The Somewhat Litvshe Yid

Im not back

2007-11-20T10:30:00.000+02:00

Just testing some mobile blogging stuff.

For Amshinover...

2006-03-03T11:30:00.000+02:00

A while ago Amishnover came over for lunch. Since Jameel was also there, as well as a forth chap, we had a Zimun for bentching. As is my minhag, I asked the fellow who was doing the Zimun to please say the first bracha out loud and have in mind to be motzi me on that bracha. Amshi wondered where that came from and I said it was Minhag HaGra, who held that Zimun was a Din D'orraisa (as is clear from the Gemara Brachos מ"ה) and that one isn't yotzei that unless all those answering listen to the bracha quietly and answer Amen (see Tosefes Ma'aseh Rav כ"ד). Well, that wasn't enough for him, so I'm off looking. Meanwhile, I found, in Ma'aseh Rav HaShalem:
כ"ב ר"ח מואלאז'ין דלברהמ"ז נוטל בעה"ב רשות וברכה ראשונה מברהמ"ז אומר המרך לבד.(הנהגות ישרות ס"ק קס"ג)

I'm not sure that's enough for him, but I'm trying here. I also was told that in Yeshivas Torah Temimah in Brooklyn, that is how they are noheg l'mayseh. In addition, after a quick talk with my Rav on the topic, he told me it is based on Rashi's shitah in Brachos. When I find the appropriate Rashi, I will be happy to share.

Wow...it's been a while.

2006-03-03T09:45:00.000+02:00

Ok, so it's been a good long time since I posted, but here I am. We'll do a couple small posts and then hopefully get back into the swing of things.

First of all, Jameel is running the Purim Parody Carnival. Go take a look, sign up and join the fun. I'm parodying a very well known blogger and I hope I haven't taken on too much.

Next, go read this blog. Link to her. Give her all sorts of attention and maybe she'll write some more.

And now for a short vort:

The Beis HaLevi said that when one gives tzdakah to a poor person, the giver is fulfilling the positive commandment of tzdakah through that person, as well as several other Mitzvas Aseh. Therefore, the oni becomes an embodiment of a commandment (חפצא של מצוה). In the same way an etrog, before Succos, is just a fruit, but when picked up and used to fulfil the commandment of לקחתם לכם it to becomes a חפצא של מצוה and gains inherint kedushah which prohibts one from gaining untoward benifit (איסור הנאה) or using it for mundane purposes, likewise the wood of which the Succah is made (ע"ע גמ' סוכה ט. ורש"י על החגיגה) is forbbiden. It is also forbidden to treat an item with which a mitzah is fulfilled in an unseemly manner (חולין פג גבי כסוי הדם). Therefore the Beis HaLevi concludes that the situation is the same by the recipent of the tzdakah, that it is forbidden, מן התורה, to treat the him in a disrespectful manner.

Off to the old country...

2005-12-26T19:08:00.000+02:00

We're off to the old country for my brother-in-law's wedding. If any one has a burning need to meet the world famous Litvshe and you live in New York, leave me a comment and I'll get right back to you.

Amshinover, lunch is on you this time since Jameel never paid me back.

Tookie's Dead and that's a good thing.

2005-12-17T18:29:00.000+02:00

Ok. So I saw this post and I just couldn’t sit quietly. Tookie Williams was executed and some people in the J-Blogsphere have started discussing the status of capital punishment in Judaism. Everyone knows the gemara about a Sanhedrin that kills someone is called a murderous Beis Din. They therefore translate this into the assumption that Judaism in general is against the death penalty. Such things as two witnesses and warning are bandied about, without a proper understanding of the what the halacha. So, I’m going to lay it out here and hopefully some misconceptions will be cleared up.

There are two separate authorities who have the ability to exact capital punishment in Jewish Law. The first, as mentioned, is the Sanhedrin, of which there are two types. The Sanhedrin HaGadol, with 71 members, which sits in the Mikdash is the first. The second is the Sanhedrin Katana with 23. Every city, including Yerushalayim, must have its own Sanhedrin of 23. Most capital cases are judged by this Beis Din. The cases which only appear before the Sanhedrin HaGadol are cases of False Prophet, A Cohen Gadol, or if an entire Shevet needs to be judged. There are other cases, such as going out to a non-mandatory war (מלחמת רשות) which also need approval by such a forum, but that isn’t within the scope of this discussion. All of this is found in the first perek of Masechta Sanhedrin.

The second authority is the King. I’m not going to distinguish between kings of Israel and kings of Judah, since I don’t believe there is any distinction from a halachic standpoint. In any event, there are several cases where a king is permitted to summarily execute someone. Two halachos from the Rambam come to mind. Both from the third perek of Hilchos Malachim V’Milchamos

ח - כל המורד במלך, יש למלך רשות להורגו. אפילו גזר על אחד משאר העם שילך למקום פלוני ולא הלך, או שלא ייצא מביתו ויצא--חייב מיתה; ואם רצה להורגו--יהרוג, שנאמר "כל איש אשר ימרה את פיך". וכן כל המבזה את המלך, או המחרף אותו--יש למלך רשות להורגו, כשמעי בן גרא. ואין למלך רשות להרוג אלא בסיף בלבד.
י - כל ההורגין נפשות שלא בראיה ברורה, או בלא התראה, אפילו בעד אחד, או שונא שהרג בשגגה--יש למלך רשות להרוג אותם, ולתקן העולם כפי מה שהשעה צריכה. והורג רבים ביום אחד, ותולה ומניחן תלויים ימים רבים, להטיל אימה, ולשבור יד רשעי העולם. .

That is to say , in two specific case does the king have the right to execute people, those being Mored B’Malchus (rebellion) and Horeg Nefes (murder). In both cases, with respect to the king, the general rules of witness and warning are waived. As the Rambam brings down in Halacho 10: Without clear witness, without warning and even with one witness. There is place to discuss if a government is the equivalent of a king, but s’vara certainly leans in that direction. In any event, it should be noted the Rambam’s reasoning for permitting the king to do such things. To fix the world as the hour requires. The language is similar to a related halacha dealing with the Sanhedrin’s right to impose capital punishment outside the general rules of halachic jurisprudence. Sanhedrin 24:4

ד - יש לבית דין להלקות מי שאינו מחוייב מלקות, ולהרוג מי שאינו מחוייב מיתה, לא לעבור על דברי תורה, אלא לעשות סייג לתורה. וכיון שרואין בית דין שפרצו העם בדבר--יש להן לגדור ולחזק הדבר, כפי מה שייראה להם: הכול הוראת שעה, לא שיקבע הלכה לדורות
The Sanhedrin has, at it’s prerogative, the right to impose the death penalty as a Horas Sha’ah when it feels the necessity to do so. The Rambam brings down several cases when this was done, including Shimon Ben Shetach killing the 80 women in Ashkelon without due process, warning, witness etc. As an additional note, the Rambam, in the Guide to the Perplexed at the end of Perek 3:40 mentions that if for whatever reason the Sanhedrin doesn’t execute a murderer it is clear that the king will do so.

The question then arises, what is the difference between the cases where the Sanhedrin must judge according to halacha, in which case if it does it would be considered a Sanhedrin that spills blood, with those which the Sanhedrin or the King judges with the purpose to set the world straight.

In any event, the situation in the world today is more of that of the King passing judgment. Every country has the right to protect its population against the depredations of those who don’t value human life, to create an atmosphere where there is a certain amount of deterrence or as the Rambam describes it: To break the hands of the wicked (ולשבור יד רשעי העולם).

Random filler

2005-12-15T15:03:00.000+02:00

Yes, I haven't posted as much as I should have. My bad. I'm working on a few more halacha posts, hope to have them out in the next few days. Meanwhile, there's a meme going around about what music is playing on your MP3 player. So, here goes.

20 songs from random shuffle playlist produced by iTunes for my trusty iPod.

Pipeline (Arab Mix)- Depeche Mode from the Rose Remixes
Doin' Time - Sublime from the Black Album
2000 Volts - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy from The Beautiful Life
One Tree Hill - U2 from THe Joshua Tree
Sister of Night (Ultra Remix) - Depeche Mode from the Rose Remixes
People are Peope - Depeche Mode from DM Remixes
Misskaculation - Ruder Then You from Ska: The Third Wave Vol.2
Seek and Destroy - The Suspects from Ska Chartbusters
Mable - Goldfinger from Live at the World Cafe
371 Go Ska - Ska King Crab from Mission to Mars
Fly on the Windscreen (extended) - Depeche Mode from DM Remixes
Revolution Rock - The Clash - London Calling
Sonata No. 14 in C# minor "Moonlight Sonata" - Depeche Mode
East Side Beat - The Toasters - This Gun for Hire
She Sure Can Cook - Skaoovie and the Epitones - Ska the Third Wave Vol.5
Lie To Me - Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward
D.L.T.B.G.Y.D. - The Toasters - D.L.T.B.G.Y.D.
The Blue Roots - J.B. Haley Jr. - Skarmaggedon #4
Too Long - The Skoidats - A Cure for what Ales you.

Anyway...I would like to mention I had a wonderful lunch with Jameel and Amshinover yesterday. Amshi, lunch is on you when I'm in Brooklyn in a few weeks.

Jameel and Amshi...you've been tagged.

Memories...

2005-11-30T13:21:00.000+02:00

Just a bit of teaser...
Last night I sat to interview a neighbor of mine. His name is Shimon Rachamim and he's quite a character. The reason I've embarked on this project is because Shimon comes from a very prominent Rabbinic family. For instance, his grandfather was a talmid chaver of the Ben Ish Chai and is mentioned repeatedly in R' Yosef Chaim's s'forim. His uncle (his father's oldest brother) R' Yechezkil Ezra Rachamim was considered one of the g'dolei Bavel at the age of 15 and the Ben Ish Chai would go over difficult p'sakim with him before giving a final answer. Another uncle (a younger brother of his father) was the Rishon L'Tzion R' Yitzcham Nissim. His father was also a well known Rav, the acknowledged expert in limud gemara as well as minhagei Bavel. A cousin on his mother's side was the Chief Rabbi of Argentina and his older brother is the Av Beis Din of the Eidah Chareidit of the S'faradim in Yerushalyim. He grew up two doors down from the Beis Yisroel, the 4th Gerrer Rebbe and personally new the majority of the G'dolei Yerushalyim of the last 50 years.
I will occasionally post the raw interview files here, when possible. They are in Hebrew for those who understand Lashon HaKodesh and they are very interesting.

You can listen to the interview from here.

You can also subscribe to the podcast here. Though you'll get audio ads as well, because meanwhile, I'm a cheapskate. Though you can subscribe and humor me.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

2005-11-29T10:18:00.000+02:00

Why am I not shocked.

