chazaka has absolutely nothing to do with psychology.
>
> If a person has worked a field for 3 years after claiming he bought it from
> the original owner who does not have a document or witnesses to disprove his
> claim then that field belongs to him by chazaka.
While this statement is true concerning one specific type of chazaka, R' H
Schachter often points out that the word chazaka is used by Chazal to describe
several (I think it might be 6) legal concepts. The usage of chazaka that I am
referring to is related to Chazal's umdena (assesment) of how most people act
based on "normal" psychology.
KT
Joel Rich
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From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Fri, Feb 9,2018 at 01:01 AM
Subject: Defending Traditional Practices
Shut Beit Efraim (O"C 6) [R'Efrayim Zalman Margaliyot - 1762-1828) strongly
defends the Ashkenazi practice of not duchening except on the Shalosh Regalim.
If you are looking for a spirited defense of traditional practices, even ones
that we can't really easily explain how they are supported by the halachic
process, this is a good teshuva to read!
KT
Joel Rich
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From: Carl A. Singer <carl.singer@...>
Date: Mon, Feb 5,2018 at 05:01 PM
Subject: Going to Shul when not feeling well
I very much appreciate Dr. Backon's response (MJ 63#69) re; the prohibition of
going to shule when one has an infectious disease.
I'm looking towards a broader response -- certainly, it's unlikely that, after
rolling out of bed, one has checked with their physician and been tested to
determine if they have an infectious disease, prior to going to Shacharis.
Of late, folks with coughs and sneezes and running noses seem to be showing up
at shul. (And at the office, too - but that's a different situation.) My
tactical response is to situate myself far from any boxes of tissues.
Carl
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From: Sammy Finkelman <sammy.finkelman@...>
Date: Fri, Feb 9,2018 at 04:01 PM
Subject: Horses in Biblical Times
Yisrael Medad wrote (MJ 63#68):
> The claim has been made by Sammy Finkelman (MK 63#67) that:
>
>> If you study the whole Tanach very carefully, you will see that ordinary
>> people in the Middle East outside Egypt did not have horses. They had
>> camels, donkeys and other animals but not horses, but in Egypt they had
>> horses. Horses were not normally allowed to leave Egypt, because they were
>> weapons of war. You could write a whole essay on this.
>>
>> The situation with horses did not get to be normal until the Second Temple
>> period.
>
> This is not exactly correct.
I think Yisrael must have misunderstood me, because he is not disagreeing with me.
Note I said:
ORDINARY PEOPLE outside Egypt did not have horses and that horses were not
NORMALLY allowed to leave Egypt, because they were weapons of war.
I didn't say armies didn't have them. It's very clear that armies had them. But
ordinary people did not. Yosef bought horses from ordinary people (Bereishis
47:17) but the Avos never had them (or I suppose you could argue not enough to
note) in spite of their multitude of animals.
I didn't say none were smuggled out or maybe sold by the government at a very
high price or sent to allies.
And it's not that horses were native to Egypt. It's just that in all the lands
near Egypt, they were scarce and drafted into the armies.
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From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Fri, Feb 9,2018 at 01:01 AM
Subject: Mixing nuschot hatefila
Strange to me: In Shtiblach (a Jerusalem shul with multiple minyanim) I've
gotten used to the nusach of prayer being determined by the Prayer leader
(shatz). Since the psak I follow is R'Moshe, I sneak a peek at the Shatz's
siddur to determine what kedusha to say. I've gotten used to the Eidot Hamizrach
folks saying their own kaddish no matter what the shatz does, but today I was
really surprised. At mincha, the shatz was Ashkenaz but said the 13 middot! I
asked him afterwards and he told me this was the shul minhag due to shalom
bayit. [BTW - I'm told that R'OY held Bnai Eidot Hamizrach should say the 13
middot privately with trop at an Ashkenazi minyan.] Is anyone aware of halachic
sources that deal with the question of mixed nusach?
KT
Joel Rich
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From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Tue, Feb 6,2018 at 03:01 AM
Subject: Neural networks and halacha
Susan Buxfield wrote (MJ 63#69):
> Joel Rich (MJ 63#68) wrote:
>>
>> Will neural networks and deep learning be used to develop an A.I. halachic
>
> Definitely not. Halacha is between Man and his Maker and NOT machines however
> human they may appear.
True but we do see where machines have been employed by man in the service of
his maker.
KT
Joel Rich
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Tue, Feb 6,2018 at 03:01 AM
Subject: Telling the truth
Bill Bernstein (MJ 63#69) wrote:
> Joel Rich (MJ 63#68) queries the advantage of telling the truth if doing so
> would result in a certain number of kids going away from Orthodoxy, and at
> what point is it worth it to not tell the truth.
>
> Frankly I find the question strange. We are exhorted many times on truth:
> Titen emes l'Yaakov (Give truth to Jacob), Midvar sheker tirchok (distance
> yourself from falsehood), Chosem HaKadosh Boruch hu emes (The seal of HaShem
> is truth), etc. So it would seem that truthfulness, aside from some very
> limited and well-defined exceptions, is part of Judaism itself. One does not
> protect Judaism by moving away from Judaism.
Similarly Joel Rich (MJ 63#68) wrote:
> A non-truth is a lie which, unless there is an urgent overriding reason such
> as Shalom Bayit, is forbidden.
Kach Mekublani Mbeit Avi Abba (so I received from my grandfather's home=such is
my family's tradition) that Truth is on our coat of arms, however, it is clear
that "truth" in halacha may be defined somewhat differently as both of the
commenters noted. Thus my question was one of determining the boundaries of
this somewhat elastic definition.
KT
Joel Rich
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From: Sammy Finkelman <sammy.finkelman@...>
Date: Fri, Feb 9,2018 at 04:01 PM
Subject: Was Rav Soloveichic "Orthoprax"?
David Tzohar wrote (MJ 63#68):
> According to this Maiseh the Rov's wife AH did not wear a kisui rosh [head
> covering] and when asked about it he answered "So what should I do - divorce
> her?)
I think I read this story that he answered it is not grounds for divorce, told
about another Rabbi.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Sammy Finkelman <sammy.finkelman@...>
Date: Fri, Feb 9,2018 at 04:01 PM
Subject: Zemanim
Joel Rich wrote (MJ 63#67):
> As sunrise got later I was at a minyan where the earliest time for tallit was
> approximately the same as the minyan starting time. I watched as everybody
> watched their cell phones for the exact time to start from Myzmanim. (Of course
> that website says not to rely on to it to the minute)
>
> I was wondering whether this close watch was a subset of a broader need of
> modern man to have exactitude in life versus living with gray.
It's not that modern. Ever since the time of the Gemorah, and maybe before,
there has been a trend to try to convert what can be called analog Halacha to
digital.
We get that also with other shiuirum. This all happens because people ask
questions. With zemanim it was not possible to be anything but approximate until
the invention of good clocks and watches.
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End of Volume 63 Issue 70
