Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
What kind of symbols and I am assuming you’re a female.
People used to not have last names. You were Ploni ben Ploni Mi Yehupitz. Adding second names was a way for each person with the same name in the same locale to have a more distinct nomenclature.
Some combinations became very popular, such as Daniel Yehuda and Menahem Mendel.
Thanks. You’re the second person who has told me great things about that yeshiva this week!
A) I didn’t know the gemara was Sephardic (although it was compiled in Bavel), and B) Since when is minhag brecht a din? Jewish law is not a democratic process determined by what people happen to be doing. It is determined through an objective, binding process and procedure, as described by the Rambam in his Haqdama le Mishneh Torah. While I believe that common restrictions against eating meat, drinking wine, etc. in the 9 Days can be meritorious, they don’t have the valence of law.
more important than whatever practices we do or don’t do during the three weeks and nine days, it is more important to remember why we observe such customs in the first place. Ostensibly the point of minimizing simha is to feel the loss of the Temple and in feeling this loss we should and presumably feel compelled to correct the problems which led to the exile in the first place. If not listening to music or watching movies leads one to reflect on and improve one’s own behavior, then such measures are appropriate for that person. But these customs of mourning are not intrinsically valuable and certainly cannot be viewed as a substitute for introspection or self-improvement – let alone as an excuse to demean other Jews. In fact this message was already stated by Yeshayahu in the Haftara of Hazon, which is read the Shabbat before 9 Av. In the time of the destruction of the first Temple, the Jews dutifully performed the ritual acts of bringing sacrifices, but treated each other so poorly that their ritual observance was disregarded with God even declaring “who asked you to do this?” (Is. 1:12).
If God can ask “who asked you to do this?” for the sacrifices which he commanded, then such disdain would certainly be applicable to our own invented customs.
Practically, I do enjoy the array of non-meat options available during the 9 days, but when people enshrine customs to a place above the halakha, that reflects base vernacular religious tendencies, which are apt to hinder, rather than elevate, spiritual consciousness, as indicates in the words of the Prophet. Also, it is important people know which foods are dairy and which are truly pareve, to avoid scenarios such as the one I mentioned above.
People do make siyumim and whatnot during this period, and abstaining from meat is not strictly Talmudically required in this period (Oral Torah Judaism demands that during shavua shechal bo, one may not cut one’s hair or do laundry- mTa’anit 4:7, and a beraita in bYevamot 43a also forbids nesuin during shevua shechal bo. While the other customs of mourning may not share the same force of law, some common practices are nevertheless based on rabbinic sources, and would include not eating meat or drinking wine. To quote one of my teachers, “Because of the rabbinic designation of these activities as “simha” most Jews avoid the above activities during the nine days where possible. But note that the Mishnaic idiom “me-ma’atin” – to minimize – is more of a discouragement than an outright prohibition. For a parallel, Rav contrasts the roles of simha for Av with its role for the month of Adar and Purim: “Just as when Av enters we minimize simha, so too when Adar comes we increase (marbin) be-simha” (bTa’anit 29a-29b). There is no source, to my knowledge, which states that one must eat meat, drink wine, buy new clothing or get married during the month of Adar because the word “marbin” does not mean one is obligated to do any of these things, only that one should do more than usual. Similarly, while not doing any of the above actions would certainly be considered me-ma’atin, such an extreme is not required during the nine days (excluding that which is prohibited during shavua shehal bo.”)
The organization JONAH believes in reparative therapy and lists the support of R’ Aharon Feldman, Aish, R’ Shmuel Kamenetzky, the RCA, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zt”l, among others.
The same group is being sued by those who have been psychologically damaged by their efforts.
This indicates top me that there is indeed more politicization of science, and less of our community embracing sound scientific evidence.
One of my strongest points of contention these days is the fact that “frum” people reject scientific and public health evidence on many things, whether it be brain stem death, abortion (the first Rishon Le Tzion of the State of Israel, the tzaddik haRav Benzion Meir Chai Uziel, zt”l, the same rabbi who opened Judaism to the children of intermarriage, affirmed the dignity of women in political, civic, and religious leadership, and affirmed the need for peaceful coexistence between Israel and her Arab cousins, also was a proponent of the dignity of women’s choice. He paskened that any abortion where there was even a ta’am kalush is one that halakha permits, for the broadest possible sake of saving a woman’s life, whether it be physical, emotional, psychological, social, or economic), vaccinations, or now, homosexuality, as well.
