Volume 9 Number 57
Produced: Wed Oct 20 18:02:24 1993
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Ancestors (2)
[Jeff Finger, Steven Schwartz]
Bicycle on Shobbos
[Jonathan Katz]
Bicycle on Yom Tov
[Mayer Danziger]
Gabai programs
[Ron Katz]
Judah Landa
[Aliza Berger]
Kapos
[Irwin H. Haut]
Kashrus of Lofthouses Fisherman's Friends
[Percy Mett]
Skating on Shabbat and Yom Tov
[Merryll Herman]
Tachanun - Lo Plug
[Arthur Roth]
Tahanun
[Steven Friedell]
Tiheelot la-Kel: a deekduk question
[Aaron Naiman]
Why Bad Things Happen to Good People
[Esther R Posen]
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From: Jeff Finger <jfinger@...>
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 93 12:12:32 MDT
Subject: Re: Ancestors
David Gerstman's calculations are right. He is undoubtably a descendent
of Rashi, though probably not from his sons. ;^) Virtually every Jew
alive is a direct descendent (many, many, many times over) of virtually
any Jew who lived at about Rashi's time or farther back. (Professor
Jacques Goldberg of the Technion pointed out this phenomenon to me a
number of years ago).
If a generation is 20 years, even 500 years ago (25 generations ago) is
enough to have had 2**25 or about 32,000,000 potential grandparents of
that generation. Given that there were probably only a million or two
Jews at that time, it is pretty certain that you are also descended from
any Jew from 500 years ago.
250 years ago (10 generations ago) gives only potential 1000 ancestors
of that generation, so one's being descended from a random Jew of that
time less likely.
-- Itzhak "Jeff" Finger --
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From: <schwartz@...> (Steven Schwartz)
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 93 17:29:16 -0400
Subject: Ancestors
While I wouldn't mind the yichus, :-) have you taken into account the loss
of Jews in pogroms, Shoah and migration?
--Shimon
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From: Jonathan Katz <frisch1@...>
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 93 17:29:14 -0400
Subject: Bicycle on Shobbos
I had previously heard (I think) that the reason for the prohibition of
using bicycles on Shobbos goes back to the reason for the prohibition of
rolling a wheel along the street on Shobbos (perhaps this is even
mentioned in the gemora). The reason for the prohibition of rolling a
wheel on Shobbos is due to the groove that will result in the ground
(c.f. the discussion in the gemora about whether it is permissible to
drag a bench along the ground on Shobbos)
Is this at all reasonable? Or did I someohow get this confused.
Jonathan Katz
<frisch1@...>
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From: diverdan!<mayer@...> (Mayer Danziger)
Date: 20 Oct 93 17:37:42 GMT
Subject: Bicycle on Yom Tov
Yehuda Harper asked about riding a bicycle on Yom Tov in vol 9 no 45.
There have been a number of responses and a number of further questions.
I believe this is a issue for Yehuda's LOR, as previous readers have
cited in response to practical halachic queries (e.g. removing a ring
for handwashing). At this point, there seems to be some confusion which
I would like to clear up by citing some sources.
Rabbi E.Y. Walldenberg (member of Bet Din HaGadol in Jerusalem and Rav
of Sharey Tzedek Hospital) deals with this question in Tzitz Eliezer vol
7 no 30. He prohibits bicycle riding on Shabbat or Yom Tov for the
following three reasons:
1) As one is riding along he might leave the Tchum (2000 amot outside the city)
without realizing where the Tchum ends. This applies to Yom Tov as well.
2) Uvda dChol (weekday work) - see Teshuvot Chatam Sofer vol 6 no 97.
3) Flat or punctured tires can occur and may lead one to fix or inflate
them. This is a prohibition of Tikun Mana - fixing or completeing
a broken or unfinished object.
Rabbi Walldenberg also cites Teshuvot Shealat Yakov no 45 and Kaf
HaChaim Orach Chaim 404.8 prohibiting bicycle riding. He closes his
responsa with an adamant prohibition and urges all Rabbi's to publicize
this prohibition.
Mayer Danziger
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From: <katz@...> (Ron Katz)
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 01:50:07 -0400
Subject: Re: Gabai programs
My neighbor just became a gabai (mazel tov to all the new gabaim). He
is looking for a gabai software program. I am pretty sure that there
are such commercial programs in Israel, but I don't remember any
details. The desired features include aliya distribution, times of
davining, etc.
Any info, let me know. Thanks,
Ron
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From: <A_BERGER@...> (Aliza Berger)
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1993 17:18:44 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Judah Landa
>From: A M Goldstein <MZIESOL@...>
>Does anyone know anything about a Judah Landa, who wrote a book called
>Torah and Science, published by Ktav in 1991? If so, would appreciate
>an address where he can be contacted?
Judah Landa was my high school physics teacher in 1983. I don't know
where if he is still teaching there, but maybe they have an idea of
where he is.
