rebdoniel

Politics sadly gets in the way of halakha.

Askanim are communal lay leaders, smooth-talking and behind-the-scenes operators.

A teacher of mine arranged the Siddur Alats Libi with this problem in mind; people should focus on the portions of tefillah that are absolutely necessary halakhically and focus on that, with kavvanah. It is almost impossible to keep up with the speedy minyanim we have nowadays with any modicum of kavvanah.

The Tanakh makes many references to fasting as a means of spiritual elevation; freeing ourselves from material and physical attachments and needs makes us like angels, and elevates us to a level of spiritual consciousness which transcends the physical.

You were served a low quality steak.

I buy my steaks from Goldberg’s on 18 Avanue (you can get nice steaks there for under 10 dollars). First, you need your steak to be at room temperature; I let mine rest at room temperature for 1 hour. I heat up some canola oil in a cast iron pan and let it get very hot. I season my meat liberally with fresh cracked black pepper (don’t add salt before cooking, because the salt will cause the juices to leak out of the meat). When the oil is wisping, add your steak and DO NOT MOVE IT. Let it just sit there and sear on a high flame for 5 minutes. Flip it over with a sturdy pair of tongs. Cook another 5 minutes in this manner. When done, transfer steak to a plate and cover with foil; let it rest for 10 minutes, as this allows the juices to redistribute in the meat.

If you want to make a pan sauce at this point, you can do so. I’d add a minced shallot to the pan drippings, add Earth Balance (vegan butter), some mushrooms, and let this sautee for a few minutes. Deglaze the pan with dry red wine, and let the sauce simmer. Add more Earth Balance to thicken, and top yous teaks with this.

Alternatively, I like to top the steak with some parve garlic herb butter (Earth Balance mixed with minced garlic and chopped parsely and thyme) and with A1 Sauce.

In short, I’d make steak at home, unless you’re spending an arm and a leg at Wolf and Lamb.

I wouldn’t recommend eating meat before a fast, anyways. Not meat, nothing too sweet, or too salty. Bland, simple foods are best before a fast.

Everyone needs a creative and artistic outlet. Drama is appropriate for some individuals, and putting on a school play is a great undertaking. In my life, I was in the Wizard of Oz, Oliver Twist, Fiddler on the Roof, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and would like to put on a production of Soul Doctor (with an all-male cast) within our community.

Re: R’ Angel: there are 3 kosher edim, milah, and a kosher mikveh. Candidates verbally declare that they understand sechar ve’onesh. How is that not in line with what the gemara in Yevamot 47 says, or what the Rambam paskens in Issurei Biah? A conversion that doesn’t fit the Demai standard, or that wouldn’t be accepted by Leib Tropper is still a kosher conversion. The Rambam even says that a conversion without any instruction is valid be diavad. With the Mehaber, it’s more tricky, since in the actual ShA he quotes the Rambam almost verbatim, but earlier in the same siman, he follows the Tur in ruling that the court must inform the convert of the commandments in order that he accept them and that failure to do so invalidates the conversion even ex post facto. Hakham Ovadia Yosef’s position on giyur is even in line with the Rambam and Hakham Uziel (who gave him semikha). He relies on the same teshuva in Pe’er haDor as his teacher, and in response to those who say that this teshiva shouldn’t be followed le ma’aseh because Maran haMehaber didn’t quote it, he says that the Mehaber simply never saw it, but if he had, he surely would have relied on it (see Yabia Omer YD 8:24). Hakham Ovadia’s approach is also partly the basis for the Sefer Zera Yisrael by R’ Amsalem (Which has a glowing haskama from Hakham Meir Mazuz, rosh yeshiva of Kisse Rahamim, as well as haskamot from Rabbis Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg, Shlomo Dichovsky, Shear Yashuv Cohen, Dov Lior, Yaakov Ariel, and Nachum Eliezer Rabinovitch).

I prefer kiddushei al tenai as a solution to the aguanh problem (we had a panel discussion at NYU on this yesterday); a person’s opinions don’t “dig” them in any “hole,” unless we live in a place where there are thought police. Shivim panim le Torah.