The Religious World View

2005-11-28T21:05:00.000+02:00

I know, our revered teacher, The Godol, has stopped blogging, sort of. Though not really, since he seems to be posting fairly regularly and is getting thousands of hits a day. Which is cool.
Anyway...he is, I understand, a serious Rambam kinda guy when it comes to Hashkofo. Which I can relate to. So...with that in mind, I'll mention something that I heard this week.
My Rav gives a small shiur in Rambam on Motzei Shabbos. Not Halachos, rather Hakdamos. We finished the Hakdamo L'Pirush HaMishnayos a month an a half ago, so moved on to the Shmoneh Prakim (hopefully we'll do Perek Chelek afterwards...). We went off on a bit of a tangent this week talking about the parts in the Moreh Nevuchim where the Rambam takes the Mutazila to task(1:71 for starters). The Mutazila was a sect of Islam that took a religious outlook and tried to explain science based on that outlook, coming to all sorts of absurdities. The Rambam even mentions how this became the M.O. became the accepted stance amongst certain groups of our Coreligionists.
Needless to see, he holds no truck with it. To quote his summation of his stance on the issue:
"I shall say to you that the matter is as Themistius puts it: 'That which exists does not conform to the various opinions, but rather the various opinions conform to that which exists.'"(The Guide to the Perplexed, translated by Shlomo Pines, University of Chicago Press, pg. 179)
That is to say, the Rambam held, given a small set of immutable basic tenants (13 principles) one needs to perceive the world as best he can and then build a coherent philosophical stance based on that. He holds that ignoring/trying to discount/discredit modern science is absurd and even worse, intellectually dishonest. One will never reach truth if one predicates what the truth is before he goes looking for it.

The belly button ring post

2005-11-22T21:13:00.000+02:00

Appropos to my last post on the Kashrus of swimming pools here's my post on going to the mikve with your belly button/ear/nose/lip/eyebrow/other rings in.

Subject: navel piercing
Message: if a woman gets a navel ring:

1. is that considered a chatzitza, or can she dip with it on?

2. if technically allowed, would you know if the average mikve lady would still insist its removal?

thanks.

Reply: 1) If she never takes it out, it's Ok to leave it. Must be tough going through the metal detectors at the airport.
2) ...joke...
AA

We don't hold like that l'halacha. There are two main sources for not holding this way.
1) The Rem'a in the first sa'if in YD 198 says: לכתחלה לתטבול אפילו בדברים שאינן חוצצין (ואינן מכסים רוב גופה) גזירה אטו דברים החוצצין
Though I personally don't understand the Rem"a since that is mamish a gezairah l'gezairah, but that's the accepted p'sak.
2) This is based on whether or not women are makpid on their jewlery. The baseline for this is rings and whether or not women remove them when kneading dough. The Ra'avad (see Ta"Z 23, Be'er Heitev 24) holds that since most women take their rings off to knead dough, jewlery in general is Chotzetz. This comes out l'halacha in YD 198:23 where the Mechaber says any jewlery that is closely attached (which would be piercings, by definition) are chotzetz. (See also Chidushei R' Akiva Eiger 6 and 7 and Pischei Tshuva 13 and 14 which goes into detail about rings/jewlery with gems as compared to without).

B'dieved if a woman goes to mikveh with this or that type of piercing and already returned home, she has al mi l'smoch and doesn't have to go back to tovel.

My personal opinion on belly button rings will have to wait for another post.

It's not safe to go back in the water

2005-11-20T22:02:00.000+02:00

Ok…hopefully I’m back with some serious posting. I will be the first to admit that I enjoy a good lomdishe shiur and that few things give me as much pleasure as chapping a good svara, but I’ll be the first to admit I’m personally not very good at it. I can generally come up with some good questions but I’m not so good at working out good answers. Halacha on the other hand, I can deal with. Give me a topic and I’m pretty good at working from point A to point B and putting together the chain of psak from the gemara to the achronim, and it happens to be I enjoy it very much. So I’m going to try a few halachic postings this week.
Last week Jameel sent around a psak from the site Kashrut.org, run by the Abadi family, formerly of Lakewood, NJ. If I understand correctly, and someone please show me if I’m mistaken, R’ Yitzchak Abadi was a well known posek/dayan in the Lakewood community. In any event one of his sons made some mention about eating in non-Kosher restaurants, what’s allowed and such. It sounded very maikil and some of the folks in the email circuit thought it somewhat ridiculous. Though I wouldn’t follow it myself, the majority of kulas therein seemed pretty sound to me, though I don’t know the state of lard use in baking these days.
Anyway, I went looking through the Kashrut.org archives and came across a couple p’sakim that I just couldn’t let pass, since, well…as far as I can see they pretty much go against the halacha. The first one is the whether or not a swimming pool can be used as a mikveh.

Kevod horav shlite,

I'ven seen a lot of statements here that seemed reasonable to me, concerning both haloche and "hashkofe". Then I encountered allusions to jacuzzi/swimming pools being kosher as a mikve under certain circumstances. Would you explain these circumstance, please? I'm asking leshem limmud, not in order to fabricate a blank hetter.

Thanking you in advance,

Lipman

Reply: The basic idea is that piping does not render a Mikveh not Kosher these days, since our piping is attached to the house and/or ground.
There are however issues that need to be addressed. The water must have come from a river, a resevoir, an ocean, a lake, or anything other than "drawn water." If the first few hundred gallons come from a hose that comes from your home piping, that comes from the local water supply, then the pool is fine. The problem will be if it is initially filled by a tank truck, which in the present days it is a common practice in order to fill it with pre-cleaned water and allow you to use the pool immediately, that would be a problem.

The fact that we do not use a regular swimming pool as a Kosher Mikveh for women is an added "Chumra." (an extra restriction).
It is not based in Jewish Law. The Ra"sh is very clear about it being Kosher (Hilchot Mikvaot #12). The Shulchan Aruch and the RAM"A are clear that it is fine (Yo"D 201:48). Even the Nodeh Beyehuda who is the strictest in this issue would agree that the pool is good in our scenario where the piping is attached to the house &/or the ground, since it is made to be attached that way.

The process that makes water not Kosher for a Mikveh is if the first waters contain water drawn by a "Keli." This would include a pail or a cup or a tank. It would not include piping that is attached to the ground.

But there are some other issues.

A Mikveh must have the ability for a person to go completely under water at one time. The ideal is to have the water level at a height of one foot above the person's navel. This could be 48" to 56" or so. However, if the pool is wide enough, it can be fine at a lower height. In any case this is not enough of an issue to make it not Kosher. If the water is high or wide enough to fit into it and be able to be completely submerged without even any hair sticking out of the water and without needing to bend into abnormal acrobatic positions, then it is OK. The fact that a person will have such a pool available to them but will wait a day or so in order to go to a so-called "more Kosher" Mikveh, that in itself is against the law. Most people outside Brooklyn do not live close enough to a Mikveh to be able to go on a Shabbat or Holiday, so they push it off till afterwards. If they can go to a pool that is Kosher, then they are required to go. One of our biggest Mitzvot (Commandments) is the requirement to reproduce. This is our contribution to the continuity of the planet, and thus the continuity of God's master plan. Playing with our ability to observe this Mitzvah is a dangerous game. Adding any extra restrictions to people will have a direct negative result toward this master plan.
…some hashkofic points not relevant to the discussion…

In light of all this, I think it is essential for us to know how and when a pool is a Kosher Mikveh. Here are the basics.

You need to know how it was initially filled with water after the last time it was emptied. If it was by hose and attached piping, it is OK.

Then it must be large enough to fit into completely.

A woman can go into a Mikveh with her bathing suit. Any clothing can be worn into a Mikveh, as long as the water still reaches the body. (Shulchan Aruch YO"D 198:46)

…some other tangential points…

It's relatively easy. Allow us to help you.
AA

It all seems pretty straightforward and well sourced. Except one item is missing, which we’ll get to.
Just a bit of background information for those unfamiliar with the laws of mikveh:
1. From the Torah (D’oraisa) standpoint, any standing body of water is a kosher mikveh, it doesn’t matter if it drawn water or not. As long as it is enough to get your whole body in, then it’s good.
2. Chazal set the size of a mikveh at 40 se’ah, based on the fact that a general person is 1 amah x 1 amah x 3 amos, or 3 cubic amos, each being 13 1/3 se’ah.
3. Chazal also set that drawn water (מים שאובים) is posul for immersion.
The question then is, what is considered drawn water. The basic answer is any water that is brought in a vessel (כלי). And that is where we hit the sticky wicket.
R’ Abadi correctly brings down the halochos of pipes and other things that are connected to the ground that they are not considered vessels for the determination of whether or not the water is considered drawn or not. What he doesn’t take into consideration is how water is filtered and that halocho is brought down in maseches Mikvos, perek 4 Mishna 3.

החוטט בצינור לקבל צרורות--בשל עץ, כל שהוא; ובשל חרס, רביעית. רבי יוסי אומר, אף בשל חרס, כל שהוא: לא אמרו רביעית, אלא בשברי כלי חרס.

If one where to dig out a hole in a pipe to gather stones, if it’s made from wood, even the slightest receptacle, if from clay, enough to hold a revi’is. R’ Yossi said even clay the slightest amount and where it said a revi’is is talking about clay shards.

The Ra”Sh (ad. Loc.) explains that since pipes are note made to hold water, like a vessel, since they are open on both ends, therefore they are not intrinsically vessels and don’t disqualify the water, but if some sort of receptacle would be carved into the pipe before it was attached to the system then it would render the water unfit.
According to the Rambam (Hilchos Mikvos, 6:6) says a similar thing in a more direct way.

החוטט בצינור מקום לקבל בו הצרורות המתגלגלין במים, כדי שלא יירדו עם המים--אם היה הצינור של עץ וחפר בו כל שהוא, פוסל את המקוה: שהרי כל המים שיורדין באין מתוך כלי שנעשה לקבלה--ואפילו קבעו אחר שחקק בו, הואיל והיה עליו תורת כלי כשהיה תלוש. אבל אם קבעו בקרקע, ואחר כך חקק בו בית קיבול--אינו פוסל. ואם היה צינור של חרס, אינו פוסל עד שיהיה בחקק כדי לקבל רביעית.

That is to say, if you attach a vessel to the system of pipes, in such a way that water flowing through the pipes goes through the vessel, then the water is no longer fit to immerse in. This is brought down in the Shulchan Aruch 201:36.

Due to the modular way we do plumbing in the modern day and age, anything that could be considered a vessel at any point in the water system would render the water unfit for use as a mikveh. I’m not sure how things are done in Chu”l, but here in Israel pretty much every house is fitted with an external water filter even before it gets to one’s water meter (or sometimes directly after the meter). This is, according to anyone with a bit of intelligence, a vessel, that the water goes through specifically לקבל בו הצרורות. That is even if one posits there is no other water purification system between the main water source and the final destination. One could also, without stretching, conclude that the very existence of a tap at the end of the pipe, renders the pipe itself into a vessel, since the hetter of the the Ra”Sh is only based on the fact that the pipe is open on both ends.

