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Berachos 22a says that the words of torah cannot become defiled. It is merely a matter of minhag when certain persons disallow a woman from handling a sefer torah. The Rambam says explicitly: Any impure person, even [a woman in] a niddah state or a gentile, may hold a Torah scroll and read it. The words of Torah do not contract ritual impurity. This applies when one’s hands are not soiled or dirty with mud. [In the latter instance,] one should wash one’s hands and then touch the scroll. (Hilchos tefillin, mezuzah, sefer torah perek yud, halacha het)
There is no halakhic issue with a niddah handling a sefer torah whatsoever.
Most sofrim obviously are frum and they sell Sifrei Torah to non-Orthodox synagogues all the time.
And the shul in Denver you reference, with mixed seating, apparently IS Orthodox enough to belong to the ORTHODOX union.
YU placed 50% of its musmachim in mixed seating pulpits and HTC/Skokie placed as many as 90% in such pulpits, according to research done by Professor Jonathan Sarna.
Mechitza doesn’t even have any firm textual requirements, and people will make a big hullabaloo over this, while not batting an eyelash while many carry in string eruvin that also violate the Gemara and Rambam’s understanding of carrying.
(Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch mention nothing about mechitza).
That is your opinion of what is “right.”
And, I feel for these gerim, since the Orthodox community is largely indifferent to their plight.
I’m guessing that was an example of “respect for others you disagree with”?
-95
I suppose I am rare in that I respect those I disagree with, whether they be Satmar, Habad, Haredi, Aish, Ohr Somayach, etc.
I believe that wise people learn from everyone, and this is why I, the Liberal Modern Orthodox gvir from Brooklyn, feels at home with yidden of all bents. I daven at Shomrei Shabos, Landau’s, Young Israel’s, HIR, all kinds of MO shuls, community kollels, wherever. I support Oorah and YCT, Chabad Houses and any Jew who does acts of kindness and advances the Torah, regardless of what places they’re from.
Too bad others aren’t the same way.
You missed the point entirely. The ovens used for the kosher baked goods are entirely different from those used for treif, which is kept in the front of the store. They use toaster ovens for treif up front and have special ovens in the back used exclusively for the donuts and bagels and muffins.
Those who go to Kosher DD aren’t getting any different donuts than from the DD without a hechsher. This is a fact. All of the donut mixes and products come in with Hashgacha. Basically, they dump the bags in a mixer, add water and fry or bake them up. The donuts are made in the back of the store. No treif products are used in the back of the store. In a non-kosher DD store, all the treif is only in the front. The rav told me all donuts are without a doubt kosher. Even in yenimsville and bagels are kosher. They don’t use knives to cut them but a bagel slicer. But, you can’t get them toasted due to the treif oven.
Those who go to Kosher DD aren’t getting any different donuts than from the DD without a hechsher. This is a fact.
In any case, I don’t see what R’ Vinas has to do with R’ Weiss.
Kavod habriot is docheh an issur de rabbanan.
The Teshuvos Shraga haMeir (R’ Feivel Schneebalg) allows cosmetic tattooing in a case of kavod habriot, such as where there is scarring, yeneh machla, etc.
Popa,
The punishment for defaming talmidei hakhamim isn’t a pleasant one, my friend. Identifying with one stream of Orthodoxy doesn’t give you carte blanche to defame those who disagree with you. Remember: Moshe Rabenu was willing to sit down and dialogue with those he disagreed with, whereas Korach was the one unwilling to sit down and have a discussion.
Dunkin Donuts donuts are kosher everywhere, since they don’t make them in the stores.
And, what does Rabbi Avi Weiss have to do with this discussion? AFAIK, he waits 6 hours like other Jews from non-Yekkishe Ashkenazic backgrounds.
If local custom weren’t a factor, then a significant portion of Ashkenazim wouldn’t wait only 3 hours and an old Sephardic community wouldn’t wait only 72 minutes.
Minhag is a function of context and geography as much as it is a function of text.
