Volume 64 Number 35
Produced: Sun, 21 Jul 19 08:03:06 -0400
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Aliya or YU (was MO/YU Torah-Orthodoxy or Orthopraxy?)
[David Tzohar]
Balak problem
[Martin Stern]
Fast Days Becoming Yamim Tovim.
[Immanuel Burton]
Flirting / miscommunications (was Yoav's father?)
[Carl Singer]
How to tell if a college is Israel friendly?
[Joel Wiesen]
Pesak
[Joel Rich]
Tachanun query
[Joel Rich]
Tefillin, Shabbes, & Bris - All Osos
[Lawrence Israel]
Yoav's father?
[David Tzohar]
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From: David Tzohar <davidtzohar@...>
Date: Fri, Jul 5,2019 at 12:01 PM
Subject: Aliya or YU (was MO/YU Torah-Orthodoxy or Orthopraxy?)
I would like to thank Joseph Kaplan (MJ 64#34) who corrected an historical
mistake that I made when I said (MJ 64#33) R Soloveichik was offered Rav Rashi
of Tel Aviv in the thirties (my source was an article in the Israeli newspaper
Makor Rishon who obviously got it wrong) but as Joseph pointed out he was
offered the Rabanut haRashit of Medinat Yisrael in the fifties. I am well aware
that R.Soloveichik supported Israel from the Galut of Boston. My whole point was
that today after witnessing the ingathering of exiles from 70 countries
including over 600,000 holocaust refugees and 1 million former Soviet bloc
refugees, the rebirth of the Hebrew language, the flowering of the desert,
Israel becoming a regional military/political power - all miraculous events -
all prophesied by the Prophets of the Tanach, supporting Israel from afar is no
longer a relevant option.
Isaac Balaban's revelation (MJ 64#34) that R Shapira of Merkaz HaRav told R
Shachter to go back to America and lead the community there is surprising
considering that he was a talmid muvhak of R Tzvi Yehudah Kook who said that the
captains of the ship of the Golah must turn the ship around and bring their
communities to Eretz Yisrael
Finally to Martin Stern (MJ 64#34). Yes Torat Harav Kook is messianism. But to
compare it to Christianity or Shabtai Tzvi?? That is really over the top. The
Vilna Gaon said 240 years ago (in Kol HaTor) that we are entering the period of
Mashiach ben Yosef. Herzl, Jabotinsky, Ben Gurion and Begin were all part of
that atchalta degeulah. Now after 70 years of the State of Israel and 50 years
after the six day war we are already in the midst of redemption according to Rav
Tau and the other talmidim of R Tzvi Yehudah this is "metziatta de geulah" We
still await the coming of Mashiach ben David. But we wait for him in Jerusalem
-- not Washington Heights.
--
David Tzohar Armon Hanetziv,Yerushalayim
http://tzoharlateivahebrew.blogspot.com/
http://tzoharlateiva.blogspot.com/
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From: Martin Stern <md.stern@...>
Date: Sun, Jul 21,2019 at 08:01 AM
Subject: Balak problem
It struck me that there are several different words used for cursing - arah,
qavah, za'am - in the Balak/Bilaam narrative. I presume they do not all have
completely identical meanings but could not discover any distinguishing
nuances. Can anyone elucidate?
Martin Stern
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From: Immanuel Burton <iburton@...>
Date: Wed, Jul 17,2019 at 11:01 AM
Subject: Fast Days Becoming Yamim Tovim.
I remember being taught in school that after Moshiach arrives the fast days will
become Yamim Tovim. I'd often wondered why that would be the case instead of the
fast days simply being abolished - for example, if we fast on Tisha B'Av because
the Temple was destroyed and hasn't been rebuilt, then once the Temple has been
rebuilt one woulod have thought that the fast has now become obsolete.
I recently came across an answer to this in "A Time For All Things" by Nachman
Cohen (Torah Lishmah Institute, Yonkers, New York, 1985) where he writes that
Zechariah's prophecy (8:19) of the fast days being turned into days of joy
refers to the days that became days of mourning had the potential to have been
days of joy, and should have been.
On 17 Tammuz, we should have completed the receiving of the Torah when Moshe
Rabennu came down Mount Sinai with the Tablets, but instead the golden calf was
worshipped and the Tablets were broken, and so 17 Tammuz is a day of mourning.
