Volume 9 Number 29
Produced: Tue Sep 21 8:25:38 1993
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Birth Customs [mail.jewish Vol. 9 #26 Digest]
[Percy Mett]
Gedolim and the Peace Agreement
[Sam Gamoran]
Jews in Indiana?
[Julia Eulenberg]
Kosher Mezuzah and Disaster
[Leon Dworsky]
Peace Agreement
[Yosef Bechhofer]
Perfume in Synagogues
[Jonathan B. Horen]
Rav Schach and Peace
[Eli Turkel]
Rogatchaver Gaon
[Percy Mett]
Telephone rates to Israel
[Marcus Shlomo]
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From: <P.Mett@...> (Percy Mett)
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 93 07:35:31 -0400
Subject: Birth Customs [mail.jewish Vol. 9 #26 Digest]
>>Our format happened to fulfill a number of alternate needs for my wife.
>>First, she has a family tradition that the first venture out of the
>>house after childbirth should be to hear kiddusha at Shul.
>
>>Danny Wildman
There is certainly a well-established minhag for a new mother's first
outing from the home to be a visit to shul, preferably to hear kedusha. in
some sense this substitutes for the korban yoledes which the mother could
bring when the beis hamikdosh stood. If the occasion of this visit
coincides with krias hatorah, the father is a chiyuv for an aliya (quite
high up the list!) see Mishna Brura or Kitzur.
Gmar Chathima Tova
Perets Mett
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From: <gamoran@...> (Sam Gamoran)
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 93 03:01:07 -0400
Subject: Re: Gedolim and the Peace Agreement
Per Michael Kramer's remarks on "Gedolim and the Peace Agreement"
> Using his own analogy, if a rav has a medical question essential to a psak
> and receives two opinions, one from a renowned doctor who is a recognized
> expert in the field but who happens to be anti-religious and another from
> a frum doctor who is less expert in the field, I would hope that decision
> of the rav is not tainted by the extraneous considerations of the piety of
> the doctor. Now, I am not suggesting that Labor is expert and that Likud
> is not, but I am suggesting, and hoping, that the poskim will set aside
> other "agendas" (to allude, deliberately, to another discussion) and decide
>the case on its merits.
However, using the above analogy, if the "anti-religious expert" doctor is
suspected of tainting his "expert" remarks davka in an antireligious vein
I would hope that the poskim would use that suspicion in reaching a
decision. The stance of the present Labor government vis-a-vis religion
seems obvious- witness the crackdown on Chabad.
Gmar Chatima Tova,
Sam
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From: Julia Eulenberg <eulenbrg@...>
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 20:02:32 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Jews in Indiana?
Henry Abramson asked about Jewish life in Indiana. For Bloomington, I
would recommend contacting the Jewish Studies Program at Indiana
University. It is a very active program, and I'm sure someone there can
put you in touch with people who can provide you with the information you
are seeking.
Julie Eulenberg (<eulenbrg@...>)
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From: <ljd@...> (Leon Dworsky)
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 93 02:21:19 -0400
Subject: re: Kosher Mezuzah and Disaster
I am way behind and I hope my comments on an item (v9n15 Sept 8th) are
not redundant as a result of posts I have not yet read. If I wait till I
read them all, I will never get this out.
I have purposely left off the name of the originator of this article, as
he is reflecting thoughts that I have been hearing since the early
'50ties, ideas that seem to have become more popular over the years.
The story of the bankrupt businessman who waxed rich again after having
his tephilin fixed, has become apocryphal.
> .... no matter how true the particular claims about the the reasons
> for it may be, the majority of people are probably not "ready" to hear
> them.
A person who makes such claims ("I know why the tragedy occurred") can
only know if Hashem has "revealed" it to him. Thus he places himself in
the category of our prophets of the T'nach who never said they knew from
their own recognizance. Is there an "explainer" claiming to be a
prophet in the true sense of the word? If not, then he must be a
"seer", and does not the T'nach forbid consulting such people? How then
can a man of faith be expected to "hear" such pronouncements?
> Perhaps with the perspective of history it will be blindingly obvious
> to us why these terrible things happened, but for now...
Has "the perspective of history" EVER answered such a question? Do we
now know why the Jewish communities of Europe "deserved" to be
plundered, often at great loss of life, by the Crusaders?