And for the record, I wait 72 minutes, which is the practice of the Sephardic Jews of the Spanish and Portuguese minhag, which is the original Sephardic way.
Also, while I very much like Machon Meir, they do not allow people converting to stay in the dorms.
Which I find utterly reprehensible. The Mahari Perlow in his perush on R’ Saadia Gaon’s Sefer haMitzvot says that the mitzvah to love the ger is part of the mitzvah to love G-d and adds that the mitzvah to love the ger begins when a gentile first comes to us to learn about Judaism and Mitzvot, and does not just begin once the ger emerges from the mikvah.
Bringing close those of Jewish ancestry is considered a meritorious act according to all of the poskim who hold by the inyan of zers yisrael- R’ Benzion Uziel is probably the most famous of these, but also R’ Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer (the Drishas Tzion), Rav Hayyim Druckman, Rav Hayyim Amsalem, and even the Radbaz all believed that zera yisrael should be brought close.
And, what is wrong with Rabbi Avi Weiss? He has more ahavat yisrael in his pinky finger than any of us will ever have, and he has brought thousands to frumkeit.
Bein seuda l’seuda is obviously governed by local convention and not halakha. Halakha does not tell you when to eat your meals. Rama says that in Poland, they only waited one hour and the whole inyan is to not eat meat and dairy in the same meal. He maintains that, according to the letter of the law, one may eat a meat meal, recite Birkat Hamazon and then immediately begin a dairy meal. While the minhag developed to wait some period of time, this is just a minhag . In addition, it is noteworthy that the Rambam says one should wait about 5.5 hours, not 6 hours, which leads some to say that 5 and a half hours suffices. There is obviously much diversity on this matter, which results from the fact that there are little, if any, actual halakhic requirements.
Controversial isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Plus, you obviously don’t know what his halakhic ideas are. Don’t go by what you read on Eidensohn’s blog without investigating for yourself.
And from where do you get that we are supposed to brush off gerim? The brush off 3 times minhag is not decided k’halakha in any sefer I’ve seen. Yevamos 47 says that we warn them about the hardships of being Jewish due to anti-semitism and if they’re still interested after this, than we bring them close; the Rambam (Issure Biah 13-14) and the Shulchan Aruch, YD 268, both pasken like this.
And in cases where a person has previous Jewish identity, either as a member of a non-halakhic movement, or someone with a Jewish father, we are duty-bound to bring them close, as it is obvious that such persons already see themselves as Jewish.
He probably went to rabbis not known for being the most welcoming towards gerim.
Also, as a ger, you should learn on your own, convert, and then sit a year in yeshiva. It makes no sense for a person to do something as a goy that they can get so much more schar for as a Jew.
Ii would suggest going to R’ Manny Vinas for assistance. He has a beis din along with his rebbi, R’ Aharon Ziegler, a dayan in Boro Park.
One thing weird I do eat is savory french toast. While some like their french toast sweet, I can’t stand it.
I take slices of whole grain or white bread, dip in egg beaten with milk, salt, and pepper, and fry in a little canola oil. I drain them and eat them with butter and ketchup.
Potato kugel with ketchup isn’t weird, at all. People eat hash browns with ketchup. A potato kugel is like a less crispy version of a hash brown. I happen to love ketchup on any kind of potato or egg dishes.
PBA,
This is an offensive and pointless posting, let alone one which shows a complete lack of knowledge on these minhagim.
My belief is that the entire inyan of waiting between meat and dairy is highly subjective. I am unaware of where Rambam deduces a 6 hour waiting period from (he does say that because of the meat between one’s teeth with is not removed by cleaning) although this seems to be the most widely-followed practice. Hullin 105a tells us that Mar Ukva’s father would wait a day between meat and cheese, while Mar Ukva says he would wait for the next meal. The time one would wait between meals goes undefined. Germans, I assume, waited three hours between meals.
As long as one does kinuach and hadacha, according to Tosafot, one probably wouldn’t have to wait any formally-allotted period of time. Since I typically follow many S&P minhagim, 72 minutes seems sufficient and in accordance with the texts.
