Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Teimanim pronounce the ? as in “through” , not as in “the” or “with”. The vibrating “th” as in “the” belongs to the letter ? without a dagesh.
Three short points:
1. I personally know a physical chemist who has developed a model explaining how life could have been formed from single elements.
2. The level of scientific knowledge needed to propose this model is far beyond what anyone in the coffee room has demonstrated. I suggest that far-reaching scientific conclusions in either direction be used in this forum with a bit more humility.
3. As science attempts and often succeeds to gradually fill in the gaps in the puzzle of life, it becomes increasingly problematic to use the “scientists have not yet found” claim, or similar claims. Obviously, these claims fall with new discoveries.
Yom Hazikaron is Monday. Yom Ha’atzma’ut is Tuesday. I fail to understand why anyone would observe other days when the State of Israel is observing Tuesday as Independence Day. The question of B’hab then becomes moot.
Furthermore, as per this policy, Yom Ha’atzmaut is never observed on a Monday.
yes.
Living in Eretz Yisrael and seeing how the expensive diamond engagement ring here is quite the exception, I and others wonder how the frum community in America fails to realize the incompatibility of their materialism with Torah values.
Here I salute the Satmar for their use of CZ.
Oh, yes, one more thing. To Yitz17, you misunderstood my post again, please read the thread from the beginning. I know what the gemara says, and I never said it says something other than what it says. It tells a story about a golem without calling it by that name. I don’t dismiss the story at all. I maintain that this is a story that occurred in a dream. That’s it.
As I said before, the Rambam was not alone in his approach to stories about supernatural acts. Rabbeinu Chananel, Rav Nissim and probably others had the same dream/allegorical approach.
I have no problem with those who believe that the stories are literal. I have a big problem with those who insist that one who doesn’t believe that is a kofer, apikores, mal’ig, etc… In addition, I am distressed by the use of magical act capability as a barometer of spiritual greatness. The greats of all time, the Rambams, the Ramas, the Nodah Be’yehudas, the Chofetz Chaims ,the Chazon Ishes, were great not because they could have made a golem but didn’t. Not because they could perform neurosurgery but didn’t, and not because they could predict when Moshiach will come but kept or are keeping it to themselves. Misguided dogma such as this is not only wrong, but makes a mockery of our faith.
I felt it was important for those who read these threads to know that there are legitimate opinions out there other than the typical mesivta high school one. Let each one examine the issue and come to his own conclusion. I came to my conclusion, I expressed it, and I’ll defend it.
“the Maharal could have made a Golem but probably didn’t” to be a bit of a cop-out, this is exactly the shitto of R’ Avrohom Gurwitz shlit’a. “
This is a good technique to use if one wants to increase the stature of the person spoken of.But as an argument, it is worse than useless. The claim that “So and so can do this but he didn’t want to”, or “could have done it, but probably didn’t” leads nowhere, except to the suspicion that the reason he didn’t was because he couldn’t.
To Yitz17, please calm down. I didn’t quote the gemara, it was quoted to me. I simply acknowledged that I am familiar with the gemara and what Rashi says on the daf. I myself maintain that the story referred to did not actually occur, but was a dream.
To Sam2, the Rambam is not alone here in his interpretation of such stories as possible dreams. Rabeinu Chananel and his talmid chaver Rav Nissim both interpreted these types of “events” as dreams only or allegories, and not as actual physical events. I am referring specifically to the gemaras in Brachos 19a, Bava Metzia 59a, and Bava Metzia 107b.
I am undisturbed by the emotional outbursts here calling me a boor, an apikores, a liberal, MO or whatnot. I accept it as a commendable expression of passion for what they believe in, even though it is adolescent behavior at its finest.
Bottom line: There is absolutely no Jewish dogma that requires belief that man can create animate life from inanimate matter. And for good reason. It is impossible, and so it never happened, recorded or not.
“Ashkenaz doesn’t say Tefilas Tal.”
They absolutely do say Tefilas Tal. They say it before the private shmoneh esrei (amidah), thereby avoiding the awkwardness of the tzibbur saying something different than what the chazan says in chazaras hashatz. There are places that the tzibbur says morid hatal but the tefillah for tal is said afterward, in chazaras hashatz.