A bit delayed, but to the family of mail-jewish:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ . ___ _ , (__ *
* .| | | | | | | | | | \ ) | | ( ) ) ) *
* | ___| / | __/ / | | | ___| | \/ | | _| \/_/ / *
* ____ ____ *
* ( \___ May the sound of the Shofar ___/ ) *
* ) ^\ \___ signal Peace, Health and Prosperity ___/ /^ ( *
* (____ ^\ _ \___ for You and Kol Yisrael ___/ _ /^ ____) *
* \____ ^\__ \__________ ___________/ __/^_____/ *
* \________________{ }_________________/ *
* ljd *
* Phyllis and Leon Dworsky *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
[All right, I let one graphic Shana Tova through. Through some
quasihalakhic arguement, consider that I have acquired this graphic and
resent it out as a messenger for all of you who want to send graphic
Shana Tova messages to your fellow mail-jewish readers. Mod.]
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From: <YOSEF_BECHHOFER@...> (Yosef Bechhofer)
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 93 02:21:24 -0400
Subject: Peace Agreement
In #28 Rabbi Wallach writes stirringly and impressively about the need
for soul searching and self improvement in response to the peace
accords. I do not mean to detract from that important message, but
somewhat on a tangent to note that the ongoing level of stimulating
dialogue of people of all streams of Orthodoxy on all manner of
controversial topics in an atmosphere of Derech Eretz and courtesy on
Mail-Jewish is a moving example of the essential achdus that can and
does unite us (occasionaly at least :-) ), and a Kiddush Hashem ( agreat
yasher koach, of course, to Avi Felblum!)
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From: Jonathan B. Horen <horen@...>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 93 02:21:28 -0400
Subject: Re: Perfume in Synagogues
> From: <faigin@...> (Daniel Faigin)
> Is anyone aware of synagogue policies, practices, or halachic precedents
> regarding restrictions on the use of perfume in a synagogue? There are many
> individuals who have medical sensitivities to perfume, and he would like to
> see if there is experience or justification for instituting restrictions.
I love it! it's so *California* -- the impetus for the question being
one of sensitivity to odors ("outgassing" of solid-state components,
synthetic carpets, cleaning substances), all of which are legitimate
concerns.
But what about the fact that to those (probably "most") of us who do not
suffer from the abovementioned afflictions, perfume smells darn good --
so much so that it evokes some pretty "heady" memories/reactions, many
of which are not so "shayach" to batei k'nesset or t'filot in general.
What kind of mechitza would we need to prevent *this* kind of masiyach
da'at? :)
G'mar veChatima Tova!
<horen@...>
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From: <turkel@...> (Eli Turkel)
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 93 10:34:55 +0200
Subject: Rav Schach and Peace
I recently spoke with a rabbi who has connections with Rav Schach.
He says that Rav Schach came out against the peace plan not just because
of his feelings for the Labor party and Peres in particular but also for
halachic reasons. Rav Schach claims that he is in favor of land for
peace meaning that for the sake of saving Jewish lives he is willing to
let the Palestinians live where they want possibly under self-rule. All
this , of course, under the condition that it really does save lives.
What he emphatically states is that no government is the "owner" of the
land of Israel and so no government has the right to give land to a
non-jewish entity and take it away from the Jewish people.
Eli Turkel
<turkel@...>
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From: <P.Mett@...> (Percy Mett)
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 93 07:35:31 -0400
Subject: Rogatchaver Gaon
>Who was the Rogatchaver Gaon....Rabbi Yosef Rosen ? Lineage ? Teachings ?
>Any books in print on him or his teachings ??
Rabbi Yosef Rosen was a Rov in Dineburg (now Dvinsk, Latvia) and one of
the most outstanding Torah minds of this century (and that's an
understatement). Much of his original writing exists in the form of
postcard replies to questions posed to him. however a full understanding
of his writing itself requires great scholarship as his chidushim are
terse and cryptic; he seems to have assumed that his correspondents were
all as well versed in shas and poskim as he himself was.
Some of his writings have been published under the names Tsofnath
Paaneach and Mephaaneach Tsephunoth.
He was a Lubavicher Chosid and (I think) the Rov of the chasidim in Dvinsk.
Gmar Chathima Tova
Perets Mett
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From: Marcus Shlomo <mernav@...>
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 1993 09:49:14 +0200
Subject: Telephone rates to Israel
No one seems to have mentioned the rates of AT&T for calls to
Israel. During a recent visit to the U.S., I saw an advertisement that
indicated that subscribers to their REACH OUT WORLD plan (or something
like that) can take advantage of even cheaper rates during certain
hours on weekends. To Israel, this reduced rate was 44 cents per minute!
It is my recollection that the regular low rate on this plan between
12 midnight and 8 am is about double this rate. If I recall correctly,
the hours for the reduced rate started after 8am. I don't know, though,
if that reduced rate was in effect for only a limited time. Perhaps
an ATT subscriber can fill in the details.
G'mar Chatima Tova.
Sherman Marcus
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End of Volume 9 Issue 29