Next time, belly button rings!

Update by request:

A woman can go into a Mikveh with her bathing suit. Any clothing can be worn into a Mikveh, as long as the water still reaches the body. (Shulchan Aruch YO"D 198:46)

Sort of. My only issue with this is that it only works with loose clothing (רפוי), and as far as I recall, bathing suits aren't too loose. One could say, that since baithing suits are water permiable then that counts as loose since water gets to the skin. I wouldn't personally rely on that. The commentators specifically mention the issue of loose clothing, (Sha"Ch 46, Be'er Heitiv 44, Pischei Tshuva 4) and specifically say not tight clothing. I'm not sure if they were wearing latex body suits back in the Ra'avan's time, but I'm assuming he's talking about wool/cotton/linen clothing which will get the skin wet, yet still no good. So, bathing suits are out according to the poskim and you could probably include most undergarments as well, except boxers which should be ok.

It's true...

2005-11-17T09:22:00.000+02:00

Though they are mighty tasty...not that I've had one in more then 15 years.

Gone daddy gone...the blog is gone.

2005-11-14T10:43:00.000+02:00

Well, as everyone knows, the Godol HaDor has left the building. So a call went out amongst his loyal (and not so loyal) chassidim, to make a fitting tribute. We wanted to be able to show that even in this time of hester ponim we still blog with emunah p'shuta. So the following his been created...this limited edition, digitally mastered teudas kashrus, signed by Ateres Rosheinu, Tiferes Blogeynu: The Godol. You too can have this simple reminder on your blog, to prove that your dayos are not(too) krum. So, pick it up now, and show the world that you're blog is tachas hashgachas BaDaTz HaGadol.

With thanks to Jameel for beta testing.

Back...sort of.

2005-11-13T17:53:00.000+02:00

Well, it's been a couple weeks since I last had a chance to blog. That's because one of the kinder came into the room one night complaining of a stomach ache. Thinking nothing of it, we let him get his blanket and pillow and lie down on the floor next to the bed. Next thing we know he's throwing up. No big deal...not the first time something like this has happened. At least it wasn't in the middle of the night on Shabbos and the Shabbos clock has just shut off all the lights and I'm barefoot, because, well that's happened. Anyway, we get everything cleaned off and get him calmed down enough to fall back into a fitful sleep. Next day he's kind of out of it, throws up a couple more times, very low fever. It gets chalked up to a bit of flu and he stays home from Talmud Torah. Same thing next day. Except late in the afternoon there seems to be some blood in it. So, off to the family doctor, who conveniently lives a few houses down the street and is married to my Rav. And with that the lovely wife bundles him up and heads off to the emergency room. I'm on my way home from work and I get a call. "We'll meet you half way...we're off to the hospital". Great.
We arrive at the Emergency room and the yingle is complaining and kvetching. The test start. Poking, prodding, looking at vomit, blood test, urine tests. The only thing conclusive is that there's some sort of infection somewhere. So, it's off to do an ultrasound. Nothing. Chest x-ray's. Nothing. Guess what...we get to spend the night. Around 11 my wife goes back home and I stay. About 1 am we get admitted to the hospital and head up to pediatrics. Next morning more tests and questions and prodding and such. Meanwhile, I've spoken with my father, who happens to be a pediatrician. He says, don't bother...it his appendix. At about 10 am the senior pediatric surgeon walks in, takes one look, and says "Next opening in the operating room, appendix is coming out". So, at about 4 pm we head down to the operating room. I hold his hand while they administer the anaesthetic and then go out. And promptly collapse from lack of sleep. My wife wakes me up 45 minutes later, the surgeon has walked into the waiting room. As expected, appendix was inflamed. That was Thursday evening. Anyway we ended up spending a wonderful Shabbos in the hospital with a kvetchy kid (understandably so, but doesn't make it anymore fun) who hasn't had anything to eat since Monday and is going out of his mind even thinking of us eating Shabbos meals. At least we had good company in the room. Motzei Shabbos my brother-in-law came to stay with him so we could get home (I hadn't been back to the house since Wed. morning when I left for work). As a matter of fact, the only time I left the hospital was to go the mikveh on erev Shabbos (last time I go to a Yerushalmie mikveh...can you say...personal space? Didn't think so.) and to crash on the couch in someones apartment (my wife slept in the hospital).
Suffice it to say we were let out on Monday. Only to go back Wed. night with stomach pains, stiches open, dead skin removed and sent home (while there were Arabs rioting outside...I got a faceful of tear gas running to the car). More pain next morning...back to the hospital. Seems to have picked up an infection. So, we're in the hospital until Tuesday. Fun.
I was zocheh to meet some very interesting people though and see some amazing acts of chesed. There's a family who comes to the hospital every shabbos, sets up Badatz meals for everyone who has to be there. Including preparing them so they can be brought up to the various departments. A group of boys from Brisk volunteer, helping set up and organize the show. So special thanks to Dovid. And all the Sem girls who came to stay the night so we could go home. Girls from Darkei Binah and Orot. Of course they spoil my son rotten, but that's because he has the most angelic smile and makes everyone melt.
Also, there was a very special family next to us. Gerrer Chassidim. The father, I understand, is a chashuv rav in the community, teaches yoreh deah for ba'alei hora'ah. Lots of chassidim coming in and out to visit. Unfortunately their 3 year old had Tay-Sachs and passed away last night. Sh'yiyeh Nishmaso Tzarur b'Tzror HaChayim.
So...that's why I haven't had much time to post in the last few weeks.

Update: We're all home. Things are getting back to normal. Hopefully he'll be able to go back to Talmud Torah on Sunday. Very much looking forward to having a nice quiet Sabbos at home.

Going back and forth...

2005-10-27T14:36:00.000+02:00

So, I'm a Chozer B'Tshuvah. (Not a Ba'al Tshuvah...I took a good dose of mussar from the bochen at YU, who when I mentioned I was a Ba'al Tshuvah, looked at me askance and said "Really? I'm still working on it.") Having grown up in America, in your standard middle class home, public schooling, non-Jewish friends, etc. I garnered a healthy appreciation for a very wide range of music. Everything from Classical (I lean towards 19th century Russian composers, much to my Rav's amusement, he seems to think Tschaikovsky is over rated and once explained to me the concept of Merkavah using Mozart as the example of what a Merkavah is, though he prefers Bach) to hardcore Punk and Metal (my cellphone ring was Metallica's Enter Sandman, but my wife gave me a look, so I changed it to Lynard Skynard's Sweet Home Alabama). I have days and days worth of it on my iPod (as well as lots of shiurim, since I'm not a complete sheigitz).
The thing is I wouldn't let my kids listen to any of it. So, on some level, I know it's not really the best thing for me to listen too. I just can't bring myself to listen to Chassidshe music. I mean, the occasional MBD or Avraham Fried song is palatable. I can deal with Matisyahu (even with all the Chabad lyrics), since he's playing real music, not over produced show tunes. But...when will I get a band like the Clash with Heimishe lyrics? It's also a simple question of range. There just simply aren't enough musically inclined Jews out there willing to write/perform songs with the type of lyrics I'd be happy exposing my kids too. How many frum music acts are there? Two-three hundred? I'm not talking about wedding bands who rehash other people’s music, I'm talking about people able to create their own sound. I don't care if it's in Hebrew, English, or even Yiddish. There will never be a serious frum Ska scene; there isn't enough talent and not a large enough audience.
So, I guess I'm going to have to either stick with what I've got and hope it doesn't affect me spiritually, or I'll have to give it up, which I've tried in the past. I was miserable. I've even tried to listen to only Classical. That worked for a couple weeks. Then I got very stressed out about something at work and from experience the only thing that would calm me down enough to be able to deal with the kids when I got home that night, was to find the hardest song with the heaviest beat and play it as loud as I could on the car ride home. Worked wonders.
So...that's my dilemma of the week. To rock out or not to rock out.
Now, pardon while I put on some U2 (which happens to be the last band I saw live in concert...but that's another story, one that got me quite the look from my Rav at YU).

Playing a Meme Game

2005-10-27T12:19:00.000+02:00

Ok...so I've been meme'd.I have to sit here, on my lunch break, and come up with some silly lists, because if I don't Jameel is going to hock my chinik until I do. So...here goes.

7 Things I can do.
1. Fix a computer
2. Get a friend to exclaim I'm a better cook then his mother
3. Tie my own shoes
4. Get all of my kids laughing uncontrollably
5. Make my wife smile
6. Recognize any movie I've ever seen from a 2-5 second clip
7. Remember absolutely worthless things people tell me, even 10 years later, especially when they don't remember telling me

7 Things I can't do
1. Remember a page of Gemara word for word
2. Write code
3. Get my 2 year old to stay in bed
4. Stomach sweet breads (which is a problem, being that would be my wife's favorite dish)
5. Keep a pair of shoes in working order for more then a year (my eldest son has inherited this...)
6. Figure out why I am writing this
7. Wake up after 6 am.

7 Things I constantly say
1. Again
2. Indeed
3. Yo, dude.
4. There's no such thing as too early in the morning. There is no such thing as too much garlic. And, there's no such thing as too spicey
5. Ok, I'll get right on it
6. Mmm, you think so
7. Ah, the Enjoy A Milkbone In A Commie Free World Phase

7 Things I'd like to do in my lifetime
1. Learn a masechta by heart, GP"T
2. Build a shul
3. Write a book about the history of Chochmei Yerushalyim from the last 100 years
4. Make my wife happy
5. See my sons teaching Torah in a public forum
6. See my daughters married to men who are true Yirei Shamayim
7. Be a good Jew

Being as I don't know anyone else, who hasn't already been hit with this meme...Well...unless YH wants to put something in the comments.

Still Alive

2005-10-06T15:41:00.000+03:00

Yes,
I'm still alive. I apologize for not posting. I plan to rectify that after the Chagim. Or maybe after Yom HaKippurim. There are some other ideas brewing as well.
Watch this space!

