Avodah Mailing List

Volume 31: Number 89

Tue, 14 May 2013

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Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Message: 1
From: Micha Berger <mi...@aishdas.org>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 13:13:35 -0400
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Loeg Larash in front of a non-metzuveh?


On Fri, May 03, 2013 at 01:49:45PM +0000, Kenneth Miller wrote:
: We often forget that "mitzvah" is an ambiguous word, which sometimes
: refers to an actual obligation, and sometimes refers to an optional
: act.

Perhaps it would be useful without doing damage to your intended point
to distinguish between a mitzvah chiyuvis and a mitzvah qiyumis.

:      Consequently, "eino metzuveh ve'oseh" can mean either of two things:

: 1) One who is not *obligated* but does it anyway

: 2) One who was not... hmmm... I'm not really sure how to phrase
: it. One who was not advised about it? One who was not suggested to do
: it? One who is not even in the parsha, but does it anyway? There may
: be subtle differences between these, and those differences are probably
: very relevant to the question at hand, namely: What is the relationship
: between a non-Jew and tzitzis? I don't recall it being listed as among
: the mitzvos which a non-Jew should *not* do (like Shabbos or learning
: Torah). And I don't think it is one which would be irrelevant for a
: non-Jew, like matzah. Maybe it's an optional sort of mitzvah, for which
: he does get some s'char, like tzedaka and kibud av v'em.

: Still, I think it is fair to say that a Jewish woman has a closer
: relationship to tzitzis than a non-Jew has...

Perhaps we could say this is because she is a baalas beris, and thus
is part of the covenant that includes tzitzis, even though tzitzis as
a chiyuv isn't her role in that beris.

Or perhaps you could say a subtlely different idea: it's being part
of the corporate entity of kelal Yisrael, which as a unit has a chiyuv
tzitzis. Even though she is a different part of the unit.

Much like the issue of women saying "ve'al berisekha shechasamta
bivsareinu" in bentching.

The Rambam (Melakhim 10:10) discusses "ben Noach sheratzah laasos mitzvah
mishe'ar mitzvos". "She'ar" because this is after addressing talmud Torah,
Shabbos, and taking on mitzvos to invent a new religion. If he does so
for sekhar, we do not stop him from doing a mitzvah kehalakhah.

Does this mean that he is getting sekhar, or that the Rambam feels we
shouldn't stop him even though he isn't? Everyone on the Rambam seem to
focus on the other half of 10:10, the bit about tzedaqah.

R' Chaim Kanievsky (Shoneh Halakhos) holds that an observant Noachide
may take on to keep *any* other mitzvah. Even the basic idea Shabbos,
as long as there are limits to how he imitates halakhah.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 48th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org        6 weeks and 6 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Yesod sheb'Malchus: What binds different
Fax: (270) 514-1507             people together into one cohesive whole?



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Message: 2
From: Micha Berger <mi...@aishdas.org>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 13:25:24 -0400
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Local Batei Dinim's Prerogatives Under Sanhedrin


On Mon, May 06, 2013 at 08:54:12PM +0200, R Arie Folger wrote:
: Pardon my ignorance, but where do you take this idea from, that lower batei
: din were not allowed to be medameh davar le-davar and be lomed davar mitoch
: davar?

The Rambam is pretty clear about requiring people to follow their own
local poseiq, and that's even after true Mosaic ordination and the
hierarchy of batei din centered on a Sanhedrin. (And also that all Jews
must accept universally accepted pesaqim, such as those of Rav Ashi and
Ravina, despite not being from what is technically a Sanhedrin.)

Haqdamah "halakhos" 36-39.

Also very central to this whole discussion is the Shakh's qunterus
after CM 245 "Pilpul beHanhagtas Hora'os beIssur veHeter". He lays
out the limits of overturning precedent, the authority of rishonim,
etc...

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 48th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org        6 weeks and 6 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Yesod sheb'Malchus: What binds different
Fax: (270) 514-1507             people together into one cohesive whole?



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Message: 3
From: "Rich, Joel" <JR...@sibson.com>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 12:40:14 -0400
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Reading a Newspaper on Shabbos




What was nolad?

Generally we consider something a new object when it undergoes a shinui
sheim. This was an argument employed to prohibit reading a fax on
Shabbos. And even that's not a given, see R JDBleich's article in
Tradition 35:1 (behind a paywall at
<http://www.traditiononline.org/news/article.cfm?id=104901>).

But newspaper doesn't lose the sheim "paper", so it would be even less
of a nolad issue.

BTW, the notion that an object is new when it has a new name fits my
phenomenology / existential view of halakhah far better than one that
insists halakhah relates to what's really there objectively.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What language do we go by in such determinations and is it the hamon am
that paskins by usage?	What about when usage changes over time?  What
about today when a fax comes via my computer and I print it out and we
don't call it a fax anymore even once we see the page?	I have to admit a
bias because I never understood that fax  differentiation based on what I
had always been taught as the definition of nolad .
KT
Joel Rich
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Message: 4
From: Micha Berger <mi...@aishdas.org>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 13:42:39 -0400
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Reading a Newspaper on Shabbos


On Mon, May 13, 2013 at 12:40:14PM -0400, Rich, Joel wrote:
: What language do we go by in such determinations and is it the hamon
: am that paskins by usage? What about when usage changes over time?
: What about today when a fax comes via my computer and I print it out
: and we don't call it a fax anymore even once we see the page? I have
: to admit a bias because I never understood that fax differentiation
: based on what I had always been taught as the definition of nolad .