I do not know of any shul in Israel where they skip saying morid hatal after Pesach as in chutz la’aretz. Maybe there are a few, but I have never seen one.
Emotions are certainly high on this issue and almost any opinion will be taken as an affront. Just look at the vicious reaction to a story told about someone who seems to have been a Survivor. Woe to us if we criticize these Survivors and “put them in their (zionist) place”.
I suspect that the chareidi community knows they went overboard on this issue. The chareidi radio station Radio-kol-chai 93.0 FM spent a large portion of the day interviewing chareidi survivors and commentators about the Holocaust. I think that speaks for itself.
A few points:
1. To Sam2, the respect is mutual. I contend forcefully that there was never nor can there be a golem. Man creating a living creature is a nonstarter, no matter what the spiritual level of said man is. Even for the believers in man performing supernatural acts, creation is not on the list , at least for me.
2. To the golem speaks: Rashi states that the golem in Sanhedrin 65: was created using combinations of Shem Hashem. Please look it up, it’s right there, I’m not sure what was unclear about mentioning it.
3. There are instructions in how to create a golem. These instructions when followed exactly, will not produce a golem. That HAS been documented.
Sanhedrin 65b
Yes, of course. Rashi on the daf too is well known.
It was a dream.
And of course, the story from Rav Chaim Volozhiner is a straw man story, literally. The story of the Maharal was concocted a bit over 100 years ago. It never happened, but it sure is good for business.There are other similar legendary stories, all legendary.
This issue has been discussed off and on for some time. A golem is impossible to create because humans cannot create yesh me’ayin. Allegories, meshalim, dreams, hallucinations, concocted stories for educational purposes, all are possibilities. But actual? No.
“Can a Golem Speak?”
There is not nor was there ever such a creature, so the question can not be answered.
Off the main topic, sorry, but why a hyphen in the word amongst?
Dear Sam2:
With all due respect to this pamphlet, this quote from the Ba’al Shem Tov is a dubious attempt at applying Choshen Mishpat lumdus to esoteric cosmic dynamics of which humans have zero understanding. I contend that such attempts should at best be ignored, they do more harm than good.
For a good source of the marketplace of ides in Judaism, please read a classic book, “Chazal- Emunot V’de’ot”, Efraim Urbach z”l.
Chazal indeed presented a plethora of ideas on almost every topic. Calling it a marketplace is disrespectful, but the range of ideas is immense, and there really is very little that is absolute.
At a certain stage in life, thinking people reflect back on the educational system they went though, and can critically evaluate it. They will conclude that not all of that they were taught is true. This applies to all educational systems.
The emotionally healthier people learn from this critique and continue to develop. The others are disillusioned and sometimes devastated by this realization.
When you go there, make sure to say “Tzfat” and not “Tzfas”. No one in Israel says “Tzfas”. Have a nice time.
A chiyuv to eat matzah after the seder, no.
A mitzvah, yes.
Most if not all of these “pits” are in relative wilderness and not on or near approved hiking paths. They were dug hundreds to thousands of years ago for water collection. Most of these are unknown to the public or the authorities, and there are probably hundreds to thousands of them. They are quite deep, this one apparently being 10 meters deep, which is not at all unusual.
Hechochom einav b’rosho. When one goes hiking, always follow approved paths, especially if rough terrain is not your specialty. These tragedies can be avoided.
This is an interesting question.
Without vayechulu, the brachah on the wine is unattached to any context. Vayechulu gives the brachah that context and perspective. On Shabbat morning there is no set introduction and so many minhagim have developed to put the brachah in a framework. There are those who only say the brachah without the introduction, perhaps because by then, an introduction to shabbat is superfluous.
However, on yom tov we do not have an introduction for context for kiddush at night (and some skip one in the morning)and suffice with starting with the brachah. Why the difference? I don’t know, but I will check it out bli neder.
