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It is not a mitzvah. It is an eitzah tovah, but not a mitzvah. There is no obligation to specifically eat bread in the morning, although in Bava Metziah 107, Chazal say eating bread with salt and a jug of water in the morning protects against many illnesses. There are a whole host of authorities who say that Talmudic medicine and science do not necessarily apply today. (Nishtaneh hatevah). I donlt think there is any concrete evidence behind this eitzah. It is not incumbent upon us to follow health advice in the Gemara or Rambam.
I was brought up in a home with parents who were off the derech, and had left Orthodoxy in their teens, but became frum, learned Hebrew, how to make a leining, and started doing all of this when I was 16. I am 20 now, go to college, hold a job to pay for medical expenses, and learn several hours each day, give shiuirim, write articles and pilpulim (you see some of them here), try to be mechazek others and do acts of chesed, and try to be medakdek b’mitzvos. I have experienced some discrimination, some which may be intentional, other discrimination which may be unintentional, such as people using an overabundance of Yiddish terms I may not know. Most exceptionally, though, I have faced rejection by some over my openness to learning torah from different camps (i.e. quoting Rav Kook, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, pesukim from Tanach, etc. in some circles will not go over well), but this may just be that some are closeminded and are just following what their rebbe or rov tells them to do and think. As a result of my transition to frumkeit, my parents and I have nothing to do with each other, despite my being young (20), and I live without material support (I sacrificed my yerusha, my home, everything to be able to live a Torah lifestyle), sometimes I sleep on the trains, spend nights in Shomrei Shabbos learning Gemara, more or less doing the best that I can to get by. This is being mesiras nefesh for Torah and I would choose poverty/homelessness to keep mitzvos and learn torah any day of the week over, c”v, abandoning the lifestyle of emes HaShem revealed to me. On top of all of this, I am visually impaired, dyslexic, and am undergoing treatment for yeneh machla. The biggest challenge I face is the lack of monetary support a parent provides at this age, but it is a no-brainer for me to choose Torah u’mitzvos over living in an environemnt where I am not welcome due to my religious practices and beliefs. It is also depressing to not have a family to eat by for Shabbos and Yom Tov; my shabboses normally consist of making kiddush in Shomrei Shabbos, eating what hot item I can find there, and learning. It is very hard not having the simcha and ruchnius of a loving mishpacha who is with you and supports you in your faith. Most of all, though, I am not a baal teshuvah. I haven;t mastered the art of repentance. I consider myslef a tinok shenishba and a chozer b’ teshuva; for whatever reason, HaShem decicded I should be born to the people I was born to, but now that I am of the age to do as I please, I have taken upon myself shmiras hamitzvos. For this I would trade nothing. I;d even give my life for it, and to an extent I have (being homeless is no fun and can get to you). The most important thing I remember and that gives me chizuk is this: For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but HaShem gathers me in (Tehillim 27:10).
Oomis,
Would you say that the neviim were all “nut-cases” (r”l)?
They seem to fulfill your criteria for such a vague category.
We are responsible for one another, perhaps especially in terms of observance and spirituality.
You can deal with Nishtane Hatevah has been applied in different circumstances as a response to sakanas in inyonei kashrus. I dealt with the sakana of drinking water after eating fish- maybe there is a scientific reason for this.
He was destined to be burned for the aveira of being Hogeh Es ha’Shem; He was he punished because he did so in public. Tosfos, on DH Hogeh, on this daf, say that Hogeh Es ha’Shem is to explicitly read the letters of Shem ha’Meyuchad like the letters of other words. So, while one can take their own life for the sake of avoiding transgressing mitzvos in time of persecution, it seems as if R’ Chanina’s death was bound to occur since he was Hogeh Es HaShem b’farhesya. The Roman executioner removed the sponges that artificially prolonged his life, and he too jumped into the fire, with the Yalkut Shimoni holding that both were given a place in olam haba. The Roman was rewarded for showing him mercy at the end by lessening the torture; R’ Chanina was given reward for choosing death over a transgression.
However, these rishonim which hold like Rabbeinu Tam in Tosfos seem to overlook the fact that R’ Chanina’s act of suicide was seen as punishment for his pronouncing the Havayah in public and his entire family is believed to have suffered immensely for that. The Midrash, in Breshis Rabbah 82:8, seems to indicate that suicide is considered unnatural, even when done on behalf of the Torah.
Josh31,
Tosfos to the daf (DH v’Al) says that when one is concerned that he will be forced to sin (such as by being tortured until he sins), he is permitted to kill himself. The Gemara in Gittin (57b) relates the tragic story of four hundred Jewish children who were captured and were being taken to be used for immoral purposes, who chose to drown themselves in the sea rather than to be forced to sin. According to the opinion of R’ Nachman Bar Yitzchak in Gittin 57b, it refers to Chachamim who give their lives for learning, which may clearly be the case with R’ Chanina.