“For pareve: start with a package of Morningstar or Tofurky sausage and your choice of vegetables.”
You lumped Morningstar Farms together with parve. Somebody may then make the mistake of making an umdena that it’s parve, when it’s milchig. I was once at a fleshig seuda (Shabbos dinner) where Morningstar Farms products were served (crumbles, I believe) on meat plates and cooked in meat baking dishes. The poor baal habos didn’t realize that their entire kosher plates, etc. were compromised as a result! The crumbles, in particular, are NOT vegan, and do contain halav gamur. The poor balebusste then had a big problem on her hands, after I brought this to her attention.
Lesson learned: In kashrut, you have to read labels and never assume. We need to do what the Law specifies, not any more, not any less.
I decided to take the roasted veggies, sautee all of them with more onions, pepperoncini flakes, garlic, and oregano and other herbs, as well as special EVOO from Abruzze, and I mixed this with the campanelle. I topped it with a good hail of fresh grated Pecorino Romano from the chunk (none of that powdery cansiter stuff for us!) and some chopped fresh Italian parsley. It was a mechaye, and one of the best dishes I ate in a while.
Morningstar Farms products are certified Dairy, and shouldn’t be served at meat meals, le toelet harabim. They could be DE, but that would require checking with the OK.
Rav Haim David haLevi paskens explicitly that women are equally hayyav in all three tefillot. R’ Moshe Salmon, author of the Teshuvot Netiv Moshe (he lived in Austria-Hungary in the late 19th century) even suggested women should count for a minyan, since he believed that counting for a minyan is a function of hiyyuv.
I just threw together a quick dish. I took some fresh beefsteak tomatoes I had in abundance, took the seeds out, and chopped them, with chopped red and orange pepper, Vidalia onion, and zucchini. I mixed with salt, pepper, paprika, oregano, mixed Italian herbs, fennel, minced garlic, and have them roasting on 400 with some olive oil cooking spray.
When it comes out, I will mix most of the roast with pasta for my family, and I will have some of the roasted veggies atop some salad greens with a twist of lemon and some Balsamic for a really low calorie dinner (no more than 100-150).
We need achdut now. I wish it would be possible for us to stand together be yahad: shtreimels, platchige biberhats, srugies, fedoras, black suede, etc. Why can’t Jews agree to disagree, say elu ve elu, and move on? Will HKBH care at 120 if you ate from Triangle K or Badatz?
The Talmud indicates that the logic here behind the sages not objecting is that it is a woman’s right to do a mitzvah which she is not commanded to do. I don’t see where guf naki is inherent anywhere in that gemara.
The Hagahot Maimoniyot says that Bavli says that Hakhamim did not object to women who performed Mitzvot such as Tefilin and Aliyah l’Regel, and that he heard that we protest only where there is concern for transgression, such as with hullin be zarah or ervah.
My understanding of Tosafot is like this: Rashi says that if it were Zeman Gerama, hakhamim would have protested due to Bal Tosif. The Ri disagrees. R. Yehudah holds that Ein Nashim Somchot Reshut, and he holds that Hilni ha’Malkah used to sit in a Sukah with her sons (Sukah 2b)! However, perhaps she sat due to her sons, so it does not look like Bal Tosif. Alternatively, Rava holds that not at the time of the Mitzvah, one transgresses Bal Tosif only with intent. A woman is exempt, so it is considered not at the time of the Mitzvah. However, this is difficult. Rather, the one who holds that it is Zeman Gerama forbids women because they are not careful enough to have a clean body like Tefillin requires. Olat Re’iyah looks like Hullin ba’Azarah, or entering the Azharah without need. Blowing a Shofar is a Melakha mi de Rabbanan.
Ran (Rosh HaShanah 9b) says that we’re not concerned for shevut or baal tosif by women doing MASZG.
I
The Rambam says in MN that animal korbanot were instituted as a concession to pagan influences and people’s tayva towards that back then. Rav Kook thought that in the Messianic era, there would be no animal korbanot.
For those who hold like the Rambam, Talmudic gezerot are binding even when the reason for then is no longer applicable, whereas the Ryevid feels that such gezerot are no longer binding if the original reason for them is no longer applicable. Tosafot is inclined towards that view, as well.