You must drive out the lands inhabitants

2005-08-05T18:06:00.000+03:00

One of the main points of this weeks parsha talks about the commandment to conquer the land of Israel. It's interesting to note, that like the acceptence of the Torah, this too was forced upon Bnei Yisrael.
The Gemara in Masechas Sotah (34a) says clearly, as Yehoshua was explaining to the Am that they are going into the Land to conquer it and disposess the inhabitants:
אם אתם עושים כן מוטב ואם לאו באין מים ושוטפין אותיכם
If you do so, then good, if not then the water will come and wash us all away (they were standing in the middle of the Yarden with the water stopped).
This being remincent of Sinai, where the Am was told, accept of this will be your grave (כפה עליהם הר כגיגית). While it is clear why this was needed at Har Sinai, why was it needed here? Doesn't every nation want more land? Don't people want to expand their holdings?
The answer to those questions is yes, but there was another step necessary to fulfil the commandment. That being the destruction of the nations of Canaan. Which was more difficult. Am Yisrael are Rachmanim Bnei Rachmanim, to a fault it seems. It's not only in this day and age that large sectors of the population are willing to give up our rights to our own land, to deal poorly with our own brethern, all in the misguided desire to be merciful to the inhabitants of the land. Yehoshua understood this and made the people promise to conquer their desire to show mercy to the nations of Canaan, since doing so would only be to the detriment of the Am, as is clearly seen from not only ensuing generations, but our own as well.
As the Gemara says, he who is merciful to the merciless, will in the end be merciless to the merciful.
ופוק חזי האי דברים פשוטים המה

Yes...I know it's been a while...

2005-07-27T13:50:00.000+03:00

Sorry I haven't been posting lately. I really have no excuse except laziness. I will try and get something Torah related up before Shabbos. Meanwhile...
We've been having a lot of guests for Shabbos lately. Friends of ours set yeshiva guys and sem girls up at various places in Israel for Shabbos. (And, yes, they do make sure not to send the guys and girls to the same yishuv). Anyway, the past two Shabbosim we've had guys from the Mir stay at our house and have a meal or two with us.
First of all...the guys couldn't be more different. Granted, they're close in age, for the most part in the same shiur (Reb Asher, if you're interested) and from Brooklyn. But that's where the differences start. The first group were from Flatbush, Torah Temima guys. They know my wife's family, know all the cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents. Go to the same bungalow colonies, etc. Their fathers are successful businessmen. English is their native language and I could understand them when we spoke in learning.
The second group, was...mmm a bit different. They're from Boro Park. Hungarishe Yidden, from the kehila of the Viner Rov. They spoke English with a thick Yiddishe accent and spoke Yiddish amongst themselves. When anything was said that included something related to learning or regular Hebrew/Yiddish words that pepper a Frum Jews conversation, I couldn't follow a thing said. Their fathers also all work, as it goes. One is in Chinuch, one's father is in diamonds...and the most interesting, one's father collects and reprints rare s'forim. They knew where to find all the important Kisvei Yad, what was at YU, what was at JTS, what was at Oxford. I was very impressed. They had never heard of Feudelism or Copernicus, though. They go visit the tzion of the Satmar Rov once a year. And here they were, sitting at the Shabbos table of a couple Mitnachlim in the middle of nowhere.
But here's the kicker, all the boys had orange ribbons on their bags. Some had orange bracelets. All had been down to Gush Katif for Shabbos at least. It's pretty amazing, I'd say.
There were some uncomfortable moments though. When I mentioned Rav Soloveitchik, it took them a moment to realize I wasn't talking about one of the Yerushalyim Briskers...and when the light went on..."Oh! J.B.!". At least with the second group one had noticed that this didn't sit well with me and gave his friend a sharp word on having kavod. Needless to say, as impressed as I was with all the boys, I'm not impressed with the historical revisionism and zilzul paid to one of the most preeminent talmedei chochomim of the past 50 years. Luckily, I have a wonderful wife, who knows how to keep me calm and not go into lectures of where R' Aharon sent R' Shneur to go learn when he came back from Israel. Or who R' Shneur turned to to save Lakewood after R' Aharon was niftar. Or who did most of the fundrasing for R' Velvel in America. Or who could put all their Roshei Yeshiva and Rabbonim in his back pocket in learning, without breaking a sweat. So, I keep my mouth shut, stew in silence.
As it stands, the boys from Boro Park enjoyed themselves so much they're sending a few more friends to us this Shabbos. I'll make sure to mention the Rav (both of them...).

Humility

2005-07-13T22:03:00.000+03:00

R' Rafael Shapiro once said to the Netziv:
My son-in-law is a better learner then your son-in-law.

2005-07-08T16:30:00.000+03:00

So, I bought all these new s’forim, I should actually learn from them, shouldn’t I. So, on that note, I will share with you all something from HaGaon R’ Tzvi Pesach Frank’s Har Tzvi.

P’sachim 46a on the Mishna – כיצד מפרישין חלה בטומאה
R’ Frank brings a question that was raised by HGRAY Kook. He asks, why not just separate out the chalah, declare it as such and work with it so it will not become chometz (ואי משום חמץ יתעסק בה). R’ Frank answered just as it would be forbidden to bake it on Yom Tov without need (see Tosfos ד"ה לא תקרא לה שם for all the reasons why it is assur) so too it would be forbidden to knead the dough, being that kneading (לש) is also an Av Melacha. R’ Kook answered that there is no kneading after kneading (אין לישה אחר לישה) and therefore the working of the dough would not be considered kneading to make it forbidden. R’ Frank disagrees, stating that the kneading, since it would further improve the dough there would be לישה אחר לישה. Though, it needs further clarification if this is the case, whether or not the דין of לישה is fulfilled with the mixing of the flour and water (גיבול).
He goes on to clarify some points of גיבול and לישה, and the original question remains.

I discussed the question with my Rav the other day when I was driving him to Yeshiva. He frowned, shrugged and said, what’s the question? Chalah that has become ritually impure (טמא) is מוקצה on Yom Tov. Though he said the answer was too easy and he was surprised that neither of the Gaonim involved mentioned it, and that he would have to look over the sugiya since he was sure he was missing something.

That I should be zocheh to such humility.

Parshas Chukas

2005-07-08T15:57:00.000+03:00

The Gemara at the end of Moed Koton (28a) asks, why did the Torah connect (למה נסמכה התורה) the portion of the Red Heifer and the death of Miriam? (Considering that the mitzvah was obviously given earlier, Bamidbar 8:7 הזה עליהם מי חטאת see Emek Davar Bamidbar 19:1) It answers there with the statement, just as the Red Heifer atones (מכפרת) so the death of the righteous (מיתתן של צדיקים) atones.
There is another Gemara, at the end of Sanhedrin (113a), which seems to contradict this statement of Chazal. When a righteous man passes from this world ( צדיק נפטר מן העולם), evil comes to the world (רעה באה לעולם). This is learned out from the pasuk in Yeshayahu(57:1) The righteous perishes and no man lays it to heart(הצדיק אבד, ואין איש שם על-לב), and the merciful men are taken away from the evil to come(ואנשי-חסד נאספים באין מבין, כי-מפני הרעה נאסף הצדיק).

Rav Moshe Tzuriel, in his Otzros HaAggadah (ח"א), gives an interesting answer. He bases it on another Gemara in Sanhedrin (108b), that the funeral oration of the righteous staves off retribution (ללמדך שהספדן של צדיקים מעכבין את הפורענות). Why does the death of the righteous bring atonement on the world? When they are remembered, people are aroused to repentance and good deeds, as the righteous are taken as role models and the tales of their actions are mentioned and spread. If, though, no one pays attention to the Hespaidim and the passing of the tzaddik is looked over, then truly it brings evil on the world. Since not only was an opportunity lost to those surviving, but the good that he himself did will not increase. Such is the case from the pasuk in Yeshayahu, the righteous perishes and no man lays it to heart. His passing is ignored, his life not taken as an inspiration.

May we all be zocheh to see the Geula Sh’leimah speedily in our days.

Good Sabbos.

Parshas Korach

2005-07-01T15:19:00.000+03:00

And Moshe heard(וישמע) and fell upon his face (Bamidbar 15:4).
The Gemara in Sanhedrin(110a) asks, what was the rumor(שמועה) that Moshe heard that caused him to fall upon his face? R’ Shmuel Bar Nachmani answers in the name of R’ Yochanan that the rumor was that Moshe was suspected of adultery (אשת איש). He brings a proof from Tehillim (106:16): And they envied(ויקנאו) Moshe in the camp. R’ Shmuel Bar Yitzchak learned further from this verse that it wasn’t only that they suspected Moshe, but they want as far as to warn their wives(כל חד ואחד קנא את אשתו) not to be alone with him. That warning being an integral step in the Sotah process, wherein a man warns his wife not to be alone(יחוד) with a man, and only then if she is alone with him can she be tried as a Sotah. And this is essentially why Moshe moved his tent out of the Machane(Shmos 33).

The question would then be, Moshe, who was the most humble of all men, who most likely wouldn’t take umbrage at such things fell upon his face. Why would this be the case? Because of a slight to his personal honor? Unlikely. I saw a spectacular answer to this question. The fact is that this statement was not only a slight against Moshe, but against all the women in Israel as well as the Torah.
The Israelite woman’s son then blasphemed G-d’s name with a curse and he was brought before Moshe. His mother’s name was Shelomis Bas Divri, from the tribe of Dan. (Vayikra 24:11)
Why does the Torah mention the name of his mother? To teach us of the greatness of the women of Israel, that amongst them on she was licentious. (Rashi ad. Loc.)
Therefore, the Torah goes out of its way to say that all the women in Israel were pure and above reproach, yet the men still suspected them. This suspicion was in direct contradiction to the words of the Torah. Therefore it was in effect denying the validity of the Torah, in whose honor Moshe fell upon his face.

(seen in Panim Chadashos B’Torah by R’ Ben Tzion Firer)

Gut Sabbos!

These are times that try men's spirits.

2005-06-24T16:52:00.000+03:00

I just spent the last couple hours writing up my weekly Parsha post. This included a bit about my feeling towards Eretz Yisroel and how I find it a bit upsetting that all Torah Jews don't feel the same way. It took a lot of effort and time. And blogger ate up. Gone.
I have now been given an opportunity to work on my middos. Just in time too. I'm of the opinion that the best way to teach your children good middos is to work on those traits yourself.
My eldest son got a reward in Talmud Torah today. He was one of 4 children in his class to go to school every day of Chol HaMoed Pesach. He got a new basketball and was very happy with it. An hour ago he went up to his room to read and left the ball downstair. Of course one of his younger brothers picked it up and started playing with it. He took it outside and it got a puncture. Needless to say my oldest was somewhat upset. But just as I managed to keep myself in check and not get angry that my work was lost in a moment, so too my son stopped, took stock and laughed it off. We managed to fix the puncture, find an appropriate place for the ball out reach of younger siblings and let it be known that taking the ball without permission is not allowed.
Every middah that we do not fix in ourselves is one that our children will have to fix. Therefore it behooves us to work on ourselves, not only for our own sake, but for the sake of our children.

If I have time I will try to reconstruct the Parshas Shalach post, but Shabbos is approaching and there is still things that need to be prepared. So, if I don't get around to it, Gut Sabbos to all.