Bottom line, is it halachically required? No. But I have never been to a formal wedding where the chatan didn’t say “harei at mekudeshet”, even though the context obviously announces the purpose of the ring giving, and if the chatan doesn’t say it, they are still married. It’s part of the package, and it’s traditional and beautiful. So too with Vayechulu.
Go to seminary. Spend a year in God’s land. You may even like it and decide to stay. It’s a Jewish thing to do.
Some people refrain from reciting tehillim after sunset till chatzot because those are the hours that “midat hadin” operates and tehillim is “midat harachamim”
However, there is no halachic basis for this minhag.
You can buy what you need from wherever you want.
You are correct more than you think. There are chametz ingredients that have a shelf life of years and are not included in processed products until they are near the end of this period.
Understanding the words of the Ksav Sofer requires a specific historical context. He would never have needed to state what every child knows; that all the mitzvos of the Torah are obligatory, both bein adam lamakom and bein adam l’chaveiro.
The Ksav Sofer succeeded his father as Rav and Rosh Yeshiva in Pressburg. Hence, his fight against the Reform was foremost in his mind, as it was with his father. This vort on the pasuk relates to the movement to abandon bein adam lamakom and concentrate only on bein adam l’chaveiro. It was not a chiddush, rather it was a lumdishe rebuttal.
Certainly Chazal knew what monkeys were, they are mentioned in quite a few sugyas.
However, the concept of watching the monkeys in the zoo is thoroughly modern and didn’t exist more than 60 years ago,more or less. And so the issue of pregnant women seeing monkeys is a new circumstance and requires shikul hada’as.
Be that as it may, it is comforting that we have taken old superstitions and applied them to new circumstances. Old superstitions don’t die, it seems, they just modernize themselves.
No one needs a heter to rely on the great Sochotchover Rov.
Z’roa. Zore’ah means seeding befoe planting. Anything with a bone is ok.
I thought for a while, but couldn’t come up with definitive proof that it’s assur to drink from wine that was touched by someone who doesn’t believe in evolution or that the universe is 14 or so billion years old.
The closest I came is that I say every morning, ????? ?? ????, and there is a pasuk, ???? ??? ????. Even so, this is not a productive way to think or act when dealing with fellow Jews whose beliefs are not quite like mine, converts or not.
And so, when real yeshiva boys come to me for Shabbos (Mir, Brisk-Rav A.Y. Shlita, R’ Tzvi Kaplan Shlita,etc…), I open a non-mevushal bottle of wine and let them touch it and drink it without making their personal beliefs an issue.
What is Tamcha?
Probably a type of bitter parsley, specifically gingidion or staphylinus.
Possibly endive.
Not horseradish, or related to it.
A few salient points:
1. Horseradish was not used at all for marror until Middle-age Europe.
2. Horseradish probably did not exist in Israel during Biblical, or Talmudic times
3. Horseradish is not bitter.
No.
I spoke over shabbos to the talmid chochom agricultural expert. He is actually quite a bit more than an expert, having been the head of research for the Israeli Agricultural Institute for years.If you argue with him over his field of expertise, he will turn you into horseradish.
I asked him about horseradish leaves and whether they are biter or sharp. He laughed and said that the same chemical that makes the horesradish sharp makes the leaves sharp. Not bitter, sorry. Not marror, sorry.
As far as doing “what our ancestors did for decades” , which is quite a small slice of historical pizza in itself, a little bit of knowledge can reveal alot of tuth. As Reb Doniel mentioned, insisting on practices which are clearly wrong make the system into a chuchah u’telula.
Bottom line. Horseradish isn’t marror, and one should not attempt to fulfill the mitzvah of marror with it. Use romaine lettuce. Ok, be MACHMIR and use romaine lettuce if it makes you feel good being machmir. Use the horseradish for gefilte fish.
It is both presumptuous and naive to criticize so-called “scientorahlogists”.
The most important halachic decisions today depend on scientific knowledge. For example, high tech on shabbos (hotels, elevators, etc…), food chemistry in kashrus,shmittah, trumos u’maasros, organ donation, determination of death, infertility, and the list goes on.