Similarly, the original 9 Av should have been the day when we began to enter the
Land of Israel, but because of the evil report of the spies, we ended up with a
day of mourning.
Based on this, I would suggest that when Moshiach comes the potential of these
days will finally be realised and achieved, and so these days will become Yamim
Tovim.
How does this idea work for the other Rabbinic fast days, namely Tzom Gedaliah,
10 Tevet and the Fast of Esther? (If no-one knows the answer, then may we find
out the answer speedily in our days!)
Immanuel Burton.
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From: Carl Singer <carl.singer@...>
Date: Wed, Jul 3,2019 at 09:01 AM
Subject: Flirting / miscommunications (was Yoav's father?)
Martin Stern wrote (MJ 64#34):
> ... A woman who flirts with a man is indicating a wish to initiate some
> relationship so she cannot then claim to be a totally innocent rape victim
> unless she takes some action (as the Torah puts it "cries out") to indicate
> that she has no wish to have sexual relations. ....
At the risk of taking Martin's comments out of context:
Among the many perils of our gender-segregated society is miscommunication.
Many a yeshiva bocher or a Bais Yaakov girl simply does not seem to know how
to properly interact with each other.
The young woman who greets *everyone* with a pleasant smile most likely is
NOT flirting -- only being herself. Her smile clearly is not an invitation of
any kind nor does it require a disclaimer of having no wish for a relationship.
And what does it say of a society where any relationship is construed to be
a sexual relationship or even a precursor to rape? In a healthy society men and
women can interact without any such vectors.
Carl Singer
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From: Joel Wiesen <jwiesen@...>
Date: Thu, Jul 18,2019 at 10:01 PM
Subject: How to tell if a college is Israel friendly?
The Jewish news media all too often reports really nasty situations on college
campuses, where Jewish students and faculty are terrorized by other students for
being pro-Israel. What approaches are available for prospective college students
to assess the tenor of a college campus, other than going there and talking with
people?
Any ideas?
Yehuda
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From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Wed, Jul 10,2019 at 08:01 AM
Subject: Pesak
When the gemara has an 'ibaye d'lo ifshita [unresolved question]', is the
practical halachic process going forward any different from one where it closes
with teiku? If so, how?
KT
Joel Rich
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From: Joel Rich <JRich@...>
Date: Wed, Jul 10,2019 at 08:01 AM
Subject: Tachanun query
Why are the rules for which days we don't say tachanun not the same as those for
not saying lamenatzeach?
KT
Joel Rich
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From: Lawrence Israel <larry.israel@...>
Date: Wed, Jul 3,2019 at 04:01 PM
Subject: Tefillin, Shabbes, & Bris - All Osos
We don't wear tefillin on Shabbes because each is an os, and we don't need two.
We keep our tefillin on when there is a bris after the morning service, as each
is an os, so we keep them both.
Can anyone explain this apparent contradiction?
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From: David Tzohar <davidtzohar@...>
Date: Mon, Jul 15,2019 at 07:01 AM
Subject: Yoav's father?
I would posit that Yoav"s father, Machlon's wife etc were gerim, but they were
gerey toshav,not gerey tzedek.
In fact in the Tanach there are only two gerey tzedek - Avraham Avinu and Yitro,
and possibly Rut. All other gerim and all the laws referring to gerim are gerey
toshav who repudiate avodah zarah and observe the 7 Noahide laws and accept
Jewish sovereignty.
Harav Kook believed that today in Eretz Yisrael the Druze and some Moslems
should be considered gerey toshav, therefore the land could be sold to them for
shmittah (many poskim disagreed).
I would say that if this is true, the 250,000 Israelis whose father or grandfather
is Jewish should kal vachomer be considered gerey toshav. The great majority of
them do not identify as Christians, they observe the 7 Noahide laws and accept
Jewish sovereignty. This is the opinion of Rav Mazuz SHLITA and Eli Yishai. The
Rabanut Harashit disagrees and requires full conversion while Rav Mazuz requires
only Giur lechumra, as was the case with the Ethiopians and Bnai Menashe from Burma.
--
David Tzohar
Armon Hanetziv
Yerushalayim
http://tzoharlateivahebrew.blogspot.com/
http://tzoharlateiva.blogspot.com/
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End of Volume 64 Issue 35