Book 'em Dano.

2005-06-23T19:53:00.000+03:00

Well, it's Book Week here in Israel. So I went and got some books. Here's the list of my שלל רב:

Even HaEzel - R' Isser Zalman Meltzer
Har Tzvi - R' Tzvi Pesach Frank (Chiddushim, not Shut)
Chidushei HaRav Zelig Reuven Bengis
Cheshbona Shel Mitzvah - The Aderet (R' Eliyah David Rabinowitz Teumim) on the Sefer HaChinuch
(yes...it was Yerushalmi geonim week...)

I also picked up R' Moshe Tzuriel's latest -
Otzeros HaMussar and Niflaim Ma'asecha.

I have a lot of learning to do...

Da'as Torah...shocking

2005-06-22T21:55:00.000+03:00

It seems Reb Chaim wasn't a big fan of Da'as Torah either. He had a great mashal...
Da'as Torah is like electricity. Before electricity people used kerosene to light their houses. When one person ran out, he went to his neighbor or the Beis HaMedrash and kept learning. Now with electricity, if there's a power outage, no one has any.
That is to say, when every one had their own Rav and a mistake was made, then it only effected a few people, but with Da'as Torah, one mistake and everyone's in the dark.

Rav Kook and the Briskers

2005-06-21T19:04:00.000+03:00

I mentioned a bit earlier a how I was a somewhat peeved about how Rav Kook is portrayed in certain right-wing circles. One of the commenters pointed out the comments over on this post on Hirhurim. I must say, I was shocked.

Anyway...this comment showed up in the list:

In any case, here's today's Rav Kook quote/story from a Brisker heard from RAY Soloveitchik.
"RE Wasserman asked RC Soloveitchik how is it that Rav Kook (who he knew) could go so far off the derech when everyone knows that he Davens with such Kavana & fasts most of the week! RCS answered him "Dayge Nisht, Der Chabadske Apikoyrus is a Baal Gayve, Un Er Est Gants Gut!"

I was...to put it mildly...shocked, as well as a bit incredulous. So, I figured I'd do a bit of research. There is a book called Iggros L'Rayah (איגרות לראי"ה) which is a collection of letters to Rav Kook that were found in his possesions after he passed away. There are letters from R' Chaim, R' Velvel, R' Shimon Shkop, R' Yerucham, The Chafetz Chaim, as well as the Rabbonim in Israel such as R' Isser Zalman, R' Moshe Mordechai Epstein and many others. Just so the people who declare things are fake just because they don't agree with them, facsimiles of some of the letters are also included in the sefer.

I'm going to make an assumption here. If R' Chaim had a problem with R' Kook, I don't think he'd refer to him in such glowing terms, nor write to him to request help for someone.
Letter 35 - Dated תרס"ח
כבוד הרה הגאון המפורסם, סוע"ה, צדיק בדרכיו, כק"ש מו"ה אברהם יצחק הכהן קוק שליט"א, אב"ד דק"ק יפו יצ"ו
Letter written in conjuction with the Chafetz Chaim.

Letter 45 dated תרס"ט
ברכה מרובה לכבוד הרב הגאון המפורסם, מ' ר' אברהם יצחק הכהן נ"י קוק הגאבד"ק יפו תובב"א, וכ"ט לכ"ג הרמה שי
The body of the letter also includes more comments of respect for R' Kook.

I'm also working under the assumption that if R' Chaim had any animosity towards R' Kook, R' Velvel would be aware of it and would also not be to positively inclined towards R' Kook.

There are 5 letters from R' Velvel (some reproduced in facsimile). In one he says:
ואחתום בברכת כל טוב להדר"ג הרמה, הנני מוקירו ומכבדו
This from תרצ"ה which, if I'm not mistaken is the year R' Kook was niftar. So, it can't be that R' Velvel changed his mind. R' Velvel actually finishes of several letters to R' Kook in the same vein. Some more so then this, by the way.

So, since there is an actual paper trail that the Soleveitchiks respected Rav Kook and held he was at the very least a kosher yid, if not a gaon adir and tzaddik, so I'd have to go with that.

This doesn't include the letters where R' Avraham Dov Ber Kahana Shapira (Rav of Kovno) refers to Rav Kook as ידיד ד' ידיד כל בני ישראל וידיד נפשי. Or where the Sridei Aish, in a matter of p'sak, where he already got an opinion backing up his stance from R' Chaim Ozer, says what ever R' Kook holds, he'll accept as the final word.
Etc. Etc.
Also not mentioned is how the various Chassidic Rebbes held of him. R' Shaul Yedidyah Taub of Modjitz, The Imrei Emes, R' Menachum Nachum Twersky of Rachmestroika/Chernobyl and on and on.

So, please. There were a few hot headed youths in Jerusalem who put up signs against Rav Kook with forged signatures* of R' Zonnenfeld and R' Diskin (both of whom had great love and respect for R' Kook). It spiraled from there. I stand by my statement, that with perhaps the exception of certain Hungarishe Rebbes, who called everyone else Apikorsim as well, Rav Kook was roundly loved and respected by ever Gadol B'Torah in his generation.

*Yes, forged signatures. Why am I claiming this after I went out at some lengths to naysay people who make such claims about the Tzionim? I'm not making the claim. Take a look in Malki B'Kodesh Chelek Dalet, Chilufai Michtavim. There is a letter from R' Tzvi Pesach Frank to the author, his mechutan, where he(RTPF) states categorically that R' Zonnenfeld and R' Diskin's signatures were used without their permission and they didn't hold of what was written in the various signs against R' Kook.

Parshas Behalos'cha

2005-06-17T12:43:00.000+03:00

The Gemara in Shabbos (115b-116a) brings down a machlokes about the p'sukim of ויהי בנוסוע הארון and their strange placement, with the backwards nuns and all. According to Rebbe the structure shows that there are actual seven books in the Torah and that these two p'sukim are a book in and of themselves, seperating between two other books. That is to say, Sefer Bamidbar is actually 3 s'forim. This all being based on a pasuk in Mishlei(9:1). R' Shimon Ben Gamilel says that in the future this portion will be removed and returned to its rightful place. Then why is it here? To seperate between the first and second punishments(פורענות).
The Gemara then asks what these punishments are. In our version of the Gemara it starts with the second Puranus and then the first. Which struck me as somewhat strange, but Rabbeinu Chananel has it the other way around, first first, second second. This way also appears in the Munich manuscript of the talmud. So I'm going to stick with that version and not ask on the switch up in order.
In any event, the Gemara explains what the first and second punishments were. The first: And they traveled from Har HaShem a distance of three days (ויסעו מהר ד' דרך שלושת ימים). R' Chama b' R' Chanina explains that they ran from before HaShem ('שסרו מפני ד) The second: The people began to complain (ויהי העם כמתאוננים).
In any event, a couple questions jumped out at me from the text. The most obvious being the use of the word punishments(פורענות). What are the punishments here? These are aveiros, not punishiments. The second, granted, in the case of the complaining, there is a punishment -- the fire that consumed the edge of the camp. But in the first case, there doesn't seem to be an actual punishment. I saw both these questions asked in Chasam Sofer on the Gemara and he adds another one. Why use these specific p'sukim to seperate? In any event, Baruch Sh'kevanti l'da'as g'dolim.
He answers based on how Tosefos explains R' Chama b' R' Chanina. The fact that they ran from Har Sinai was a form of throwing of the Yoke of Torah. (Tosefos brings the Midrash that B'nei Yisrael were like children running from the schoolhouse to escape learning). He goes on to explain two types of punishment. There are sins that engender a specific punishment in the future and there are sins which the sin itself is the punishment. This is the case here. The removal of the Yoke of Torah is itself true Bitul Torah, that in and of itself is a punishment. As the mishneh in Avos says one who removes the Yoke of Torah is burdened with other yokes. This answer then paves the way to answer the other questions.
The first being that the two punishments are clear. The first is the Bitul Torah itself. The second, with the removal of the Yoke of Torah, the Yoke of Desire (תאוה) takes its place and because of that desire the people complained.
When Moshe saw that the people had shed the Yoke of Torah he saw that the Yoke of Nations (מלכויות) would fall upon them and that they would be come servents to another ruler. He then inserted the p'sukim of Arise HaShem and disperse your enemies(קומה ד' ויפוצו אויבר) which averted this.

I will add in another thought that came to mind when I looked at the Gemara. The Maharsha mentions that the nation began complaining when they were three days from Har Sinai. He says that three days without Torah is what caused them to stumble. This, in my view, is a second reason for Moshe insituting the reading of the Torah on Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbos. Since then there never comes to pass three days without Torah.

Gut Sabbos!

Another joke...

2005-06-10T18:33:00.000+03:00

Top Ten Signs Your Lubavitcher Teen Is In Trouble.
10. Sometimes gets out of bed on shabbos before 9 a.m.
9. In his sock drawer, you find pictures of women without sheitels or snoods.
8. Shows up at farbrangens in full "KISS" makeup.
7. When you criticize him, he yells, "Thou sucketh."
6. His name is Menachem Mendel, but he goes by "M Square Daddy"
5. Defiantly says, "If I had a radio, I'd listen to rap."
4. You come upon his secret stash of colored socks.
3. Uses slang expression, "Talk to the hand, 'cause the beard ain't listening."
2. Was recently pulled over for driving under the influence of cottage cheese -- OU, but not cholov yisroel.
1. He's wearing his black hat backwards.

Not that any Lubavitchers read this website...

Parshas Naso

2005-06-10T14:59:00.000+03:00

On the topic of Birkas Cohanim, the gemara in Brachos records a conversation between The Aibishter and the Malachim. Brachos 20b

So expounded Rav Avira, occasionally it was said in the name of Rav Ami and other tmes it was said in the name of Rav Asi.
The Ministering Angels said before The Holy One, Blessed Be He: "Master of the Universe, it is written in your Torah ' He (HaShem) does not give special consideration (לא ישא פנים) or take bribes'(D'varim 10:17). But, do you not give special consideration (נושא פנים) to Israel? As it is written 'May G-d direct His providence(ישא ד' פניו) toward you'(Bamidbar 6:26)."
He said to them: "And how can I not give Israel special consideration (וכי לא אשא פנים לישראל)? I wrote for them in My Torah 'When you eat and are satisfied, you must therefore bless G-d your Lord'(D'varim 8:10), and they are exacting upon themselves (מדקדקים על עצמם) to the measure of an olive (כזית) and of an egg(כביצה).

The Gr"A is perplexed by this gemara and asks several questions.
1. Why start with the smaller shi'ur of k'zayis, as that is more exacting then the shi'ur of k'beitzah.
2. This is a statement of HaShem, for whom there is no doubtful case. (This based on the arguement between R' Meir and R' Yehuda at what point you become obligated in Birkas HaMazon (Brachos 45a, brought down in the Rashi on 20b))
3. Why did HaShem answer with this specific chumra, there are a myriad of other cases where B'nei Yisrael are stringent upon themselves, like טפת דם כחרדל.