Kiddushei al tenai was endorsed by many talmidei hakhamim in history, including the Seridei Esh (R’ Berkovits was his talmid), Rav Uziel (he opposed one version of kiddushei al tenai that the hakhamim in Constantinople wanted to implement, but he still endorsed kiddushei al tenai in most other instances), the Yam haGadol (R’ Yaakov Moshe Toledano expressed support the idea that at the time of the wedding, the hatan make a clear statement that his betrothal was based on the approval of bet din, which could allow bet din, at a later time, to retroactively annul the marriage, should circumstances warrant it, and Rav Uziel endorsed this).

My views on these 2 issues are not without precedent, and are rooted in the words of some of our greatest sages.

If a woman giving a drasha, or visiting the sick, or learning halakha bothers you, than I don’t know what to say about that. Graduates of Yeshivat Maharat aren’t radically reinventing Judaism. If you’ve ever gone to a synagogue with one, you’d see that they function in a supportive capacity in most cases, and the most they’ll do is teach and counsel and answer she’eilot, which is what most modern rabbis do anyways. They’re not functioning in any positions of serarah.

Rabbi of Berlin again shows his brilliance and humility.

Get me’usa is a tricky issue, admittedly. I agree with you. The Rambam I cited provides a caveat. One must be an otherwise Observant Jew who resists doing the proper thing. This would not work with a complete rebel or – as the Rambam himself notes – that Judaism does not require this act. Kiddushin 50a seems to be the makor for that Rambam; it says there that we force him to give it until he says he wants to give it, and instead of this being forced, we say that he really wants to heed divrei hakhamim. Le tzarich iyun.

I saw another explanation as to why women shouldn’t say kiddush levanah (which I reject):

The Magen Avraham paskens according to the view of the Shela I gave above; the fact that women don’t make the brakha because of Hava’s sin amounts to the klal of Ein Kateigar Na’aseh Saneigar.”

The Debretziner Rav (Be’er Moshe 6:135) says that women light candles on Erev Shabbat to be metaken Hava’s sin. Why would women be metaken one sin they caused, and not be metaken another sin (by reciting kiddush levana)?

After offering an excursus on Ein Kateigar Na’aseh Saneigar, he says that since kiddush levana involves making a Bracha on the actual moon that Hava caused harm to, it is not proper for women to make a bracha. However the candle only symbolizes the Neshama and is not the Neshama itself therefore the Klal of Ein Kateigar Na’aseh Saneigar does not apply and by lighting the candles it rectifies their mistake.

I remain steadfast in my position that women ought to make some form of kiddush levana, as every opposing answer I see is mystical and not legal in nature.

If I were Ashkenazic, I’d feel that listening to a capella during the 3 weeks period that Ashkenazic rabbis created a mourning period out of was in poor taste, similar to toiveling while holding a sheretz.

Rabbenu Gershom issued a takkana that it’s assur to read someone else’s mail. Included in this ban is looking at any information that a person prefers remain private, e.g. looking at private documents, health or legal records, and credit reports. The prohibition applies even if the person looking at these items does not plan on acting on the information that he sees, but is merely curious, or is interested in finding out what other people think and write about him, etc. Definitely looking in someone’s phone without their reshut is against this issur.

Rambam paskens that one’s personal, private space/property is inviolate and cannot be invaded (Hilkhot Malveh Ve loveh 2:2). A cell phone can and should be seen as someone’s personal space, even if cell phones are metaltelin.

Unrelated, but if I had semikha, I would not join the RCA due to the organizational positions on the following:

1) Their refusal to deal constructively with the agunah issue. Rav Soloveitchik, zt”l, knocked down any possibility of a bet din using kiddushei ta’ut or kiddushei al tenai. Perhaps the issue was personal disagreements with Rav Rackman, zt”l, or Rav Berkovits, zt”l.

2) Their position on conversion. The entire GPS conversion system is a big mistake, and the fact that they routinely exclude converts sitting on a conversion bet din (100% mutar according to Maran haMehaber) are bad policy, and the fact that they rejected the efforts of R’ Marc Angel (a mumche in inyanei giyur, and the RCA’s president in the early 90s) is shameful.

As with conversion, such kashrut policies are intended to centralize and cement power in the hands of a chosen few, rather than allow qualified Orthodox rabbis to act according to their own psakim.