Most shuls, Haredi, or even Modern Orthodox, for that matter, in Brooklyn, generally don’t make accommodations for women who wish to come and daven during the week. I am reminded of the biography of Rebbetzin Kanievsky, who went to minyan every morning and davened netz. Hazak v’ ematz, and I wish you hatzlacha in finding a shul where you can feel comfortable davening during the week.
@WIY,
That would be so difficult for me, for both the reason that I am a big fan of all the things I have tried, and also because I am one not to play kashrus politics (I accept all hashgachas whose standards I know to be adequate for the items they certify. For example, I use Pic n Pay because I know Rabbi Gavrielov to be ehrliche, learned, and in it l’shem shamayim. I know R’ Saffra and trust the fact that he is somech on the same shita of Tosfos on cheese that Rov Soloveitchik held by.)
So here it goes:
The Dairy Kosher Greek Lunch at Kehila Kedosha Janina
Aufschnitt from Wasserman and Lemberger
OH Danish Kringle
Kosher Filet Mignon
The flakiness of the fleshig apple pie
I can think of quite a few. I have an adventurous palate.
Udder (had it at a mesorah dinner)
Kosher Prosciutto (got it at Pomegranate)
Elk
Venison
Beitzim (got them at Pic N Pay)
Phaesant
Bottarga (got it at Mansoura’s)
Hagavim (had them at a Mesorah Dinner)
Kosher Turducken (got it from Aaron’s Gourmet in Queens, Cup K)
Vegan Abalone and Vegan Shark Fin Soup (tried it at Buddha Bodhai, Cup K)
Kosher Gyro and Souvlaki (tried it at Town Deli in Great Neck, VHQ))
Kosher yaprakes, bourekas, kourlouia (Greek dairy dishes available on the Lunch tour at Kehilla Kedosha Janina)
Kosher Cannoli (available at Sapienza’s Italian Bakery in Elmont, Kof K)
Real Kosher Tenderloin/Filet Mignon (traibored by R’ Avidan Elkin)
Fleshig Apple Pie (made with beef fat obtained from Grow and Behold)
Kimchee (produced by Adamah at Isabella Freedman Retreat Center, Vaad of Hartford)
Pecorino Romano cheese (R’ Dovid Katz)
Ganja Hemp Pizza (Organic pizza rich in hemp Omega 3s) from Cafe Viva, Rabbi Yaakov Spivak
Kosher Cuban Bread (Espiga D’Oro Brand, R’ Spivak)
Mexican Queso Fresco en Hoja from Las Quesas Ricura (Tablet K)
Zolbi and Persian Baklava from Tabrizi’s Bakery in Watertown (KVH)
Bengali sweets and desserts from Rajbhog in Jackson Heights (Cup K)
Scarmorza and Homemade Fresh Ravioli from Eagle Cheese (Cup K)
Aufschnitt from Wasserman and Lemberger, Baltimore (Star K)
Scandinavian Baked Goods: Fyrstkake, Limpa, Julekake, etc. from Viking Bakery in Denville, NJ (Rabbi Asher Krief)
Kringle (a Danish pastry ring) from OH Danish Bakery, Racine, Wisconsin, under the Chicago Rabbinical Council, Rabbi Oppenheimer.
I am so sorry- I responded without realizing you were a girl.
In your case, definitely include things like chesed activities, though. Good guys will be attracted to that.
I am a BT myself and feel that the best way to have a good resume is to simply develop as much as possible, through learning and concrete life accomplishments, like going through Shas.
I’d stress accomplishments- academic, professional, and Jewish. Do you ever work as a baal tefillah? Do you lein? Give shiurim? Write chaburot? You get the idea.
What does your husband do professionally?
Nobody in the Modern Orthodox community would dare go against R’ Angel, who was the past president of the RCA in the early 90’s.
Even Chassidishe batei din accept his conversions as kosher. There is no reason whatsoever to dispute a conversion where there has been milah, mikvah, 3 kosher eidim, and where the ger is observant.