He explains it all as follows:
According to the Rif (Eruvin 82b) the size of two full meals is 18 dates (גרוגרות) which is 6 beitzim. It is brought down in the Zohar that 3 beitzim is the equivelent of 10 zeisim which is 9 grogoros, that is to say a zayis is 1/10th less then a grogeres. Therefore it makes sense, a meal is 3 beitzim, which is 10 zeisim and this obligates him to bentsch D'oraissa if he eats this amount by himself. But Am Yisrael searched out how to uplift and increase their blessings to HaShem using the same amount of food. Therefore when one has 10 zeisim he can split it 10 ways and each person, having eaten a k'zayis, would be obligated m'd'rabanan to bentsch. If he can't find 10 then it enough to split it 3 ways, because then he would have a zimun, and each would have a k'beitzah.
And now the p'sukim in the gemara are no longer contradictory. When Yisrael apply themselves to Torah (נושאים פנים לתורה) and are exacting in it, so too will I give them special consideration (נושא להם פנים). And when they don't apply themselves in such a fashion, as said in Malachi(2:9) : Since you have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the ways of the Torah (אשר אינכם שומרים את דרכי ונושאים פנים לתורה).
And this explains the pasuk in Mishlei(22:9), He that has a generous eye shall be blessed, as he gives of his bread to the poor(טוב עין מבורך, כי נתן מלחמו לדל). When he gets others together for his meal so that they can bentsch with a minyan or make a zimun with three and turns himself to Torah (נושא פניו לתורה) and so shall Hashem give him special consideration(ישא ד' פניו).

Based on the Pirush HaGr"A L'Sefer Mishlei

Gut Sabbos.

And what do you think...

2005-06-07T16:46:00.000+03:00

Wonder what FrumTeens would say about this.

I can just imagine the apoplexy.

Ha ha, very funny.

2005-06-06T13:49:00.000+03:00

Ok, before getting back to learnen, I figured I'd post a nice lomdishe joke.

There was a couple, the husband learned and the wife ran a small store. Everyday a little bit afternoon the husband would come to the store and watch the place so the wife could go home for lunch. She would come back an hour later and he would return to the beis medrash. So, one day he's deep in a sugyia when he realizes what time it is, runs to the store arriving a few minutes late. His wife gives him a look and goes off to get lunch. He's sitting there in the quiet store still going through the gemara and rishonim and suddenly he understands the sugyia, jumps up and runs back to the beis medrash to double check the sources and tell his chevrusa.
The unsuspecting wife comes back from lunch and finds the store open and unlocked and her husband nowhere to be found. Needless to say, she is less then pleased. She locks the door and runs to the beis medrash, stopping to pick up a stick on her way.
When she arrives at the beis medrash, she lays into her husband, wailing away at him with the club and yelling how horrid he is, doesn't think, almost caused them to lose everything. The man is in shock, trying to fend of the blows raining down on his head. Finally the two are seperated and brought before the Rov of the town.
The wife goes into the story about how she came back and the door was left open and how theives could have come and taken everything from the store. The husband responds that he was quietly learning and along came the wife and began to beat him with the stick.
The Rov sat there for a moment and then shook his head. Then he said, "this is the first time I've ever heard the woman claim, pesach pasuach matsasi and the man claimed mukas aitz ani."

Ba-damp-chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

Annoyed.

2005-06-05T11:41:00.000+03:00

Ok. I'm a bit annoyed. Why am I annoyed? Because people don't know Jewish history. Poltical correctness has engulfed the Yeshivish world. Not that this is anything new, but every time I run up against it I get annoyed. Anyway, I've made some comments over on this post by Rav Gil Student. I'm just amazed how people have now clue about what went on in Israel in the years Rav Kook was here. Everyone accepted him as the final word, as the greatest lamdan in the Yishuv. Whether or not they agreed with his approach to the non-religious and Zionism. How Rav Zonnenfeld respected Rav Kook. Rav Isser Zalman? Rav Zvi Pesach Frank? His father-in-law, the Aderet, Rav of Mir, Rav l'kol Kehilos Ashkenaz b'Ir HaKodesh, head of the kollel prushim? Every emminent gaon and talmid chacham in Israel held of Rav Kook's genius, that he was a tzaddik and that every thing he did was l'shem Shamayim. Just look how the famous tzaddik, Rav Aryeh Levin, was m'shamesh him.

I'll end this with a quick story. Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurbach was chevrusas with R' Aryeh's son, R' Refael. As one would expect they were great masmidim and would spend endless hours learning, but as happens to young men, occasionally their dedication lagged. R' Shlomo Zalman once related how they would go about getting back into it. They would walk over to Rav Kook's house and peek through the key hole into the room where he was learning and watch for a moment or two. That was enough to bring them back to the spiritual level they needed to return to their shteigen.

Please, I'm not asking for an open debate on Zionism here. While I certainly have an opinion on this, this isn't the topic I'm dealing with here, rather historical revisionism. I am working on a post about Zionism, specifically the Oaths and how the Vilna Goan demonstrably didn't hold they had any halachic meaning what so ever. You can bash me there.

A quick story...

2005-06-05T10:07:00.000+03:00

We go to my Rav for Shalosh Seudos every week. It's something we've been doing for a while and the whole family really enjoys it. Anyway, we sat down and before we started his wife remebers that she needed to say some T'hilim for something and shkiya was approaching and that the family would split it up. So she goes through the list of which kapitilach needed to be said and my Rav started handing them out the kids. There was a moment of argument over who would say what since no one wanted to have to say too much. And my Rav, without a sefer T'hilim in front of him stopped the discussion and went through the list of 10-15 prakim and said how many psukim each one had and split it up so everyone had more or less the same amount.

Gut Sabbos!

2005-06-03T18:57:00.000+03:00

Just wanted to get one last word in before it's time for Shir HaShirim. Thanks to everyone who has come to visit A Litvshe Yid in its inaugural week. Especially to all those who left comments. I hope this is the beginning of a fruitful relationship where we all grow in Torah and Yiras Shamoyim.

As promised...L'same yichud

2005-06-03T01:56:00.000+03:00

Or, as most people say it...L'shem yichud - לשם יחוד.

I'm quoting from the Nodeh B'Yehuda, Madora Kama, Yoreh Da'eh 93...
(The translation is mine, so if you think I'm off, look it up yourself)

And on the fourth who asked about the nusach for L'shem yichud, that in recent times has spread and been printed in siddurim. On this I will respond, you've come to ask me about the correct nusach, when it would be better if you asked me if saying it was a good thing at all. In my opinion this is an evil sickness in our generation and what about the previous generations that did not know from this nusach and didn't say it. They toiled all their days in Torah and Mitzvos all according to the Torah and according to the poskim whose words spring forth from the source of the living waters (ממקור מים חיים) the sea of the Talmud, about them it is said חומת ישרים תנחם. And they are the ones that brought forth fruit above and beyond and their lovingkindness is great in heaven. But those in our generation who have left Toras HaShem and the sourse of living waters, the two Talmudim, Bavli and Yerushalmi to dig for themselves broken pits and they do, with arrogant hearts, each one says I am the visionary and for me the gats of heaven have opened and for me the world exists. These are the destoryers of the generation. And for this orphaned generation I say, the ways of HaShem are straight and tzadikim will walk them and Chassidim will fail upon them. I have much to say on this topic, but just as it is a mitzva to say that which will be heeded it is a mitzvah not to say that which will not be heeded. And may HaShem have mercy upon us.
(Two and a half paragraphs of pilpulim in the nusach)
But I have already given my opinion that silence is better in this case and it should be forgotten. And even in one's thoughts one should concentrate only on the פירוש המלות and in this way one will go surely and not fail in any way. And it is better that I do not expound further and from overwhelming responsibilities I need be brief.

And not to be one to bring things in a one sided manner...to get the other side see the Tshuvah of Rav Chaim MiTchernovitz. I own two books (that is, שתים שהם ארבעה) of Chassidus. One being the Nesivos Shalom and the other Sidduro Shel Shabbos by R' Chaim MiTchernovitz, also known for his pirush on Parsha, Be'er Mayim Chaim.
In any event, at the back of the first volume of the two volume set (Published by Machon Be'er Mayim, תשנ"ה) is a response of Rav Chaim to the Nodah B'Yehuda. It was only pointed out to me this evening and I haven't had a chance to go through it. I will look through it over Shabbos, bli neder and if I see something worth posting will do so. In any event, I'm firmly on the Nodeh B'Yehuda's side on this one. I do realize, as I think did he, that it's a losing battle. That still does not remove the need to fight it, L'Same Samayim.

Are you happy Kvetcher?

Parshas Bamidbar

2005-06-02T21:38:00.000+03:00

וידבר ד' אל משה במדבר סיני
The Midrash (Bamidbar Rabah סימן ז) gives an insight into the greatness of Torah.

From here the Chachamim learned: The Torah was given in three things (בשלושה דברים) :In fire, in water and in the desert. In fire, from where? “והר סיני, עשן כלוֹ”(Shmos 19:18) And Mount Sinai was all smoke. And in water, from where? “גם-שמים נטפו גּם-עבים, נטפו מים”(Shoftim 5:4) The heavens dropped and the clouds dripped water. And in the desert, from where? “וידבר ד' אל משה במדבר סיני” And Hashem spoke to Moses in the Sinai Desert.
And why was the Torah given with these three things? Just as these are for free for all in the world, so are the words of Torah for free. As it says: הוי כל צמא לכו למים (Yishayah 45:1).

A person needs nothing to learn Torah, except the will to do so. You don’t have to be wealthy to become a Talmid Chocham; it may even be detrimental. You can come from nothing and achieve greatness. The Rambam goes at great length in the introduction to the Mishneh Torah to mention that both R’ Meir and R’ Akiva came from converts. You don’t need yichus to become a lamdan, a Gadol b’Torah. You only need one thing, the desire to be Moser Nefesh, to give your life, for the study of Torah. That is the only perquisite to greatness in learning. You don’t even need to be born with an over whelming intellect. It said about the Chazon Ish that he was a mediocre student at best, but he wanted more then anything else in the world to excel in learning. Every time he reached the bracha of Chonayn HaDas in davening, he would burst into tears. He would sit b’hasmada (unswerving dedication) to learn and absorb Torah, until one day it clicked and he began to grow and grow, becoming the Gadol he was. Lo BaShamyim Hi. As the Rambam says in Hilchos Tshuva (5:2) - אלא כל אדם ואדם ראוי להיות צדיק כמשה רבנו Everyone has it in him to be as righteous as Moshe Rabbeinu. And as great in learning as the greatest G’dolim.