Basically, where there is a question of yehareg v’ al yaavor, chosing death over violating the three cardinal sins of Judaism , as was the case with the children in Gittin 57b and R’ Chanina, the requirement does extend to active suicide, according to Rabbeinu Tam in the same Tosfos, citing the same story of the children in Gittin. The Chiddushei HaRitva here also allows such acts of suicide. Even in instances where one would be forced to violate even the smallest detail of observance, during times of persecution, martyrdom must be accepted; in a time of general persecution of Jews one should prefer martyrdom when required to transgress a law even in private(Sanhedrin 74b-75a, Yesodei HaTorah 5:1-4, and the Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 157:1). The Rosh says that one one is allowed to accept martyrdom even in cases where the halacha doesn’t require it (Avodah Zarah 2:9). One who transgresses the halacha instead of submitting to martyrdom where martyrdom is enjoined, can not be punished in the courts, since the transgression is committed under duress, but he must be regarded as a defiler of G-d’s name; and if he persists in living in the same place and in continuing the transgression when he can escape, he forfeits his portion in the future world and will be assigned to the lowest chambers of hell, according to the Rambam.
There is a clear makor for active suicide; i.e. taking one’s life when there is the possibility one will be faced with transgressing the Torah.
I don’t believe that any gedolim, other than the Lubavitcher Rebbe, in past years, has addressed issues of morality and sheva mitzvos for goyim. I can provide the source, if you’d like. The sicha is probably on the internet, although I am unsure.
(I am not stam a Lubavitcher, by the way. However, it is the Chassidus with which I am most familiar, and I have tremendous respect for the Rebbe, whom I believe to have been one of the gedolei hador).
If it is not that big of tree, i.e. only needs an ax to be chopped down, I can do it for a reasonable rate. Feel free to contact me through the moderator.
Klausenberger? I had said a sicha of the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s.
What about Tosafos to Avodah Zarah 20a, which forbids giving away any part of Eretz Yisroel to goyim? Ramban forbids any part of the land from falling to goyim, a shita which most on the anti-disengagement side of the argument generally base their shitas on, whether Rav Goren, Rav Shapira, Rav Aviner, Rav Kook, or others. Of course, those who support disengagement are not without standing, but overall, disengagement is damaging to the safety and sovereignty of the state of Israel, which is of great halachic importance. All of Merkaz HaRav cannot be incorrect, and they have upon whom to rely in opposing disengagement and territorial concessions to goyim that happen to be our sworn enemies.
I was in a restaurant on Coney Island Avenue the other night and was shocked by what I saw. I don’t have all the answers to these problems, but B’ezras HaShem, forums like this can yield solutions that will take us in the right direction and will stimulate discussion.
Thanks kasha.
Thank you, so right, for explaining the gist of what I am doing. You hit the nail on the head. A gut yohr and a gut voch.
The Gemara describes the tragic death of Rebbi Chanina Ben Teradyon. The Romans wrapped him in his Sefer Torah, surrounded him with bundles of branches, and ignited them. To make him suffer even more, they soaked sponges of wool in water and placed them on his heart so that his death would be slow and torturous. His students cried out, “Open your mouth and let the flame enter (so that you should not suffer)!” Rebbi Chanina replied, “It is better that the One who gave life should take it away, and let man not injure himself.” Rebbi Chanina in effect took his own life lifnim mishuras hadin, opening the entire question of whether martyrdom is permissible.
When walking on the street, I think it is appropriate to wear full levush, except for when, let’s say, jogging or running for exercise sake.
I never said the Igros Moshe addressed this practice.
What I did say was that he held that it was not an issur of negiah when handing someone a card, unlike handing somebody change. I am touching upon the finer points of what constitutes negiah. You can challenge my whole enterprise, but don’t turn my words around to say that this practice is addressed in any responsa literature. Handing someone of the opposite sex a card, pamphlet, flyer, etc. is perfectly permissible for the reason that someone is grabbing the opposite end of the document and there is no negiah.
There is no mitzvah in supporting a government that is self-destructing, unless you hold like Rav Amital/leftists/Rav Ovadia Yosef/others who support territorial concessions for “piece,” pieves of Jewish bodies being sliced salami-style (to quote mori ve rabbi, HaRav Mordechai Yitzchok Freidman, the Tyrnava Rov).