5) Get me’usa: my above mentioned beliefs on the kiddushei al tenai or kiddushei ta’ut do not preclude a legitimate concern that gittin given through protests can very well be considered me’usa. Some say that there is no hashash nowadays for a get me’usa; the burden of proof falls upon them. They engage in public humiliation by holding protests outside the homes of recalcitrant husbands. Rambam, in Hilkhot Gerushin 2:20, says that If it isn’t required according to the halacha that the husband be forced to give a get and beis din made a mistake or it was a beis din of laymen – [Rabbi Tougher’s translation is ” a Jewish court or simple people compel him”] and they forced him until he gave a get – the get is not valid. But since Jews have forced him he should give her a valid get [because he might think it was valid and when he marries another without obtaining a valid get it produces mamzerim]. However if goyim force him not according to halacha it is not a get…. since the law does not require it and the force was from goyim it is not a get.”

Forcing the husband to give a get by unauthorized persons makes it a get me’usa according to my diyuk in the Rambam. Lekhem Mishna explicitly says that if individuals pressure him where he is not required to give a get the get is posul mi d’oraita, same as if a non-Jewish court forced him to give a get. The only reason that we can, on certain occasions force a get is because “it is a mitzvah to listen to the sages.” We therefore assume, Rambam explains, that the husband wants to remain a Jew and that the coercers are masters of Jewish law and are to be obeyed. But if plain people who are not accepted by the husbands as the experts on the Torah that he must obey, the get is invalid, hence my reservations about ORA activism.

6) I believe that the attacks against Yeshivat Maharat are unfounded (See Mishpetei Uziel HM 3:6; Piskei Uziel 43, R’ Daniel Sperber, “On Women in Rabbinic Leadership Positions, etc.)

I hear that R’ Alfred Fruchter, zt”l and his rebbetzin, a”h were quite fond of him.

I’d venture to say that if he were alive today, his views would have evolved even more in line with the knowledge of what we have.

His wife also spied for China and benefited off that. At one point, when Pollard’s new wife was hoping to clinch a job interview at an international public relations firm with branches in China, he brought home five secret studies on China. Her presentation was assessed as brilliant.

China, as I wrote above, is committing espionage against Israel, has a history of aiding the Palestinians (I wrote an article for a magazine not too long ago on this topic, including the Bank of China’s support for Hamas terrorists), and is one of Iran’s closest allies, and there is compelling evidence Pollard helped China.

However, his 25 year sentence is excessive, as most others who spy for an ally get a maximum of 7 years.

He doesn’t have contempt for observant Jews, that I do give him. I haven’t looked into this much, but what is their position on communities in Yesha?

I do find their beliefs on homosexuality and public policy perplezing at times; I hold very much like R’ Dr. David Novak, whose writings on social issues reflect better Hazal’s understandings of these matters. No matter how you cut and dice it, Bereshit Rabbah 26:5 and Vayikra Rabbah 23:9 do express the sentiment that moral decisions among the umot haolam are of serious concern to Jews (these midrashim make the claim about the Mabul expressed above). There is also a statement in Hullin 92b where Hazal discuss the Sheloshim Kesef in Sefer Zecharyah, and Ulla says this refers to the 30 mitzvot that Bnei Noah undertook to keep, 3 of which they kept, including not writing ketubot for homosexual couples.

Another meta-question I have is this: If Jews were supposed to have a laissez-faire approach to morality (not just sexual issues) among the gentiles, then why did G-d send Yonah to Nineveh? Why did Hazal express so many concerns for morality among gentiles?

I saw a recipe for Ploughman’s Pie just now. It looks like a tasty halavi meal to serve, and it gives me inspiration for an English-inspired meal (Ploughman’s Pie, Fish and Chips, veggie Bangers and Mash- Redwood makes LBD-supervised veggie bangers, and Spotted Dick).

I read an interesting piece in the latest Hadassah Magazine over Shabbat (my mother is a lifetime member).

They have an interview with MK Dr. Ruth Calderon, a scholar of Talmud, and she explains a distressing encounter she had with MK Lapid a few years back.

Apparently, she initiated a program where prominent secular Israelis took part in Torah study. She says that she was immensely bothered when Lapid read Tanakh as part of the program, and stubbornly insisted on upsetting traditional Jews by saying G-d’s name as “Yahweh,” not the more respectful and traditional HaShem or even Adonai.

An English book came out based on those principles, “The Life Transforming Diet.”