For free.

Women in the work force

2005-06-02T17:17:00.000+03:00

I saw a link to this article over here. It talks about the place of Chareidi women in the work place. I have two comments to make on the article. The first is the overall gist of the piece.

Bais Yaakov educators invest years of hard work in fashioning the hearts of their students to protect the tohoroh in their neshomos. These girls are shielded within the chareidi society, a sort of teivas Noach, to be saved from the rampant flood outside. When working together with secular employees, one sentence or joke can sometimes penetrate like poison and destroy all of their chinuch. This is surely so when these women must work daily in such places. When this woman returns home, what type of new character envelopes her? What will be her attitude to her husband's yiras Shomayim? How will she educate her children? The answers are evident to any sensitive person.

I am absolutely astounded by this. What the author is essentially saying is that women can't be trusted out of the strict confines of their communities. I think this a serious attack on the level of frumkeit of chareidi women. Man can handle it...but women can't. This, if true, shows a serious lack in the education of women in Chareidi circles. If they were properly educated and had with where to turn for serious answers if a hashkafic question came up, then this would be a total non-issue. So the points made are an indictment of their own system.

That said, I'm not sure why women should be going out to work in the first place. I don't know about all the other men out there, but I signed a contract right before I got married. It said, if I recall the language written therin...אפלח ואפרנס. I (the husband) will work and support my wife. I think the whole Kollel mentallity has had a detrimental effect on the Chareidi community and is against the spirit of Torah and how it was practiced for generations. The Yeshivish community is want to idealize the days in Europe where you couldn't walk out your door without tripping over a half dozen people fluent in Shas and Poskim. What they forget is 99.99% of them worked and only a very very few, a couple thousand out of millions learned full time. And even some of them worked (the Alter of Kelem and all the students to come out of Kelem/Grubin and others).
I think it's sad that women are expected, now, to run the house, raise the children and support the family. I hope the husbands are at least taking out the garbage on the way to Kollel.

A bleg...

2005-06-02T13:44:00.000+03:00

I think the technical term is bleg, where one uses one's blog to request something. So, here goes.
When the sefer Oros by Rav Kook came out there was a great deal of controversy and the frum community in Eretz Yisrael broke into two camps, those in support of Rav Kook and those opposed. At some point the Gerrer Rebbe, Rav Avraham Mordechai Alter (The Imrei Emes) was asked to come and sort things out. After investingating the matter he wrote a letter extolling the greatness of Rav Kook. If anyone has a copy or translation of the letter, I would love to get my hands on it.
Thanks.

Me and my Rav

2005-06-02T12:02:00.000+03:00

I am very lucky. No...scratch that, I don't think it's a very Jewish perspective to consider oneself lucky. It smacks of being over on Lo Seylech Iti B'keri, that things just happen. I've been truely blessed in that I've been able to fulfil the dictum of Chazal, Aseh Lecha Rav. Thank G-d, down the street from me, lives a walking Sefer Torah.
He's a young man, about 7-8 years older then me. A man who, as of yet, has not acheived reknown in the Torah world. Though I hope that will change someday in the not so distant future, since he is without a doubt an Otzar Balum.
In any event he is a man who has all of Shas and Poskim at his finger tips. Everything. No joke. No exaggeration. I have never come across a sugiya that he isn't holding in. I've never seen a Rishon, or Achron, for that matter the he isn't intimatly familar with.
I'll give you a startling example from a week ago. A certain halacha caught my eye, (the requirement to have a completed kesuba before the chupa, if you're interested) and I was looking at the Rambam and nosei keilim. I looked in the index in the Frankel to see which Achronim discuss the matter and I was happy to see that the Yad David deals with it. I was fortunate enough to find a copy of the Yad David in the back of a sforim store in Meah Shearim a year ago, but hadn't really had time to look at it.
As an aside, the Yad David is three volumes on Hilchos Ishus of the Rambam (only Hilchos Ishus, there's about 2-3 lines of Rambam on a page and the rest very small Rashi script expounding on it). It was written by HaRav Dovid Friedman ZT'L, known as Rav Dovid'l Karliner, as he was the Rav of Karlin in Lithuania for many decades. If you've read Making of a Godol, you'll know that he was considered to be on the same level as Rav Chaim in learning and chidush.
Now, I know my Rav isn't currently learning the sugiya, we talk often and I have a good idea what topics he's learning at any given time. Additionally, as great as Rav Dovid'l was, he's not commonly learned in Yeshivas, at least not the Yad David. The Sheilas David is more common.
So I read through Rav Dovid's comment and how he disagrees with the Magid Mishneh and I don't grasp his answer. I figure I'll take the sefer over to my Rav and ask him to look it over with me. I run into him at shul after maariv and start walking him home. I mention that I didn't understand a certain point in the Yad David and he asks which one. I mention the Rambam and he tells me where on the page it is in the Yad David and that he knows what I'm talking about and he'll learn the sugiya through with me.
I was, to put it mildly, flabbergasted. We're not talking a Reb Akiva Eiger here, that any serious lamdan might know. We're talking a less well known Achron on a somewhat esoteric topic. And he knew it.
This happens almost every week. He's holding in sforim he learned when he was in high school and hasn't seen since. I drive him to his Yeshiva a few days a week, which is the highlight of my week mind you, where we can learn through whatever sugiya is on his mind. We don't always have the necessary gemara's or Rambams or whatever. It never matters. He knows it all, by heart. Gemara, Rambam, Rif, Rosh, Rashi, Tosefos. Word by word. Including variant manuscripts.
Now, one might say, this is someone who spends all his time in limudei kodesh. Except, he knows philosophy. Can quote Aristotle, Kant, Spinoza. You should here when someone mentions Hobbes, he has nothing nice to say about the Leviathan. He's also holding in Phyics and doctorate level mathematics.
If he would care to comment, Rav YH can back me up on this, since he knows my Rav as well.

I am, truely, amongst the blessed.

Fix number one...

2005-06-02T12:01:00.000+03:00

Obviously fixing oneself is the most important part of Judaism. This comes before fixing others, based on loving one's neighbor as oneself, there is an obligation to love oneself. That means before being m'zakeh others one should be m'zakeh himself. Since I'm only starting here on this blog I'll still occasionally be tossing up some introductary posts. One of the things I'd like to do here is mention the various points that I'd like to work on myself and get reader's opinions and experiences on the topic.

I'll start with what, at first blush at least, is an easy one: better davening. It really isn't all that easy and it's something I've been working on for a while with mixed results. When I'm davening with a minyan and I'm not completely exhausted I don't have a problem davening slowly and being careful to pronounce all the words. I do still have a problem paying attention to everything I'm saying, especially during Shmona Esrai. Actually, even more so when I'm doing it slowly. I'll find my mind wandering and that I've gone through 3-4 brochas without even realizing it.

I'm not, at this point, aiming at having all the correct kavonas and such, just to keep my mind on the fact that I'm standing before HaShem. At the very least, if my mind is going to wander, let it wander to topics of Kedushah or even not topics of Tumah. That is to say, I don't need to be thinking about last night's episode of CSI while I'm trying to daven. Maybe it's not horrid that I'm going over some chiddush I heard from my Rav, though that to isn't a best case scenario. So, anyone have any ideas for being able to concentrate on Shmona Esrai?

(I'm starting with something mostly parve...don't worry once I get into the swing of it I'll branch into more...ahem...touchy topics)

Half and Half

2005-06-01T23:09:00.000+03:00

Part of what I want to do here is להחזיר עטרה ליושנה (to return the crown to its original glory). That is to say to try and reinstate certain practices that are more firmly based in Halacha then the current minhag. The first is something that I have been doing for the last 5-6 years, with thanks to my friend Rav YH who gave a shiur on it one year and impelled me to organize it in my community. That is the requirement on Yom Tov to spend half the day in learning and half the day enjoying the holiday. The phrase that is used in the Gemara is חציו לד' וחציו לכם (half for HaShem and half for you).
Since this is the first time I’m doing a post like this I’ll give a short overview of how I intend to organize this time of thing.
Topic
Overview
Sources
Gemara
Rishonim
Achronim
Conclusion

Pretty straight forward I think. The only time I will stray is when I’m looking at a specific Achron, in which case I will try to add some biographical information if I have it. On with the show!

The requirement of a person to spend Yom Tov half in learning Torah and half in eating and drinking.
I’m choosing this topic because it is specifically germane to the approaching Chag of Shavuos for several reasons. The minhag that has spread throughout Jewish communities is to spend the night in learning until sunrise. While it is a wonderful thing that more Yiddin are busying themselves with learning Torah unfortunately this minhag has supplanted a halacha psukah. The Gemara brings down the requirement of a person to dedicate the Chag, half to HaShem and half to oneself. This opinion shows up in the major Rishonim without any emendations and is brought down l’halachah in the Shulchan Aruch as well as the Aruch HaShulchan and Mishnah Brura.
מראי מקומות
Maseches Psachim 68b – דתניא ר' אליעזר אומר
Parallel sugiya – Beitzah 15b (Rif and Rosh ad. Loc. Also note Korban Nesanel on the Rosh)
Rambam Hilchos Yom Tov 6:19
Tur Orach Chaim 529
Shulchan Aruch ibid. (Mishnah Brurah and Aruch HaShulchan ad. Loc.)
Magen Avraham Orach Chaim 494 (איתא בזוהר)