Regarding women and tefillin: Tosafot there suggest that women are incapable of maintaining a guf naki. This wasn’t a concern to Rambam, who simply allows a woman to partake of any mitzvah she desires, even if she’s not commanded to do so. Nor did it seem to have been of concern to Hazal in their allowing Michal to wear tefillin. My one caveat would be that women who engage in wrapping tefillin should not say the berakha. I have a friend who composed alternative texts for women to use when wrapping tefillin and putting on tallet and tzitzit. The same friend also composed very appropriate texts for calling people up to the Torah minus a minyan (while this is intended for WPG’s, I have made use of it in contexts where there was a sefer torah and no minyan on yom tov mornings and some shabbatot where I lein, as we sometimes can’t get a minyan).
Tosafot cites guf naki, which later rabbis cite as a reason why men don’t wear tefillin all day long, ironically.
I’m not big on labels. Judaism is either halakhic or it isn’t. Denominations don’t lead us to a place of greater halakhic observance, as their are many things contra halakha that are done in the Orthodox world. The problem with Conservative is that they singlehandedly decided to assume that they have authority to permit what goes against Oral Torah Judaism, and subsequently, they have a huge dearth of committed membership. Anyone who was traditional and part of JTS is now generally accepted in the MO camp, such as Rabbi Alan Yuter, or Rabbi David Weiss haLivni.
Zionists had their own gedolim- Rav Kook, Rav YY Reines, Rav Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer, Rav Yosef Alkalai, Rav Aharon Soloveitchik, Rav Yosef Soloveitchik, Rav Menachem Mendel Kasher, Rav Benzion Uziel, Rav Haim David haLevi, etc.
An elevator is not a place where one has to be choshesh for the issur yichud. However, I’d be uncomfortable with any one other person in an elevator, man or woman, because you don’t know who people are and what they’re capable of (muggings, and even worse, ch”v).
My grandparents did, and I have direct testimony to their struggles and persecutions. I can also speak of many other persecutions, sometimes endured at the hands of reshaim.
This is a period for edifying one another and embodying ahavat yisrael. We have enough enemies from among the goyim. This is why I believe one Jew hurting another Jew is one of the saddest things that goes on. We need to stand together and accomplish our collective tafkid as a nation and as an am segulah. Sephardic, Ashkenazic, Reform, Conservative, Litvish, Chasidishe, etc. ought to make no difference. Regardless of whether Jews lived under Muslims or Christians, there was persecution, and I am called to make my family’s story known. I know where exactly my ancestors came from in Syria and Yemen (too bad I can’t know where my Syrian ancestors originally lived in Spain and Portugal), and to make the horrors they endured known to the world is one of my goals in life. I’d also like to learn more about my mother’s family’s Bnei Anusim roots (as many as 30% of Southern Italians have Jewish ancestry, and many of them are returning to the Jewish People) and make the story of the Jews of San Nicandro and other places in Italy known. We are living in remarkable times, where all of the dispersed seed of Israel, no matter how distant they may be, are being drawn back into klal yisrael.
That is the movement’s teshuva on the subject. As with many issues, they don’t even follow their own standards, thus highlighting the lack of halakhic commitment amongst those who go to Conservative synagogues. Hence the fact that many of my teachers and their teachers understand the dangers in encroaching egalitarianism and unchecked feminism; they left their teaching posts at JTS due to reasons such as this (Hakham Faur, Professor Dimitrovsky, R’ Dr. Weiss haLivni, R’ Dr. Novak, etc.)
How about checking out the Holocaust Memorials? There’s the one at Battery Park City and the one in Sheepshead Bay.
Another idea would be to see if you can speak with survivors. I’d like to start a program where descendants of Jewish victims of Arab anti-semitism can speak. I can speak to the struggles faced by Jews in Syria and Yemen on a firsthand basis. Our story is one that needs to be told somehow. IY”H, I plan on speaking this week with a friend’s grandparents, who were Sephardic Survivors of the Shoah, whose story goes unnoticed and forgotten in many cases. The Nazis, y”s, destroyed countless Sephardic communities in Greece, Salonica, Monastir, Rhodes, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and other such places in the Balkans, where such greats as the Binyamin Ze’ev, Pele Yoetz, Hakham Salomon Gaon, and others hailed from.