The Chofetz Chaim wore overall-type garments when running his store. Chazal most likely wore clothing appropriate to whatever work they were doing in the days of the Gemara. I don’t think wearing clothing inappropriate for an activity or task at hand is meritorius. In fact, it can border on pikuach nefesh- failing to wear protective clothing when doing manual labor, etc., and even baal tashchis- wasteful consumption, as one risks damaging expensive clothing (i.e. suits) if worn during such activities which can be messy. Do you ever see a butcher not wearing a protective white oat or a painter not wearing the right clothing? Mowing a lawn might be different, but it is the same idea.
Paul/Shaul and then later Constantine, yemach shmo, started Christianity. Jesus was of Beis Hillel and didn’t hold by trinity, non-observance, etc. No scholar will debate this point. Paul, who never had met Yushka or had anythign to do with his 12 talmidim, invented the avodah zarah religion of today.
Add a section on lomdus (similar to that in the Artscroll sefer A Daily Dose of Torah), and allow one to change their password to something they’ll remember.
We do have women who partake in this mitzvah. These days, you don’t have to seek prutzahs- they are just there wherever you turn, wherever you go. I do not look inappropriately; when the problem presents itself, I nonchalantly hand a card, and for this, there is no halachic problem (Reb Moshe, I believe, holds that instead of shaking a woman’s hand professionally, it is preferable to hand a business card.) Change is a different story than a 3*5 index card, which is bigger than most business cards. With change, you are depositing coins into the hand of someone of the opposite gender, which is ossur, but with handing a card to someone, they are simply grabbing the other end of it, otherwise, Reb Moshe wouldn’t have suggested men hand females business cards in lieu of handshaking- no issur involved. This is somethign I do when I am in Manhattan or on the trains; I don;t go out and do this for the sake of it. I try to the best of my ability to avoid makomei tumah v’pritzus, but there is not always the option of controlling who goes on the tain, etc. I always try to sit as far away from such individuals as soon as possible. Tznius is an aspect of morality, and therefore, goyim too have to be tzniusdik. R’ Yitzchok Dubovick, a gaon in inyonei sheva mitzvos, and the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who was perhaps the leading gadol in these inyonim, held this way, and I have upon whom to rely in this (see the sicha of the Rebbe from Shavuos 5747 on Bnei Noach and Nezirus).
R’ Doniel Sayani
There is a difference. A fire escape is there specifically for the purpose to save lives in the event of a fire, c”v, so that you have an escape should an apartment or house go on fire. Pikuach nefesh comes first and foremost.
Cliques? It is amazing how social psychology doesn;t seem to differ all that much among Yidden and goyim when one hears of such things, r’l. One should have ahavas yisroel for all Yidden and try to get along with everyone, as I did.
Rabbi Rudinsky, the Mishkan Betzalel and Hiluchei HaDfa is a gaon betorah and gives shiur in a wide array of Masechtos, including a Kodshim shiur b’iyun at his shul, one of the only rabbonim to do this in this area, other than Rabbi Shlomo Einhorn in Manhattan. He knows Toras ha kulo and transmits this derech to his talmidim, emphasizing Nach, Chumash, and Machshava alongside Gemara B’Iyun and Bekius.
The Aruch HaShulchan states that it is preferable to avoid the Tashlich ritual entirely since it leads to prohibited social mingling. The whole ritual is based on the belief of the Maharil that there is a link to Parshas Rosh Hashanah, the Akeidash, since the Medresh says that the Soton turned himself into a river so Avrohom Avinu couldn’t reach the top of Moriah. The Gra was turned off by this completely and didn;t hold by tashlich. The Arizal did hold by tashlich, as did most mekubalim.
There is a machlokes concerning whether one is allowed to take something to alleviate the fast the day before. While the Tzitz Eliezer allows one to take such a pill on Erev Yom Kippur, there is a view of the Chiddushei Chasam Sofer to R”H 9a and R’Zev Boskowitz of the Seder Mishna on the Rambam who say that there is a mitzvah of tosefes Yom Kippur requiring one to begin fasting early enough on Erev Yom Kippur to ensure that he will experience at least some small degree of hunger at the onset of Yom Kippur so by sunset you’re already hungry. The halacha le ma’aseh does seem to be the meikil view of the Tzitz Eliezer, who holds like Rav Zevin.
A friend of mine and I every week take a stack of index cards and write on them in large letters “Practice Modesty,” and when on the train or walking in the city, we’ll quickly hand these to a pritzusdik-dressed woman, whether frum-looking or not (goyim get the English, and frum-seeming women dressed immodestly get the card which says “Practice Tznius”). We have never been attacked or given a hard time. People take them, and G-d willing, they hold on to it and think about what it says.