Gemara
The Talmud both in Psachim and Beitzah discusses an argument between R’ Eliezer and Rav Yehoshua on how to understand the apparent contradiction between two psukim. The first is D’varim 16:8 – עצרת לד' אלקיך. The second Bamidbar 29:35 – עצרת תהיה לכם. How does one reconcile the difference between l’HaShem and Lachem, For HaShem and For You. R’ Eliezer says that a person can spend the day either totally for HaShem or totally for You. That is to say, the day should be spent either only learning or only eating and drinking. Rav Yehoshua disagrees and says the day should be split, half for HaShem and half for you. The Gemara in Psachim adds on that according to R’ Elazar that everyone agrees (הכל מודים) that on Shavuos that also “לכם” is required since it is the day that the Torah was given and therefore one needs to be happy. (I believe this statement is based on a prior machlokes between R’ Eliezar and R’ Yehoshua if Simchas Yom Tov is a Mitzvah (R’ Yehoshua) or R’shus (R’ Eliezar), coming to say that on Shavuos even according to R’ Eliezar simcha is required and therefore the day should include not only learning but eating as well).
Rishonim
The Rif and the Rosh pretty much copy the Gemara word for word. The Kitzur Piskay HaRosh brings down the side of R’ Yehoshua (Perek 2 Siman B) saying the mitzvah of Yom Tov is to split it half in eating and drinking and half for HaShem. The Tur uses this same language in the opening line of Siman 529 in O.H.
The Rambam expands and gives a clear picture of what the day should be like and uses a very interesting expression. אלא כך היא הדת (Rather this is the law) an expression that doesn’t show up often in the Rambam. Meaning, if I understand correctly, that what he has to say, even though it may not be a mitzvah certainly is an obligation on everyone. He says people, in the morning, should arise (משכימין) and go daven, read from the Torah and go home, eat and return to the Beis Medrash to learn until Chatzos (half the day), at which point they should go back home and engage in the Yom Tov meal, eating and drinking until nightfall. As a side point to what is meant by arising in the morning, it is clear that this refers to davening with the Netz (with the sunrise), that way it will be a full half day l’Hashem.
Achronim
The Mechaber brings down in the Shulchan Aruch the language of the Tur, l’halacha.
The Mishnah Brura adds (based on a Gemara in Chulin also quoted in the Korban Nesanel on the Rosh in Beitzh quoted above see all the Sha’ar Tzion where he quotes in the name of the Marshal that chazanus is considered neither L’HaShem or Lechem, V’Kal LaHavin) that it is correct to reprimand the Chazonim who extend the tfiloh inordinately, causing people to miss out on learning. The MB does say like the Rambam that one should rise early and pray and then learn until half the day, going on to enjoy his festive meal.
The Aruch HaShulchan brings down the language of the Rambam word for word. His take on the issue of chazanus is a bit different then the Mishneh Brurah’s though he does say that G’dolei Yisrael were upset about the issue of chazanim drawing out the davening. He does leave an opening for those who find it enjoyable, that there maybe a side of Oneg Yom Tov in it.
Conclusion
It’s very clear from all the above sources that it is incumbent on every Jew to spend their Yom Tov in this split fashion. Rising early, going home for a quick Kiddush and then returning to the Beis Medrash to learn until chatzos, at which point he should daven Mincha then go home and enjoy his festive meal until the night time. There really isn’t even a place for doubt. No posek that I was able to find holds any differently. It’s a very cut and dry Din. This applies to every Yom Tov, by the way, not only Shavuos, though as we saw, there is a special Din in Shavuos to do it.
That said, the other side of the coin is the minhag that has spread throughout Am Yisrael to stay up all night learning and then as soon as davening is finished to go to bed. The basis for this minhag is brought down in the Magen Avraham (I also understand that it is brought down in the Shlah, though I haven’t had a chance to look it up). The MA says in the name of the Zohar that the original Chasidim (and we’re not talking those who walk in the path of the Ba’al Shem Tov…) would remain awake all night in learning and that most people who learn do that nowadays. He brings the well known reason that it is a tikkun since HaShem had to awaken Bnei Yisrael for Ma’amad Har Sinai. It should be clear that the Chasidim Rishonim weren’t your average Joes. I think then, it wouldn’t be far fetched to say that when they were finished davening in the morning, they didn’t head off for a chavrusa with their pillows, rather they went on fulfil the mitzvah of the day (yes, that is the language of the Rosh, the Tur and the Shulchan Aruch…mitzvah) which is to say they learned until chatzos and then proceeded to have their Yom Tov meal.
As a side point, I was told that Rav Moshe Feinstein was makpid on this point on Shavuos. When the Yeshiva would go off for the meal after davening and then to sleep, he would remain in the Beis Medrash learning. He said that it doesn’t make sense, you’re up all night as a tikkun for Bnei Yisrael being asleep at when it came time for the giving of the Torah. So, you’re up all night. And when the Torah is actually given (in the day) you go to sleep.So, now you know what the halacha actually is. If you’re up to it, great learn all night and then learn until Chatzos. If not, don’t feel bad about going to sleep. You can still fulfill the Mitzva of the day according to all the opinions. Just get up early, daven and then learn until chatzos.

Who am I?

2005-06-01T17:48:00.000+03:00

Just to give a bit of history of myself. Though in doing so, I'll probably pasul myself from having an opinion in these matters, since I'm an outsider.
I grew up in a Conservative family out west. I came to Israel at the age of 18 without ever having had contact with real frum Jews. Not to say we were completely distant. We were right wing Conservative. Went to shul on Shabbos and Yomim Noraim. My mother lit candles on Shabbos and my father said Kiddush. Going to ball games after Friday night dinner was always a big fight, though I generally won. Bacon was forbidden but pepperoni pizza wasn't. We ate matza on Pessach and my father would collect all the chamatz and sell it. Though we didn't use specifically Kosher L'Pesach products. Anyway...it was somewhat confusing. So when I came to Israel and started seeing what Conservative Judaism was and what Orthydox Judiasm was I figured, it's all or nothing and after finishing the year program stayed another year and went to Yeshiva. I chose a somewhat known Yeshiva that catered to ba'alei tshuvah and spent a year learning. I then returned to the US and spent a year at YU. I enjoyed YU very much, the learning was great and the secular courses where enough of a joke that I could spend time learning. I hated New York though, still do. I can't understand how Jews live there. I woke up one morning with bullet holes in my window. First chance I got, that is, the year ended, I came back to Israel. I spent the summer learning in a modern chareidi Yeshiva in Meah Shearim (yes, it sounds like a contradiction...but the Rabbonim and half the students were chareidi and the other half were more modern) and taking ulpan. I got engaged (a story in and of itself, I'll get to it one day) and then went back to college at Bar-Ilan University. At Bar-Ilan I learned in the Machon Gavoh L'Torah (the Bar-Ilan Kollel) and continued studying biology. Again, the learning was excellent, but Bar-Ilan, I felt, wasn't the place for a frum boy. Oh yeah, I got married at some point during the year. At the end of the year I left Bar-Ilan without a degree and went to go learn full time in Kollel. I chose a well known Dati Leumi yeshiva with connection to Mercaz HaRav and a reputation for being very politcally right wing. I went to the shiur of one Reb Chaim's great grandsons, who is a gaon adir. The learning was, as I had become accustomed, in the Brisker derech and I enjoyed it very much. After several years and three children the parental support began to run out and I went out to work.
We had also moved to a yishuv at the same time as I started Kollel. We chose one that had a reputation for being Torani (more frum then your average Dati settlement). We still live there 12 years later and are just as happy. The majority of the men are kove'ah itim. The minyanim are always full. The women dress in a tsniusdig manner and the kids as a whole are a good bunch. I'm not saying there are no problems, but in the overall scheme of things, they're few. The community as a whole has a love for Torah and several years ago built a yeshiva/kollel, most of which is supported by the community itself. Which is pretty impressive, considering you have 250 family supporting 20 kollelniks, 20 bachurim and 3 Rebbeim.
After going to work I started to drift away from being serious about frumkeit for awhile. Which isn't to say I didn't enjoy learning and talking Torah or having strong opinions about hashkafic subjects. Just in my day to day avodas Hashem, I wasn't all that into it. Thanks to the patience of my wife and her willingness to put up with me, I returned to the proper path and became close with the man who is now my Rav. I'll talk about him a bit in a later post.
So with a renewed neshamah I got back to learning and davening and trying to be a better yid all around.
I'll be the first to admit, I don't always succeed. I know I have a lot to work on, something I hope to address here on occasion.

Which leads me to my final point. Who am I to criticize the chareidi, more specifically the Litvshe chareidi, world? Well, I'm a Litvshe yid. A talmid of Litvshe yidden, who themselves learned Torah by G'dolei G'dolim of Lithuainia. I, in my limited capacity to grasp these things, see what a wonderful world Litvshe Torah was in Europe, in America and Israel in the 40s, 50s and 60s. What sort of men Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, Rav Reuven Katz, Rav Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook were. What sort of men Rav Yosef Dov HaLevi Soloveitchik, Rav Yaakov Kamanetsky and Rav Moshe Feinstein were. And I'm saddened that so few in the Litvshe/Yeshivshe world follow in their footsteps.

Why?

2005-06-01T16:52:00.000+03:00

So, why should I start blogging? What's the point? What can I add to the blogosphere in general and the Jewish, or more correctly, the frum Jewish blogosphere in particular?

I don't really have an answer to tell you the truth. I will say what I would like to do here.
1. Fight a losing battle or two.
2. Teach some Torah
3. Learn some Torah
4. Get various issues off my shoulders and into the public domain.

As a clarification about the losing battles...I'm referring to two things. One, the Chassidification of Judaism. Please, don't get me wrong. I'm not going to hold anything against Chassidishe Jews for being Chassidishe. More power to them. My problem is when Litvshe Jews start acting like Chassidishe Jews. The Rosh Yeshiva is now a Rebbe in all but name in most Yeshive circles. This is a very new development and goes against the traditions of Lithuainian Jews. Allow me bring illustrate this point with a true story.
When Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer ZT"L passed away, his son-in-law, Rav Ahron Kotler ZT"L was asked to come be the titular head of Yeshivas Aitz Chaim in Jerusalem, to take the place of his shver, as he did in Slutsk/Kletzk. So for several years R' Ahron came to Israel in the summers to give shiur in the Yeshiva. When he gave his first shiur the talmidim behaved in their usual fashion, arguing and yelling back and forth with the maggid shiur. One specific talmid set there with his feet up on the table listening to the shiur. R' Ahron started yelling at him about his lack of Kavod HaTorah. The talmid looked R' Ahron in the face and said "when the Kletzker Rosh Yeshivah is worthy of Kavod HaTorah, he'll get Kavod HaTorah". The talmid then proceeded to take R' Ahron's shiur apart. On the spot R' Ahron arranged a shidduch with his daughter.
That was a Litvshe gadol. That was a Litvshe talmid. You can't prove your svara all the way through? I don't have to accept a word you say. Just because you're the Rosh Yeshiva doesn't me you're holier. You're only holier if you can out learn me and there is no Chazakah. You have to prove it, all the time.
Today the frum world has become kol kulo Chassidishe. You can't disagree with the Rosh Yeshiva...when he speaks it's Da'as Torah and you're just a simple yid. It doesn't matter if what is being said is illogical.
The other issue is the monochromatic bent of the Yeshivshe crowd. Once more we'll take a look at Lakewood in the 50s. The only people wearing black hats and suits were the Rosh Yeshiva and top Rebbeim. Otherwise no two people were dressed alike. Look at the pictures of Mir from the Shanghai days. Maybe 3-4 black suits out there. Granted, all the pictures are in black and white, but you can see the gradiations of color amongst the dress of the talmidim. Everyone dressing alike is another in road of Chassidus into the Litvshe world. While this may seem like an issue of chitzonius, it's not. It's the willingness of the people to supress their individuality. From my point of view this is a complete negation of the Tzelem Elokim. To quote Brian..."You're all individuals!".

So those are my battles, trying to bring some sanity back into the frum world.