Volume 7 Number 18
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Buying new clothes for a mourner.
[Immanuel O'Levy]
Kashrus Organization - NK
[Meshulum Laks]
Mini-bar in hotel room on Shabbat
[Elliot Lasson]
Pig Tomatoes
[Seth L. Ness]
Pigs and Tomatoes
[Anthony Fiorino]
Rediscovery of Shavuos/Memorial Day weekend Retreat
[Lenny Oppenheimer]
San Antonio
[David Kaufmann ]
They didn't mean that...
[Zev Kesselman]
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From: <imo@...> (Immanuel O'Levy)
Date: Tue, 4 May 93 09:01:13 -0400
Subject: Buying new clothes for a mourner.
I understand that during the year of mourning, a mourner is not allowed
to buy new clothes. If there is a genuine need for new clothes, can
this be circumvented by someone else buying some clothes and then
lending them to the mourner? If so, can the mourner then purchase the
clothes outright at the end of the year, or else give a monetary gift to
the person who bought the clothes?
Immanuel O'Levy - <imo@...>
Immanuel M. O'Levy, JANET: <imo@...>
Dept. of Medical Physics, BITNET: <imo@...>
University College London, INTERNET: <imo@...>
11-20 Capper St, LONDON WC1E 6JA, Great Britain. Tel: +44 71-380-9700
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From: Meshulum Laks <LAKS@...>
Date: Sun, 2 May 93 22:06:53 -0400
Subject: Kashrus Organization - NK
Does anyone know of a kashrus organization with the initials NK?
Who runs it and is it reliable?
thanks,
Meshulum Laks
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From: <Elliot_David_Lasson@...> (Elliot Lasson)
Date: Tue, 4 May 93 09:01:10 -0400
Subject: Mini-bar in hotel room on Shabbat
I was away last weekend for a conference and stayed in a hotel. I
anticipated a potential Shabbat problem with the room key in advance and
was prepared for it. Some of the newer hotels have a magnetic entry
system which involves inserting the "key-card" into the door. This in
turn disengages the lock mechanism. A light is then triggered to
acknowledge that the door can be opened. As it turns out, the key-card
consisted of holes which mechanically disengaged the lock mechanism
using the traditional "pin" system used in traditional metal keys.
However, what I did notice was the following:
I brought my own food with me and wanted to use the mini- bar as a
refrigerator. The minibar is essentially a "refreshment center". One
of the doors has refrigerated drinks, while the other door contains
other snacks. As I found out, when opening the "non-refrigerated" door,
there is a switch which is activated (similar to the one which turns on
a standard refrigerator light) which notifies the front desk that the
bar has been opened. (So, they can check up on what someone takes and
then levy the appropriate $10.00 charge for a Coke). Although I cannot
be certain that all hotel minibars operate in this manner, this is
perhaps something which travelers should be aware of.
A simple solution would be to get hold of a piece of tape and tape the
button down before Shabbat. This way, one can open and close (and lock)
both doors on Shabbat as much as one likes.
Elliot Lasson
<FC9Q@...>
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From: Seth L. Ness <ness@...>
Date: Sat, 1 May 93 17:10:51 -0400
Subject: Pig Tomatoes
bob werman says...
> I am told that there is now a new variety of tomato in the States that
>has been improved with the addition of genetic material from a pig [I
>presume through a plasmid]. If anyone can supply details, this would
>surely be an interesting Halachic problem.
i doubt they used a plasmid since i don't think plasmids replicate in
plant cells. most likely, the gene has been chromosomally integrated.
>I have spoken to Rav Levi-Yitchak Halpern about the problem and he too
>has heard something about it and is willing to psak on it if he can get
>details.
>
>Any help out there?
>
>Remember that even if the chemical nature of the material is so pure as
>to be independent of its source it may still contain the code for
>essential pig qualities, the quiditas of pigness.
The DNA is definately not connected to the pig. Every atom in it has long
since been derived from other sources. the only connection is the
information in the sequence. do you really think the halachic essence of
pigness is in its genes?
i've also heard that rav Schecter at YU has said that milk from the cows
modified with human growth hormone is OK.
Seth L. Ness Ness Gadol Hayah Sham
<ness@...>
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From: Anthony Fiorino <fiorino@...>
Date: Sat, 1 May 93 17:11:07 -0400
Subject: Pigs and Tomatoes
> I am told that there is now a new variety of tomato in the States that
> has been improved with the addition of genetic material from a pig [I
> presume through a plasmid]. If anyone can supply details, this would
> surely be an interesting Halachic problem.