I find Kensington to be very welcoming, unlike Bensonhurst
I know R’ Angel very closely, and anyone who challenges this gadol is passuling themselves.
What has R’ Angel done that even resembles the Conservative movement?
RABBI Angel is as chashuv as they come, and his commitment to torah and mitzvot is unquestionable. His ideas on giyur are rooted in the Rambam, Shulchan Aruch, and Rav Uziel, zt”l, and if you wish to be frummer than the Piskei Uziel, Mechaber, or Rambam, that is your prerogative.
Show me one credible source which says that believing in scientific evidence is apikorsus, or that there are ideological litmus tests as to who can sit on a conversion beis din.
If you assume that evolution is apikorsus, and a rabbi who believes in it is pasul, than you just slapped so many gedolim in the face, Rav Kook and Rav Hirsch included.
Others don’t have to be wrong for you to be right. This religion of triumphalism and one upmanship is not what G-d had in mind when He gave us the Torah and it is certainly not what they had in mind in Sura and Pumbedita.
BTW, the list of approved rabbonim by the Rabbanut is as follows:
Australia
Melbourne
Melbourne Beit Din
(+)613-9525-5186
http://www.cosv.org.au/gsqp.php?gsap=bethdin
Sydney
Sydney Beth Din
Rabbi Baruch Lashs
(+)612-9387-3822
Rabbi Moshe Gutnick
(+)612-9365-2933
Rabbi Yehoram Ulman
Belgium
Antwerp
Rabbinical Court Machzikei HaDaas
Rabbi Eliyahu Sternbuch
Rabbi Yitzchak Tuvia Weiss
(+)32-3-233-5567
Rabbi David Leiberman
Rabbi J. Cohen
(+)32-3-226-0438
Canada
Montreal
RCA – Conversion Programme
(+)1-514-482-4252
Rabbi Yonasan Binyomin Weiss
Beth Din of Montreal
Tel: 514-739-6363 ext. 202
Fax: 514-739-7024
Toronto
Rabbi Asher Vale
(+)1-416-789-3213
Vancouver
Beis Din of Vancouver
(+)1-604-738-7060
France
Paris
Rabbi Yaacov Medar
(+)33-1-4082-2650
Rabbi Mordechai Rotenberg
(+)33-1-4277-8151
Strasbourg
Rabbi Shmuel Schlesinger
(+)33-3-8836-2745
Rabbi Mordechai Zekbach
(+)33-3-8860-3618
Lyon
Rabbi Yichye Tubol
(+)33-4-7284-6620
Germany
Frankfurt
Rabbi Mencahem Klein
49-69-75-1138(+)
Berlin
Rabbi Y. Ehrenberg
(+)49-30-211-2273
(In association with a Beth-Din from Israel)
Beit Din of the organization of Orthodox Rabbis in Germany
49-221-921560-20 (+)
49-221-921560-19 (+) (Fax)
Italy
Rome
Chief Rabbi Elihu Toaff
Rabbino Alberto A. Piatteli
(+)390-6-68400651
Milano
Rabbi Josef Laras
(+)390-2-48593560
Email: [email protected]
Netherlands
Amsterdam
Rabbi Aryeh Ralbag
[resides in Brooklyn, NY, USA]
(+)1-718-258-5596
Poland
There are at present no permanent Orthodox conversion courts in Poland.
There are Rabbis who support potential converts (on a case by case basis), and can guide them through the entire process. The conversion itself is done by Rabbis from Israel who are sent on behalf of the Israeli Rabbinate for this purpose.