Any posek worth his salt must be in contact with scientists, unless he is one himself. Inorganic and organic chemistry, physics, electricity and magnetism, biotechnology, and more all form the basis upon which modern day psak stands. The posek relies on the scientist for accurate and truthful information before paskening, and he knows there’s no other way.
So too with the science and history of marror vis a vis horseradish. A serious ben torah should read up on it and many other topics. He will find not only that many of these agricultural scientists are frum, but they know how to learn too. And in their field, no one understands the sugyas better than them.
There’s a whole scientific world out there, and it is indispensable to modern halachic decision-making. Get to know it, it’s part of Torah.
The history of horseradish as marror was investigated thoroughly by a well known talmid chochom agricultural expert almost thirty years ago. He proved that horseradish is not marror, and traced the gradual acceptance of it in northern European Ashkenazic communities where there was no better alternative. Now that we know more, all should use romaine lettuce or what we simply call Hasah, period. The bitter part is the root.
Veltz Meshuginer wonderfully satirized the unnecessary hysteria surrounding this fellow Lipa. I don’t watch or listen to his stuff, but the uproar seems to be about something else.
It looks to me that the chassidishe saw him as their little wind-up toy or housepet who can show off to the “others”. Now their little pet isn’t playing by their rules, and they don’t like it. Well, too bad. He dosn’t belong to you and he never did. So lay off, he couldn’t care less what you think.
It is traditional for a shul Rav to “show off” his pilpul/lumdus virtuosity at the drasha.
I read the Kli Yakar in Vayikrah. There is nothing remotely connected to modern science in it. It’s always better to speak to an ob/gyn or other knowledgable scientist before making claims based on wishful thinking.
Dear Sam2,
Thank you. I agree that a small kezayis and two minutes go quite well. It’s obvious that one cannot reasonably hold the maximum shiur and the minimum time. The average yeshiva bochur ( see comments above) thinks that the halachah applies only to strong able-bodied yeshiva boys. But it also applies to twelve year old petite girls, who cannot wolf down large quantities of any food at Olympic speeds.
I have my own way of doing it. I am machmir in time, two minutes. Whatever I can eat in that span at a reasonable pace must be a kezayis. Although I hold a minimum kezayis shiur for my family, I am always surprised how much I ate. It is quite alot, far greater than the most machmir shiur.Machine mtzah goes down much quicker than hand. I eat both.
Not to be misunderstood, I am against using stop watches, meausring apparati and the well known obsessiveness that goes with this mitzvah. What I do for myself is my own busines. I think that if one just eats matzah for a few minutes without worrying, the mitzvah has been performed more than adequately.
Dear modchebp shadchan,
You absolutely did the correct thing.
The yeshiva velt has too many (and even one is too many) boys whose ge’onus in lumdus and yeshivishkeit is surpassed only by their conceit. In my opinion, the learning this boy does is not worth a dime.
You were given the opportunity to let them know that some people were taught the difference between right and wrong, and you did not let it pass. Good for you. And even better for the girl.
I do not believe the two minute limit is absolute. If a person is eating at a leisurely pace without interrupting to do something else, then whatever time it takes to eat the kezayit is ok.
His parshah is Miketz. Maftir is the Chanukah nassi.
Thursday leining is Chanukah leining only (ne’si’im).
He will not lein Rishon-only of Miketz, as the Shabbat before and Monday are before his birthday, and Thursday as noted above is already Chanukah.
Mazal Tov
Terms like Eisav, Amalek, Edom, Emori and others are simply euphemisms for evil or evil nations. The use of such terms is sociologically based and not historically based.
“Dayan Fisher ZT”L, ?????? ?????, was not eligible to pasken the question about smoking.”
This is a very interesting suggestion, that a posek disqualifies himself from an issue because of his intimate association with it. In other words, his negius is posel. After all, considering that the Dayan zt”l could not stop smoking, how could he possibly have determined the halachah objectively? He inevitably would be matir.
On the other hand, if that posek is bringing proofs or support for his opinion, those proofs must be dealt with like in any other halachic discussion if one is to disagree. The negius may exist but becomes irrelevant.