The idea that one should eat meals that are mostly veggies, reserve meat and even refined carbs for special occasions, and incorporate moderate exercise into their lives is basically the gist of it.

Halakhic Positions of Rav Soloveitchik, by R’ Aharon Ziegler, Volume 4, pp. 85-86

“Reb Moshe includes toothpaste in the category of memareiach. Not so according to Rav Soloveitchik, who, based on a beraita in Shabbat 50a, which states that one may rub utensils to shine them on Shabbat, except for applying tartar to silver utensils, says that by the issur of memachek, it is prohibited only when the polishing will remove some layer of the substance. When brushing teeth, we are merely removing some particles or plaque from the tooth surface using a viscous substance that does not have enough density to hold together as a mass, and no shred of enamel is being removed from the teeth. Also, using toothpaste with a toothbrush is merely applying pressure to a substance and thereby flattening it, which is not memareiach.”

Thus, Rav Soloveitchik, zt”l, also held that one violates memareiach only when the newly smoothed layer remains on the surface. Since toothpaste is immediately washed away, leaving no residue on the surface of the teeth, there can be no issue of memareiach. When Rabbi Soloveitchik was told by a student that toothpaste advertisements claim that the toothpaste provides a

protective coating lasting for twenty four hours, he said that he was not convinced that there was any truth in the advertisements. Furthermore he pointed out that even if the advertisements were true, an invisible layer is not substantial enough to be recognized by the halachah (AhS YD 83:15 makes this last point).

I don’t see anything wrong with using a normal toothbrush on Shabbat.

Some say there is a hashash for causing bleeding; Seridei Esh (2:28) argues that one has to differentiate between an action that will definitely cause a forbidden result, which is a pesik reisheih and is forbidden, and an action that might cause a forbidden result, which is permitted. The Rema, in practice, paskens like this when it comes to brushing hair. the Rema allows one to brush with one’s fingers because that does not necessarily pull out hair. For most people, brushing teeth does not always cause bleeding and is therefore permissible like brushing one’s hair with one’s fingers.

R’ Soloveitchik, zt”l, and R’ Chaim Regensburg, both explicitly were matir using a toothbrush and toothpaste, and even rinsing out the toothbrush on Shabbat.

I personally do not brush on Shabbat, but will use mouthwash; Hakham Ovadia Yosef, yblct, paskens that one can use a toothbrush designated for Shabbat and not rinse the brush out afterwards, but I choose to be mahmir on this issue, since it involved possible issurei shabbat.

Not to speak ill of the dead, but the Melekh haPop was severely psychologically disturbed, associated with Nation of Islam elements, and left behind very emotionally disturbed kids, r”l.

ROB is 100% correct. A husband is halakhically obligated to support his wife, and not the other way around. The ketuba is written as such for a reason. Whenever I watch All in the Family, I shudder at the thought of the wife supporting the husband while he’s in school, and I look with tremendous respect upon men such as my girlfriend’s opa; he went to CCNY for engineering in the early 60s while working a full-time job as a factory worker in order to support his kallah. That is a man I admire, and who embodied his halakhic duties. And, he made time to learn a couple of hours a day, on top of that.

A college education in NYC can be obtained for $5K a year, give or take, through any of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York system. Baruch College is one of the finest business schools, City College one of the finest schools for the sciences.

We also have a great Jewish Studies faculty. Prof. Sharon Flatto, an expert on the Noda beYehuda and wife of Rabbi Ysoscher Katz (Maggid shiur at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah), Rabbi Adam Mintz (an expert on eruvin and a well-known MO rabbi on the UWS), Rabbi Rigoberto Vinas (a MO rabbi in Yonkers, and expert on the Anusim, as well as inyanei safrut and giyur), Rabbi Yitzhak Berger (a MO rabbi and expert on Radak, who used to teach at Drisha and Yeshiva of Flatbush), Prof. Robert Shapiro (an expert on the Shoah and a pillar of the Modern Orthodox community in Baltimore), Prof. Sara Reguer (an expert on Jewish women’s issues and JOFA speaker), and quite a few other scholars teach within CUNY, and many frum Jews study across CUNY. Brooklyn College and Queens College have particularly large frum populations and are serviced by JLIC rabbis, and Baruch College is also serviced by Rabbi Miller of the JCRC.