By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times The DPA News agency reported that German Police informed them that a man in western Germany ran into a wall, literally, as he opened his front door to leave the house this past Monday morning. The man was heading out of his house in Mainhausen, near Frankfurt, but found that unknown perpetrators had built a wall in the doorway during the night. Police spokesman Ingbert Zacharias explained late Tuesday that officers don’t know whether the wall was on account of a prank, a dare, or an act of revenge. IF THE OWNER WAS JEWISH What concerns us, however, is an entirely different issue. What would be the implications of this bizarre case – if the owner of the house was Jewish? Our question involves a halachic concept called “taaseh velo min ha’assui.” This concept means, do it (place the Mezuzah) and not from something that was already done.” In other words, a pre-affixed Mezuzah is considered invalid. So if the homeowner were Jewish, and he were to place the Mezuzah on the doorpost under these circumstances, and then remove the brick wall, that placing of the Mezuzah was invalid. The door did not need a Mezuzah at the time that the wall was there because the door was useless. It must be removed and then placed back on the doorpost after that brick wall is knocked down. A MEZUZAH MUST ONLY BE AFFIXED ONTO AN OBLIGATED DOORPOST The halacha is that a Mezuzah must be actively affixed onto an obligated doorpost. The Mezuzah may not be pre-affixed. Another example is if the Mezuzah was affixed onto the doorpost before the doorpost itself was attached to the house. In such a case the Mezuzah must be removed and reaffixed. IS THE PROBLEM OF PREAFFIXED BIBLICAL OR RABBINIC? We first see the concept of Taaseh velo min haAssui in regard to Tzitzis. Regarding Tzitsis, the concept is of biblical origin. It is unclear whether this requirement regarding Mezuzah is of biblical origin or of rabbinic origin. Rashi in Menachos 33a seems to indicate that it is of biblical origin since he states, “for it is derived from Tzitzis.” The Mabit states that is of rabbinic origin (Kiryat Sefer, Mezuzah 5). The Levush indicates that it is a drasha similar to the concept of Taaseh velo min HaAssui “Uchsavtam al mezuzos baisecha” – that the Mezuzah should be placed while the doorpost (Mezuzah) is affixed to the house. The Talmud Menachos 32b (see Rashi 32a) discusses a case of Taaseh velo min haAssui – where the Mezuzah was affixed onto the doorpost while the doorpost itself was not yet affixed in the doorway. In this case the Mezuzah must be removed and reaffixed. A blessing is recited when the Mezuzah is reaffixed. OTHER PRE-AFFIXED SCENARIOS The Achronim discuss other scenarios for the disqualification of a pre-affixed Mezuzah. In each of these cases the Mezuzah must be removed and re-affixed, but without a blessing. A] The Mezuzah was affixed when there was something lacking in the doorway. For example, according to the Rambam, a doorway requires a Mezuzah only when there is an actual door in the doorway. If the Mezuzah was affixed before the door was hung on the doorway, we have a

President Barack Obama has refused to send any suspected terrorists captured overseas to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. But if the U.S. starts seizing more militants in expanded military operations, where will they go, who will hold them and where will they be tried? Those are questions that worry legal experts, lawmakers and others as U.S. special operations forces deploy in larger numbers to Iraq, Syria and, maybe soon, Libya, with the Islamic State group and affiliated organizations in their sights. Throughout Obama’s presidency, suspects have been killed in drone strikes or raids, or captured and interrogated, sometimes aboard Navy ships. After that, they are either prosecuted in U.S. courts and military commissions or handed over to other nations. This policy has been enough, experts say — at least for now. “If you’re going to be doing counterterrorism operations that bring in detainees, you have to think through what you are going to do with them,” said Phillip Carter, former deputy assistant defense secretary for detainee policy. “If the U.S. is going to conduct large-scale combat operations or large-scale special Rebecca Ingber, an associate law professor at Boston University who follows the issue, warns that if the U.S. engaged in a full ground war in Syria, “chances are there would need to be detention facilities of some kind in the vicinity.” Obama has not sent a single suspected terrorist to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where many have been detained for years without being charged or tried — something the president says is a “recruitment tool” for militant extremists. He is to report to Congress this month on how he wants to close Guantanamo and possibly transfer some of the remaining detainees to the United States. That report also is supposed to address the question of future detainees. