The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is critical of the Shabbos handout sheets, the sheets that have become commonplace in almost all shuls throughout Eretz Yisrael. The Chief Rabbinate Council met and one of the items that was raised was the genizah of all of these Torah sheets.
Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau Shlita said “In recent years, particularly in recent months, hundreds of Shabbos sheets are being distributed in shuls and in many of them, there is almost no Torah content but they are filled with advertisements and politics. There is no doubt this is a disgrace for shuls thousands of these sheets are thrown in trash cans weekly and they do contain words of Torah”.
The council decided to appeal to the people behind the sheets to refrain from including pesukim and HKBH’s name since most sheets are not placed in genizah as required. The council stresses that the sheets contain too much inappropriate material, politics and adverts that have no place in any shul. The council adds the same holds true for all adverts, including newspapers and handouts during the week, to refrain from using HKBH’s name and pesukim.
The rabbonim lament the fact that with elections ahead, in many cases, the so-called Shabbos sheets become newspapers that contain a few words of Torah.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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11 Responses
1.These sheets are printed and are not written on klaf
2. These sheets are printed by machine and have no holy thought process attached to them.
Hence, whether or not they include the letters of YKVK or not, they are devoid of kedushah and may be placed in a plastic bag and then in the trash can.
The Chief Rabbi, with all due respect, is wrong on this one. Furthermore, does he really expect genizah for the tens of thousands of these printed sheets every week ? That will never happen, nor should it. The Rabbi would have been better off discouraging the public from ever reading these sheets of dubious value.
I dunno. The ones that I see are mostly Torah stuff, yes there are ads, but that pays for them. Politics? Could be too, I don’t read them, too busy learning Torah and davening to pay attention.
There are many who attend shul and enjoy reading these dvrei torah & dvrei chizuk, why exclude these sheets from those who benefitting?
Sadly, the problem of these flyers or handouts is an even bigger issue here in the U.S….go to any shul in BP or Willy erev Shabbos and you will see these colored papers strewn all over…a small number contain true divrei torah but the majority are commercial and political in nature with perhaps a tiny amount of real substantive torah content. They get mixed in with shaimos and sit around for weeks and more often then not, get picked up by these white box trucks with temporary signs claiming to be legitimate shaimos pickups but really end up dumping the stuff in empty lots or in illegal landfills.
They should stop this distribution in the U.S. also! It has Torah and wind up on the floor and in the garbage. The Tzibur reads instead of davening. When the people are approached they say “We are learning. What do you want from me?” This is better than talking by davening but it still does not come to Tefillah!
I usually go to shul to daven. So a siddur is enough for me. A chumash is good too, for Kriyas Hatorah… Everything else is a distraction.
Sheets are a distraction to davening. Thankfully, our Rav has banned ALL handouts from our shul bais medrash.
Wow.. Shabbos special…two bbq chickens pound of slaw, two kugels, two challa rolls..$100.00 . I’m going to go next Friday and buy it. Did I violate anything by reading it on shabbos? If yes, I’m a bad bad boy..
Old man: you are probably aware that printing is ksiva according to the magen avraham and that Rabbenu Tam allows writing a sefer Torah on paper? I’m not sure where your surety that klaf is necessary comes from…
“There are many who attend shul and enjoy reading these dvrei torah & dvrei chizuk,”
Thats because they are bored with the davening. Anyone who learns or reads anything during davening is, imo, making the statement, I’d rather not be here doing this right now. Perhaps these sheets should start with biur tefilla.
Just wanted to go on record that I agree with Rabbi Dovid Lau 100%. I do not even slightly disagree. Just saying.