HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Zilberstein on Monday published a letter, signed by Rosh Yeshivah HaGaon HaRav Gershon Edelstein, against firecrackers ahead of the upcoming Yom Tov of Purim.
“My dear brothers. I came to warn about the spilling of innocent blood וְלָאָרֶץ לֹא יְכַפֶּר לַדָּם אֲשֶׁר שֶׁפַּךְ בָּהּ (במדבר לה לג). Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us the kodesh day of Yom HaPurim which is like Kippurim, and unfortunately, it has been transformed into a day of bloodshed. I know of children who threw firecrackers and caused women situations of pikuach nefesh mamash, there are children whose fingers were cut off, and people who were blinded.”
“One who sells firecrackers or a father who allows his children to use them – what will he answer on Yom HaDin?”
“And it’s written in the sefer Moed L’Kol Chai (in the introduction) that the use of gunpowder stems from the nations of the world, and it’s not appropriate for the Jewish nation in any place and at any time to do so, and the one who does so violates ‘You should not do as their deeds.’
“And he writes that at first, the Beis Din would inform the Bnei HaGolah (Diasporah) when Rosh Chodesh was determined by raising torches, and they would light up the entire Golah like a bonfire. It wasn’t announced by a ‘reed of fire” or like, for they are weapons and instruments of death which are designed for calamity – because the moedei Hashem were given for life and not death.”
“And even if there is nothing deadly in it, its sound alone, when it’s set off suddenly, can cause a person to tremble and panic. These instruments of death shouldn’t be used in any form even on Purim and at weddings.”
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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15 Responses
More people are killed or injured around Purim from drunken driving than from fireworks accidents. We need more such warnings about minimizing alcohol consumption if you will driving a vehicle or even riding a bike after drinking. Ad’shelyo yadah is not a heter to be a rotzeach.
Really it has no place ever? So if there’s a war against us then we are supposed to fight with bows and arrows?
Get-r-dun: That’s obviously not what he meant.
“And he writes that at first, the Beis Din would inform the Bnei HaGolah (Diasporah) when Rosh Chodesh was determined by raising torches, and they would light up the entire Golah like a bonfire. It wasn’t announced by a ‘reed of fire” or like, for they are weapons and instruments of death which are designed for calamity – because the moedei Hashem were given for life and not death.”
Since gunpowder was unknown to mankind at the time that system of bonfires was devised, this doesn’t seem like a very good proof.
gadol..drinking & driving is reckless & purim is no excuse , but i am a yente and follow the hack on a number of sites and anecdotedly i cannot remember purim fatalities year after year or even major crashes , why? must be hashems rachmanus even when we act foolish .. but thats no excuse
Aruch..613
Read it carefully that’s exactly what he wrote, he wrote that is bechukoseihem lo seleichu…
Not a Talmud chacham by any stretch but…
* for my above post- when I wrote not a Talmud Chacham, I mean myself.
Wow, this is gevaldig!
Kudos to Rav Zilberstein and Rav Edelstein shlit”a for this very important contribution to the kedushah of Klal Yisroel and Purim. Thanks to YWN for sharing it with us.
I would like to add to the synopsis of YWN from the Hebrew version, for those who might just read the English part. It goes further than just with regard to Purim, going on to state that fireworks have no place at chassunos (Jewish weddings) either. And not only large firecrackers, or sparklers, but even smaller things, such as “party snaps”, as they come from sources foreign to us, and carry with them various dangers, large and small.
In Izmir they would announce this publicly on Shabbos Zachor.
In the zechus of listening to these senior gedolim, עיני העדה, may we be protected from harm and merit נחת דקדושה.
What on earth is a קנה שריפה? Neither morfix nor a web search offer any help with this term.
But if it uses gunpowder then the fact that Chazal didn’t use it means nothing, and using that as evidence against it only proves that the person offering the argument is ignorant and stupid. Chazal never heard of gunpowder; we have no reason to believe that they would not have used it, if they had known of its existence.
Check the studies done by Or Yarok and other public safety groups. The data is not granular enough to isolate the day of Purim but there is definitely a spike in MVAs around Purim. Not causality but strongly suggests some correlation.
Milhouse, you ask what is a קנה שריפה? In the sefer quoted you will find:
קנה שריפה שקורין טופ’יקס וקאראבינא”ס
The sefer quoted ( בהקדמת המחבר לספר מועד לכל חי ) assumes that in times of kiddush hachodesh al pi ha’riya, gunpowder (originating from the Far East) was readily available in Eretz Yisroel. That assumption is highly unlikely, as you point out.
Further, a torch remains aflame for a duration of time, therefore, it is appropriate to be used till the message is received. In contrast, gunpowder lights in a flash and quickly extinguishes, therefore, it would not be used for this purpose.
I am shocked by the extreme chutzpah of multiple posters who mock and argue with gedolei yisroel.
These m’chu’tafim exist because they feel if it’s open season and perfectly okay to mock the rabbonim and gedolim in Chabad and Breslev and Sefardim, they why not also mock Litvish gedolim?
The Satan who disrespects Torah and tries to break klal Yisroel, disrespects everyone’s Torah and doesn’t care which godol or kehilah he disparages.
Know that these mockers are shluchim of the Satan trying to harm ALL yidden and trying to prevent the geulah at all costs.
“…Know that these mockers are shluchim of the Satan trying to harm ALL yidden and trying to prevent the geulah at all costs…”
The rebbitzen neglected to note that these “mockers” are distinct from the “hockers” who spout their nevius and sinas chinam to condemn any perspective that deviates from the views of their favorite “gadolim”
To Lemayseh:
Thank you for bringing to us the Hebrew version.
OK, so what are טופ’יקס וקאראבינא”ס? Presumably קאראבינא”ס are carbines, which were invented in the 16th or 17th century, but what are טופ’יקס?