I just did a search on mini-Medline, and could find not articles from
the past 3 years reporting the transformation of tomatoes with genetic
material from pigs. I pulled a review article (Rick, C.M. Tomato paste:
a concentrated review of genetic highlights from the beginnings to the
advent of molecular genetics. Genetics, 128: 1-5. 1991.), in which the
author only mentions the transformation of tomatoes with the delta
endotoxin gene of Bacillus thuringiensis (confering insect resistance)
and the capsid protein of tobacco mosaic virus (confering resistance to
this virus).
> I have spoken to Rav Levi-Yitchak Halpern about the problem and he too
> has heard something about it and is willing to psak on it if he can get
> details.
>
> Remember that even if the chemical nature of the material is so pure as
> to be independent of its source it may still contain the code for
> essential pig qualities, the quiditas of pigness.
I can in no way see how this could make a tomato trief, even if it were
true. Pigs are trief because they are animals which have split hooves,
but do not chew their cud. To me, this seems to the essential "pig
qualities" which make them treif. Tomatoes are vegetables; the
conditions which make animals trief do not apply to them. Unless you
created a tomato which was no longer a vegetable but now an animal, I
can't see how one could even begin to discuss whether it is kosher or
not. Of course, a tomato which was not longer a vegetable would no
longer be a tomato.
The idea that a single gene somehow encodes for the "uniqueness" of an
organism is the fundamental flaw here. There is no such "uniqueness"
gene; species are defined by a complex interaction of countless genes.
A tomato expressing pig genes is no more a pig than a tomato expressing
tobacco mosaic virus genes is a tobacco mosaic virus.
Eitan Fiorino
<fiorino@...>
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From: <leo@...> (Lenny Oppenheimer)
Date: Mon, 3 May 93 14:12:06 -0400
Subject: Rediscovery of Shavuos/Memorial Day weekend Retreat
I thought that this news item would be of interest to many M.J. readers.
The outreach division of Ohr Somayach, the Jewish Learning Exchange, is
sponsoring a "Rediscovery of Shavuos/Memorial Day weekend Retreat" at the
Chalet Vim in Woodbourne, NY. (Catzkill mountains). I have been a staff
member of the JLE for years, and give you my biased opinion that they run
very good and interesting learning retreats, and usually attract a very
nice crowd. The learning is good and appeals to all levels, the people
friendly, the food good, and the accomodations are as nice as you are
willing to pay for. The grounds are beautiful.
The Shavuos portion will focus on Shavuos (strangely enough), and is
intended for all comers.
The Memorial Day portion is intended specifically for singles, of all ages.
Although there will be others as well, the program is intended to introduce
serious singles who feel uncomfortable at a typical Singles event.
The range of people expected will be from those relatively new to Torah
Judaism to FFBs.
The scholars in residence (for the Memorial Day weekend portion) will be Rabbi
Mechel & Rebbitzen Fayge Twerski, of Millwaukee WI. They both have an
international reputation for translating classical Torah concepts into
the modern reality, and particularly for working with singles.
For more info, call JLE at 800-431-2272, or write to me.
Lenny Oppenheimer
<leo@...>
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From: David Kaufmann <david@...>
Date: Sun, 2 May 93 12:12:34 -0400
Subject: Re: San Antonio
For information about Jewish life in San Antonio, contact:
Rabbi Block, Chabad House
14535 Blanco Rd.
S. Antoni, TX 78216
Phone 512-493-6503
David Kaufmann INTERNET: <david@...>
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From: Zev Kesselman <ZEV%<HADASSAH@...>
Date: Mon, 3 May 93 15:04 JST
Subject: They didn't mean that...
Regarding the non-jewish yom-tov guest Isaac Balbin wrote:
>The question is what did the Rabbis enact!
Wow, is *that* ever a general question: what was the intent or
extent of any gezera. You see that regarding thermometers on Shabbat
(they didn't mean "no measuring" to prevent measuring for mitzvoth, like
pikuach nefesh), kitniyot on Pesach (they couldn't have categorized as
"kitniyot", seeds that didn't exist then), shaving on chol hamoed (they
couldn't have meant our modern trimmed beards), etc.etc., and now here.
Reminds me of an exchange on another list a few months back, on
whether Cherem D'Rabbeinu Gershom (against reading others' mail), should
apply to postcards: neither poster seemed to have the text of the
cherem. (That discussion related to system managers inspecting
electronic mail passing thru their sites).
How do opposed halachists invoke/disclaim "gezera" against each
other, when neither one of them has the original text (and maybe even
context)? Maybe there never *was* a published [con]text (the discussion
of gvinas akum being an example).
Is there a general discussion of this anywhere?
Zev Kesselman
<Zev@...>
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End of Volume 7 Issue 18