Going to Yiddish shiurim or quite frankly, speaking with some altere chasidim is a good way to learn it.
Ideology isn’t synonymous with the gavra. You can love someone (I love all Jews) even if you don’t love what they do (desecrating Shabbos, desecrating G-d’s name, etc.)
Did you take your Prozac or Lithium today?
I’d be interested in a learning group that doesn’t even pay. I am looking for more structure in learning in evenings.
You could be referring to a chador.
I’ve learned portions of it. I see Musar and Hasidut as very meaningful parts of my life, as I am a very spiritual person by nature.
I don’t believe wigs are tznius, so I couldn’t move there.
Don’t deny or sublimate the feelings.
Do a cheshbon hanefesh and pray like you’ve never prayed before. Establish a genuine, intimate, personal relationship with HaShem. Talk to him like a friend and cast your burdens on Him (Tehillim 55:22- Cast your burdens on HaShem and He will sustain you). Get your hands on Reb Nachman’s works and maybe some sifrei mussar, as well. Stay in the light. Develop a good spiritual practice. And if you use your pain as a way to help others, go for it. Hesed has gotten me through some of the worst times in my life, as has the spiritual practice of hitbodedut. It really works wonders.
In an unredeemed, imperfect, fallible world, we’re supposed to be conscious of the fact that the world is so shattered in the absence of geulah. Hence practices like tikkun hatzot, which I’ve done for over a year now.
A bisexual or homosexual cannot change. Reparative therapy doesn’t work. The only option I viably see for such individuals is to live celibate lives full of torah, mitzvoth, and ma’aseh chesed. Not being able to have a family is painful, but there are sadly many heterosexuals in our community who don’t marry and still live meaningful, beautiful lives where they give back to others, pursue friendships, and focus on torah learning and chesed.
This was my point. There are plenty of vegan nondairy, fish, and other parve things a person can eat.
Thank you, golfer. Cooking is definitely one of my main hobbies, other than the cantorial arts and writing.
Half a chicken in the pot with veggies, lokshen, kreplach, kneidlech, and a good crusty corn rye is one of my favorite meals. My mother makes a really yummy chicken and rice soup for Passover that I look forward to every year.
Chicken soup is truly Jewish penicillin.
I even read in a cookbook that at the 2nd Avenue Deli, the Chinese waiters would take the chicken soup broth, and eat it with long noodles, sliced brisket, and scallions, in a sort of Asian kosher noodle soup dish. I’ve even eaten that, and I fortified the broth with a little ginger, soy sauce, and sesame oil. I had a cold and I woke up feeling like new.
People lambaste Ashkenazic food; I think it has a very warming feeling (and I am Sephardi). I think Yiddish and its cultural shtick is also very valuable; you can’t hear Yiddish without laughing sometimes. It’s a funny language.
I read an opinion from a YCT-trained rabbi which argued that sexually-active homosexuals should be considered innocent, since their actions ought to be patur under “ones rachmama patrei.”
If an allowance is made for this, and on the basis of neurological proclivity, than why not excuse pedophiles, murderers, drug addicts, etc. whose pathology is correlationally-linked with neurological anomalies? Where do we draw the line with people claiming that biology excuses a lack or absence of moral judgment? Rationality and morality are what separate us from beasts.
Kishka developed similarly. A starch sausage made of suet, vegetables, and flour was a relatively inexpensive and satisfying dish to serve with cholent, which is another concession to poverty, as the dish is predominately barley and beans.
One of the major differences between how traditionally some Ashkenazim and Sephardim conceive of talmud torah is the attention placed on the study of Mikra. In turn, there are practical ramifications of this on how differing religious imperatives, ethics, and emphases are developed. For instance, Nach was essential limud for Rav SR Hirsch, and for Hirschians, ethics and prophetic religious ideals are essential, whereas for those who believe (as did R’Tam) that Talmud study encompasses Mikra, there is less of an open and cultured religious emphasis as among Hirschians and Sephardim.
You get into issues of whether you can rely on bitul hametz before Pesach le chatchila. Many Sephardim allow it, but not Ashkenazim, which is why such a proposal would probably be unrealistic.
What about eating fish, vegetables, grains, and other parve foods? A person could go a few days eating parve very easily. Vegans do it pretty well.