(+)48-226-241484
The Polish Jewish community’s website is: http://www.jewish.org.pl/
Russia
Moscow
Rabbi Pinchas Goldshmidt
(+)7-495-623-4788
(+)7-495-940-5557
Rabbi Berel Lazar
(+)7-495-602-6747
South Africa
Johannesburg
Rabbi Moshe Kurtstag
United Kingdom
London
Beit Din of London
(+)44-208-343-6270
Dayan E. Padwa
(+)44-208-806-8103
Rabbi Y.Lichtenstein
Federation of Synagogues
(+)44-208-202-2263
Manchester
Rabbi G. Krauss
(+)44-161-740-9711
Leeds
Rabbi Y. Refson
(+)44-113-269-6902
United States
Beth Din of America / Rabbinical Council of America
Rabbi Michoel Zylberman
(+)1-212 -807-9000, extension 3
http://www.judaismconversion.org/
Participating Batei Din: http://www.judaismconversion.org/batei.din.html
California
Los Angeles
Rabbinical Council of California
Rabbi Avrohom Union
(+)1-213-389-3382 ,extension 131
Email: [email protected]
http://www.rccvaad.org/beth-conversion.html
Rabbi Gavriel Cohen
Rabbi Avraham Teichman
Telephone: (+)1-323-9390298
Fax: (+)1-323-9333686
Rabbi Shmuel Ohana
(+) 1-818-216-5730 Direct Line
(+) 1-818-901-1598 Office Telephone
(+) 1-818-901-1759 Office Fax
Florida
Miami
South Florida Beit Din for Conversion
Rabbi Efrem Goldberg
561-394-0394
Rabbi David Lehrfeld
North Miami Beach
(+)1-786-942-1711
Georgia
Atlanta
Rabbi Ilan D. Feldman
(+)1-404-633-0551
South-East Regional Beth Din for Conversion
Rabbi Adam Starr
(+)1-404-315-1417
Illinois
Chicago
Beth Din Zedek of Chicago Rabbinical Council
(+)1-773-465-3900
Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwarz
Rabbi Shmuel Fuerst
(+)1-773-539-4241
Maryland
Baltimore
Rabbi M. Feldman
(+)1-410-764-7373
Massachusetts
Boston
Rabbi Abraham Halbfinger
Vaad Harabonim of Massachusetts
(+)1-617-426-2139
Michigan
Detroit
Rabbi I.M. Levin
(+)1-248-557-6680
Missouri
St. Louis
Rabbi Sholom Rivkin
(+)1-314-569-2770
New Jersey
Teaneck
Bet Din of the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky
(+)1-201-287-9292
Elizabeth
Rabbi Eliezer Teitz
(+)1-908-355-4850
New York
Manhattan
Manhattan Beth Din for Conversions
Rabbi Zvi Romm
Rabbinical Alliance of America
Rabbi Hershel Kurzrock
(+)1-212-242-6420
Brooklyn
Beth Din of Agudath Harabbonim
Rabbi Aryeh Ralbag
(+)1-718-258-5596
Queens
Rabbi Eliyahu Ben-Haim
Sepharadic Beth Din of Queens
Rabbi Menachem Zilber
(+)1-718-384-6765
Monsey
Rabbi S.J. Landesman
(+)1-914-356-5379
Ohio
Cleveland
Rabbi Grananstein
Rabbi David Zlatin
(+)1-216-595-1299
Cincinnati
Beth Din of Cincinnati
Rabbi Hanan Balk
(+)1-513-531-6654
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
Rabbi A. Brisman
(+)1-215-722-0239
Pittsburgh
Vaad HaRabbanim of Greater Pittsburgh
Rabbi Langer
Rabbi Moishe Mayer Vogel
(+)1-412-421-0111
Washington
Seattle
Va’ad Harabanim of Greater Seattle
Rabbi Moshe Kletenik
(+)1-206-721-0970
Washington D.C.
Conversion Court of Washington D.C.
Rabbi Barry Freundel
(+)1-202-333-2337
Wisconsin
Milwaukee
Rabbi Menachem Senderovic
(+)1-414-873-4398
Conversion in Latin America:
The rabbis of Latin America listed below are known to support potential converts (on a case by case basis), and can guide them through the entire process.
Brazil
Rabbi Binyamin Zagury, Rio de Janeiro
Rabbi Meir Fuksman, Sau Paulo
Rabbi Matan Regev, Belem
Mexico
Rabbi Zizke Slomiansky, Mexico City
Rabbi Abraham Palti, Mexico City
Peru
Rabbi Itay Meushar, Lima
Costa Rica
Rabbi Gershon Miletski, San Jose
Spain
Rabbi Moshe Bendahan, Madrid
Portugal
Rabbi Eliezer Di Martino, Lisbon
dhl144,
If technology enables more people to learn more effectively and more frequently, who are you to judge? We are not the Amish.