I call this one a tossup. That said, the whole issue of halachically prohibiting smoking is irrelevant. Most people don’t smoke because society has determined that it is a disgusting habit (I agree). And people who do stop, don’t do so because of an issur.
A thought on reclining at the seder:
This is not my own, the idea is well known, but important.
Many of us today, including me, lean to the left in our dining room chair, with or without a pillow or cushion, and call that heseiba. Clearly, this is very different than the proper performance of the mitzvah. In the olden days, people sat closer to the floor, on some sort of stuffed couch or fouton, in a relaxed position, similar to what may be seen in certain oriental restaurants, or so I’ve heard.I admit that the way I do it is rather uncomfortable, artificial, and incompatible with the purpose of heseibah, but I do it because that’s the way I grew up.
I do know of a rosh yeshiva who leaves his dining room, goes to his living room (salon in Israel) , spreads himself out, and does true heseibah there, including maggid and the parts where heseibah is a halachic imperative.
Mefurash in Menachos 42b last tosfos (divrei hamaschil tefillin)
I’ll look for some more
A couple of general thoughts:
1. The idea of abstaining from kosher foods that are primarily associated with goyishe cuisine is borderline ridiculous. The vague pronouncement that this spiritual concept is “brought down in seforim” is wholly unconvincing and plays manipulatively on visceral emotions. I don’t give it any weight at all.
2. I disagree on a fundamental level of abstaining from a food because the brochoh is difficult to determine. Study the halachic sources, weigh the various opinions, come to a conclusion, and defend it. In short, pasken, that’s why a Rav has smicha; to rule on an issue, not to waffle on it.
I don’t believe the original story, but the topic is interesting.
I would like someone to explain this situation to me:
There is a special bakery set up, with carefully chosen wheat, water that has been left overnight, a special oven heated to extreme temperatures, and a timed work schedule that is digitally monitored. The cleanliness is impeccable, and there is a team of specially trained Orthodox Jews doing the work from start to finish.
Everything that exists in this process, physical, mechanical, by machine or human hands down to the minutest detail is for one purpose only; matzos for Pesach. That’s it, one purpose only. Everyone knows it, and it cannot be denied.
It seems obvious to me that the lishmah aspect is built in to the entire system. To belabor the point, the whole operation is screaming its purpose. How can anything come out of this lo lishmah?
If anyone on the matzo preparation team tells me he baked lo lishmah, I would send him for therapy and eat the matzos at the seder.
1. This so-called worker cannot pasul the company’s matzos on a whim. The mere fact (?) that he asked for a raise proves he’s an extorter and nothing more. I would kick him out the door on the spot. If someone needs support for this position, read some of the Chasam Sofer’s tshuvos on shochtim.
2. When and if he operated the machine, the end product was more than one box. He could not possibly remove lishmah from only one box , numbered or not. This is an automatic process, with hundreds if not thousands coming out after a few buttons are pushed.
3. In my opinion, the mere process of baking shmurah matzah automtically confers lishmah on it. Hundreds or thousands of years ago, the baking process was an everyday fact of life and the matzos needed to be singled out for Pesach. Nowadays, it is obvious what these matzos are for, and so they are lishmah automatically.You can disagree, but my opinion is perfectly logical.
4. I am aware that many gedolim do or did not not approve of machine matzos, especially the great Rav Chaim Tzanser. To each his own, no problem.
I agree that the story is fabricated (hand shnurah boxes are not numbered,etc…). Even if it is true, what the worker said means nothing. All the matzos are ok to be eaten. Furthermore, the lishmah is inherent in the baking process, a la machine matzah,and cannot be nullified by one nutcase chochmolog extorsionist.
The pressure you feel is artificially induced. It comes from the social circle you belong to. This social pressure of immediate decision-making is inappropriate and will not ensure you a happy marriage. You need not give in to it. Wait until you are sure you want this guy. Take your time and don’t feel rushed. If he really wants you, he’ll wait. Don’t listen to the people who say you don’t need to “feel” anything, you only need it to be good on paper. They will not be there for you after the wedding.