The Kehila California hechsher on Turtle Mountain ice cream uses DE, and the crown-shaped hechsher on Sarabeth’s granola uses DE.
I never suggested that people eat OU-D after meat across the board; I said that people need to ascertain specific products in question.
I’ll wait for Pesachdik oatmeal then, lol.
The only solution with hashgachos that don’t use DE is to call up and inquire about specific items. I know that Oreos are parve; the Daf HaKashrus Vol. 11 No. 4 states that : The following certified HAAGEN DAZS SORBETS contain NO dairy ingredients of any sort, but are labeled as they are produced on dairy equipment:
Chocolate sorbet, Chocolate sorbet bar, Lemon sorbet, Mango
fruit sorbet, Orange sorbet, Orchard Peach sorbet, Raspberry
fruit sorbet, Raspberry sorbet, Strawberry fruit sorbet,
Strawberry sorbet, Zesty lemon sorbet.
Unless anything has changed since that publication, you can certainly then have these sorbets after a fleishig meal.
Politics. Most of the scruples over hashgachas come down to politics, or a dispute over which approaches are mutar, or whether their “yotzei ve nichnas” is frequent enough to be “yotzei.”
Petrushka is parsley root. I have eaten the feeselech, I leave skin on the chicken, and I serve everything but the whole chicken (I use this for chicken salad). The broth and veggies I serve with the kneidlech, kreplach, and lokshen. The necks and backs I serve on the side for picking.
See a post on mozzarella about shitot from kashrut agencies in other countries on reading labels (including a machlokes Rashba-Noda beYehuda).
In the case of DE, I do know that Oreos are parve/DE. If you call the OU regarding a specific product, they usually will answer you honestly.
They don’t trust people to know the halakha for themselves, I suppose. Ashkenazim are allowed to eat DE after meat; Sephardim theoretically can eat parve food made in a dairy pot with meat. I asked a rabbi and friend of mine once, “What is the Yiddish word for dairy equipment?” and his answer was “Parve.”
Slichos,
Maybe you can start an initiative in your community to focus on inyanei tzniut.
AYCE eat fish, takeh. I am getting there as soon as the buffet opens.
For those who love fish, this is a great period for eating out! (Although this seems to defeat the purpose of the entire observance). Myself and friends are going to Eden Wok Monday night for the fish. My own habits won’t be affected too much, since I eat meat only twice a week, including one shabbat meal. I was a vegetarian, but found that eating some meat and fish enables me to feel healthier and reduce my intake of carbs.
Reform Judaism has been making efforts to become stronger in ritual observance over the past few years, but as a paradigm, the Pittsburgh Platform of 1885 still is followed by many.
Can you point to something in halakha which says a woman can’t wear tefillin? It certainly didn’t bother Shaul haMelech, or the Rambam, or the Baalei haTosafot.
An interesting fact: Rabbi Dr. David Ellenson, who is a scholar of repute on topics pertaining to German Neo-Orthodoxy, was raised Orthodox. He says that his father encouraged him to attend HUC and take a Reform pulpit because he’d make much more money in a Reform place than as an Orthodox rabbi. To this day, he is a shomer shabbat and a relativsly observant man.
HUC-JIR even employs 2 Orthodox professors: Rabbi Dr. Michael Chernick (teaches Talmud at HUC NY, was a student of Rav Soloveitchik, and was involved in Edah) and Lynn Kaye (attended the GPATS program at Stern College, and was formerly at Shearith Israel).
The Rambam paskened that nobody should listen to music nowddays because in the absence of the Beit haMikdash, we’re not supposed to be so happy. This doesn’t seem to be concerned with the fact that music can also be a means of deepening one’s sadness, grief, and introspection. Jewish songs like Mama Rochel accomplish this, as do secular songs like “In My Life” by the Beatles.
Yoshke kebabs?
I think he meant the last meat meal before the 9 Days.
While we’re supposed to avoid tzaar baalei hayyim, there is a long-standing halakhic tradition (Tosafot mentions that it is mutar to kick the legs of a beheima you capture in war, IIRC, and the Rema paskened that it was ok to pluck a feather out of a live goose for use as a quill) upholding a utalitarian view of our relationship to animals; as with the rest of creation, man’s relation to beast is one of both stewardship and utility. Animals do not have rights and personifying them weakens the distinction between animals and humans, who alone are created be tzelem elokim.