Yeshivah of Flatbush High School
1609 Ave. J
Brooklyn, N.Y. 11230
USA
Aliza Berger
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From: Irwin H. Haut <0005446733@...>
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 93 23:36:24 -0400
Subject: Kapos
in connection with some research i am doing on the Holocaust, i need
information about an incident that occurred in williamsburg, brooklyn,
in the mid-50's. One Jew accused another of being a kapo, and of killing
his brother in the camps. it ultimately resulted in a din torah, at
which Rabbi Joseph Lookstein participated. It was written up in Life or
Look magazine, but i can't find the cite. any help would be
appreciated. thanks. yitzchak haut
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From: <P.Mett@...> (Percy Mett)
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 93 13:58:25 -0400
Subject: Kashrus of Lofthouses Fisherman's Friends
>From: <isaac@...> (Isaac Balbin)
>
>These are cough lollies that are made in England and exported the world
>over.
>Does anyone have any information about their kashrus?
The London Beth Din publishes a Kashrus Directory which lists
Fisherman's Friends as an unsupervised product which may be considered
to be kosher. (The Kashrus Directory is used widely in London as a
guide to such products.)
Perets Mett
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From: <mkh@...> (Merryll Herman)
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 13:02:23 1993
Subject: Skating on Shabbat and Yom Tov
I couldn't resist responding to the items on bicycling and in-line
skating on Yom Tov. First I want to point out that the reason for
forbidding bicycle riding on Yom Tov (because of a fear of fixing it if
it were to break) would not hold for in-line skates. The in-line skates
use a very simple mechanism compared to that of a bicycle. That is, the
only way that they might *break* would be if any of the screws holding
the wheels onto the skates could loosen. Even if this did happen, one
can continue to skate with fewer wheels on a blade.
Skates (of any type) are different from a bicycle in that you are
actually wearing the skates. Therefore, one should be allowed to wear
them on Shabbat! And, I would think that loosing a wheel off of a skate
would be similar to loosing a button (especially an expensive one). If
you manage to find some way for the skate to break so that you really
cannot skate, one can still walk in them. The only problem that I can
see is that of exercising (and thus perspiring) on Shabbat since that
can be construed to be a form of medicine.
Merryll Herman <mkh@...>
AT&T Bell Labs Engineering Research Center (609) 639-2975
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From: <rotha@...> (Arthur Roth)
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 93 11:48:19 -0500
Subject: Tachanun - Lo Plug
A number of people (most recently Ari Zivotofsky) have given clear
reasons why Tachanun is not said after Pesach and Shavuot, but these
reasons are not applicable after Succot. May I suggest the principle of
"lo plug", i.e., a conscious attempt by chazal to minimize the
differences between the Shalosh Regalim in order to minimize any
possible confusion? There are numerous examples of this in the Talmud
and in practical halacha.
A brilliant friend of mine (with semicha, but not a practicing
rabbi) found troubling the "standard" explanation for waiting so late on
Shavuot night to daven and eat. He argued that in order for the "Sheva
shavuot temimot" (seven FULL weeks) of sefira explanation to make sense,
we'd have to be just as careful to count on the FIRST night of sefira at
the earliest possible moment permissible. In fact, this is not the case,
some even have the custom (though it's probably an incorrect one) of
counting sefira during the second seder. My friend says that he regards
the Shavuot custom as just another case of "lo plug". On Pesach, the
seder must wait until tzeit hakochavim (stars coming out) because the
kiddush that begins the seder is one of the four cups of wine that have
to be drunk after it's definitely dark. On Succot, the shehecheyanu (on
the mitzvah of succah) and the bracha "leshev basuccah" must wait until
definite dark for similar reasons. On Shavuot, my friend hence argues,
we should not start the meal any earlier than on Pesach and Succot in
order to minimize the difference between the holidays.
It would seem that this same principle should be applicable to
post-holiday Tachanun.
Arthur Roth
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From: Steven Friedell <friedell@...>
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 93 14:23:36 EDT
Subject: Tahanun
The Art Scroll sidur lists the days between Sukkot and Rosh Hodesh as days
when some congregations do not say tahanun. The question arose in our minyan
because some wanted to say tahanun and others did not.
Steve Friedell <friedell@...>
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From: <naiman@...> (Aaron Naiman)
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 93 10:25:21 -0400
Subject: Tiheelot la-Kel: a deekduk question
On the subject of deekduk, I noticed in the Aruch Hashulchan, #66/13,
that one is supposed to say (just before Shimoneh Esreh of Shacharit)
"Tiheelot la-Kel" rather than "Tiheelot li-Kel", i.e., a kamatz
instead of a shiva. (The difference is whether Hashem is referred to
with a definite article explicitly, or not.) It was brought down
(from the Pre Etz Chayim, I think) as something that _should_ be done,
not as just another opinion.
I saw a shiva in the following siddurim: Minchat Yirushalayim, Rinat
Yisrael (ashkinaz and sifarad), Tikkun Meir and Artscroll (the source
and final word on any of these matters :-) ). A sifaradi siddur I
looked at had it with a kamatz. (They always seem to come in the
clutch.) This may indicate that this is a kabbalistic thing.
Anybody ever look into this? Thanx.
Aaron Naiman | IDA/SRC | University of Maryland, Dept. of Mathematics
| <naiman@...> | naiman@math.umd.edu
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From: <eposen@...> (Esther R Posen)
Date: 19 Oct 93 14:23:14 GMT
Subject: Re: Why Bad Things Happen to Good People
Rabbi Yitzchak Kirzner - olav hasholom - has a wonderful series of tapes
on the topic of "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People"/Yesurim. It is
about 3 hours of listening but well worth the time.
Esther Posen
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End of Volume 9 Issue 57