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., believes that the absence of a long-term detention and interrogation facility for foreign terrorist suspects represents a “major shortcoming in U.S. national security policy.” Republican candidates who want to succeed Obama are telling voters that they would keep Guantanamo open. “Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them,” said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. “Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. … But, here’s the bigger problem with all this: We’re not interrogating anybody right now.” That’s not true, said Frazier Thompson, director of the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group. The tight-lipped team of interrogators from the FBI, Defense Department, the CIA and other intelligence agencies gleans intelligence from top suspected terrorists in the U.S. and overseas. “We were created to interrogate high-value terrorists and we are interrogating high-value terrorists,” Thompson said in an interview with The Associated Press. Since it was established in 2009, that team has been deployed 34 times, Thompson said, adding that other government agencies conduct independent interrogations as well. “We are designed to deploy on the highest-value terrorist. We are not going out to interrogate everybody,” he said. Thompson would not disclose details of the cases his team has worked or speculate on whether he expects more interrogation requests as the battle against IS heats up. “If there is a surge, I’m ready to go. If there’s not, I’m still ready to go,” Thompson

[COMMUNICATED CONTENT] Kestenbaum & Company’s first of two Fine Judaica auctions to be held this Spring will take place on Thursday, May 2nd at 3:00 pm at the company’s gallery in New York City. Featured in the sale will be Rare Books, Manuscripts and Autograph Letters. A second Spring Judaica auction scheduled for June 13th will offer Ceremonial Objects and Graphic Art exclusively.  The May auction of nearly 400 lots includes Holy Land Travel books offered from the Collection of Nathan Lewin, Esq. These books represent in particular, the varied ways over the centuries that the country has been cartographically represented. Further sale highlights include rare books, manuscripts and important letters consigned from illustrious Rabbinic libraries including the Rivkin and Zuckerman families and the late Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Halevi Ruderman, founder and Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Israel Rabbinical College, Baltimore. A broad range of subjects being offered for auction include Americana, Anglo-Judaica, anti-Semitica, Bibles, Chassidic books, children’s books, Passover Hagadahs, Kabbalistic books, Holocaust-era related books, books relating to Jews in 19th and early 20th century China and a number of rare government pamphlets relating to Jews of early 18th century Germany An exceptional lot of American Judaica is a large, visually striking illuminated Hebrew manuscript of the Book of Tehillim, handwritten and illustrated by Moishe Weingberg, Chicago, 1910-12.  Using clear Hebrew calligraphy accompanied by delightful explanatory folk illustrations, the artist has designed a highly creative and captivating example of Jewish Americana. The pre-sale estimate is $70,000-90,000 (Lot 342). Just two of many American Judaica highlights include Mordecai Manuel Noah’s Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews, New York, 1845, estimate $3,000-5,000 (Lot 12) and an album of photographs inscribed by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and presented to U.S. President Harry S. Truman in 1958, estimate $2,000-2,500 (Lot 55). Notable Bibles offered for sale include a Renaissance-era pocket-sized Hebrew Tanach, beautifully bound in eight volumes, printed by the famous Estienne, Paris, 1543-46, estimate $12,000-15,000 (Lot 59); the Apparatus Sacer from the Antwerp Polyglot Bible including maps and engraved plates, 1572, estimate $8,000-10,000 (Lot 72) and a Hebrew Bible used throughout the 19th century in the courts of law in Prague to administer the oath to witnesses of the Jewish faith at an estimate of $3,000-5,000 (Lot 69). Of exceptional interest among Chassidic books is an early edition of Elimelech of Lizhensk’s classic text No’am Elimelech, Slavuta, 1794, estimated at $25,000-30,000 (Lot 85). Another important rarity in the sale is the first Hebrew book printed in Fez, Morocco, indeed it is the first book printed on the African continent in any language: Jacob ben Asher’s Yoreh De’ah, circa 1516-17. This book has never before been offered at auction. The pre-sale estimate is $40,000-60,000 (Lot 198). Additional Rabbinic books sure to garner attention are Ya’akov Emden’s Mor U’ketziah with his extensive autograph marginal notes and corrections, Altona, 1761-68, estimate $25,000-30,000; noted 17th century Polish Kabbalist Nosson Nata Shapiro’s Megaleh Amukoth, Cracow, 1637, estimate $12,000-18,000 (Lot 267); Ramban’s Peirush HaTorah, Pesaro, 1513-14, estimate $13,000-15,000 (Lot 247); Jacob Auspitz’s Be’er Haluchoth, the first Hebrew atlas, featuring five hand-colored maps in Hebrew, Vienna, 1818 estimate $10,000-15,000 (Lot 308) and the Maharal of Prague’s Chibur Nethivoth Olam, with an addition of three lines of handwritten text possibly by the Maharal himself, Prague, 1595-96 estimate $5,000-7,000 (Lot 221).