Sofrim use computers to check STAM. Mashgichim use light boxes to check produce for tolayim. What’s the nafka mina between the use of technology to help perform these mitzvos and the mitzva of limmud hatorah?
Hamas is attacking Israel because they are bound by an ideological commitment to destroying the Jewish State and murdering Jews, r”l.
Because many people in many communities, particularly Haredi Ashkenazi ones, are totally unconcerned with proper dikduk and usage of the Hebrew language.
I happen to like the Marine Park/Kensington/Flatbush communities since they are English speaking, not insular, and still very frum, convenient, and full of opportunities to learn.
The Flatbush Jewish Journal, for instance, lists opportunities to learn under R’ Aryeh Ralbag, R’ Hershel Schachter, R’ Eli Baruch Shulman, Rav Belsky, Rav Nelkenbaum, and other heilige gedolim, whether for iyun, daf yomi, or other shiurim.
The motzei shem ra against a talmid chacham exhibited here is shocking. Rabbi Angel is a talmid of Rav Soloveitchik. People here called him non-Orthodox, which is a vicious falsehood. Modern Orthodoxy is hated and loathed by the Haredim, which is sina of the worst kind.
Nochum (Norman) Eisenstein, like other Haredim, embodies an unprecedented stance on giyur and kabbalas hamitzvos. They are no different than Reformers; the psak of the Beis Yitzchok that they follow goes against the Talmud, Rambam, and Shulchan Aruch.
He also invented a halakha that a dayan on a beit din who accepts evolution is pasul l’dayanus. Therefore, hypothetically, according to Eisenstein, choshuve rabbonim like R’ Aryeh Kaplan, zt”l, the Netziv, Rav SR Hirsch, the Yachin u’Boaz, R’ Eliyahu Benamozegh, Rav Kook, the Maharsham, the Maharatz Chayes, R’ Slifkin, and many others are all pasul because they fail to embrace a relatively contemporary Haredi inclination towards the rejection of scientific data.
The qualifications for a dayan on a conversion beis din are minimal.
Meiri, Yevamos 46b, explains that for giyur, all Jewish men may be considered mumchim for the sake of giyur courts since the only function they are performing halachically is witnessing the tevilah and casually explaining the mitzvos and implications thereof upon the candidate.
The Shu”T Binyamin Ze’ev (1:72) says that a conversion is valid when the 3 witnesses are hedyotot. The Rambam mentions that three is the requirement for giyur, he notes, and does not davka say that the three need to be mumchim.
There are no theological or ideological litmus tests for a dayan to sit on a conversion beis din. All that is required is that the dayan be kosher l’edut, and when it comes to determining this, we don’t construct halakhic straw men.
Eisenstein also said that Ethiopian Jews require giyur, contra the Radbaz and Hakham Oovadia Yosef (this is motivated by racist sentiments, most likely.
He invited the convicted sexual abuser Mordechai Tendler into his shul to give a shiur, and his shaychus to Yosef Tropper, whose arayos, crimes, and perversions are too explicit and raunchy to mention here, r”l, is extremely damning.
And yet this is the man we’re supposed to respect as a great halakhic authority. This is a shonda.
His conversions are NOT on the Rabbanut list, yet conversions done by the most respected rabbis are not on the list either. R’ Marc Angel, for instance, is the former RCA president, and the RCA today has distanced themselves from him. Giyur has been distorted to the worst possible extent.
Rav HaMachshir,
What agency do you work with? And if the mods can put us in touch, maybe we can see. If not, I am always interested in meeting new people, especially people in klei kodesh.
Tznius dress is Talmudically conceived of as a function of geography, in many instances. For instance, in Boro Park, a woman probably shouldn’t go with bare feet, while in other communities, this would be mutar.