Yes, shinui sheim is situational, and changes with the times and
location. Why is that a difficulty?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha



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Message: 5
From: Saul Guberman <saulguber...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 11:17:32 -0400
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Shavuos and Simchas Torah


On Mon, May 13, 2013 at 10:29 AM, <cantorwolb...@cox.net> wrote:

> The question is asked why there is a need for Shavuos AND Simchas Torah,
> as they basically
> have the same function. L'havdil, Xtians claim the New Testament is the
> fulfillment of the
> Old.  In Judaism, the holiday of Simchas Torah might be seen as the
> fulfillment of Shavuos.
>

They are not really comparable as Shavuos is from the torah & Simchas torah
is not. Shavuos is celebrating receiving of the Torah.  Simchas torah is a
cyclical completion of reading of the torah.

Unless you mean comparing the harvest festival aspects.

Saul
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Message: 6
From: "Rich, Joel" <JR...@sibson.com>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 13:30:03 -0400
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Local Batei Dinim's Prerogatives Under Sanhedrin


On Mon, May 06, 2013 at 08:54:12PM +0200, R Arie Folger wrote:
: Pardon my ignorance, but where do you take this idea from, that lower batei
: din were not allowed to be medameh davar le-davar and be lomed davar mitoch
: davar?

The Rambam is pretty clear about requiring people to follow their own
local poseiq, 
Tir'u baTov!
-Micha
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, but I think there is not complete agreement as to what the role of the
tribal Sanhedrin was.  Did it act as an intermediate level between the
local court and the Sanhedrin hagedolah or just deal with tribal issues 
KT
Joel Rich
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Message: 7
From: Micha Berger <mi...@aishdas.org>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 13:54:09 -0400
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Shavuos and Simchas Torah


On Mon, May 13, 2013 at 11:17:32AM -0400, Saul Guberman wrote:
: They are not really comparable as Shavuos is from the torah & Simchas torah
: is not...

... Beyond it being Yom Tov Sheini of Shemini Atzeres, Simchas Torah
is minhag, not even a rabbinic mitzvah.

Minhag EY and early Ashkneazim who read the Torah in a triennial
cycle... Did they have a special Shavuos every third year as their
Simchas Torah?

I would suggestion that the transformation of SA day 2 into Simchas
Torah is a function of it being the completion of the season that
began with Zikhronos. And by parallel, Simchas Torah is the Atzeres
of the season that began with Purim's "qiymu veqiblu".
<http://www.aishdas.org/10YemeiTeshuvah.pdf#page=17>
    The connection between Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah is that
    expressed in the berakhah said before studying Torah. When the gemara
    asks what that berakhah should be, Rav Hamnunah's answer, "asher
    bakhar banu mikol ha'amim venasan lanu es Toraso... -- Who has chosen
    us from all the nations and given us His Torah... who gives the Torah"
    is called the elite of the various suggestions. To be "the Chosen
    People" is to be the "benei beris", people of the covenant. Shemini
    Atzeres, the one day at the end of the fall holiday series dedicated
    to the special relationship between G-d and the Jewish People is
    therefore also the day of commemorating that He gave us the Torah."
    ...
    The contents of birkhas Zikhronos doesn't describe a memory of the
    past, it describes remembering for the future. "You remember all
    the actions of the world... And upon the nations, it is sentenced:
    which to the sword, and which for peace...." The berakhah continues
    asking Hashem to remember us the way He remembered Noach, "and also
    Noach you remembered in love, and You appointed him in a statement
    of salvation and compassion..." And then citing the pasuq, "And G-d
    remembered Noach and all the living things and all the animals with
    him in the ark, and Hashem made a wind pass over the earth, and the
    water subsided."

    The other nine verse of Zikhronos are also about Hashem remembering
    his covenants with us. More so, His remembering that which He found
    in us making us worthy of the covenants....

    Shemini Atzeres, the day of celebrating our chosenness as a people,
    naturally became Simchas Torah, the day we celebrate the covenant,
    the mission for which we were chosen. So too Zikhronos is a call
    to remember the person who entered the beris, the person for whom
    hopes were so high....

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha



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Message: 8
From: "Rich, Joel" <JR...@sibson.com>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 12:44:53 -0400
Subject:
[Avodah] a kat of eidim


I'm looking for a discussion of what makes witnesses into a kat of eidim
(e.g. testifying toch kdei dibbur, seeing the event "together"[tbd],
intending to testify together....)
Any leads will be appreciated.
KT
Joel Rich


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Message: 9
From: Zev Sero <z...@sero.name>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 13:51:39 -0400
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Shavuos and Simchas Torah


On 13/05/2013 10:29 AM, cantorwolb...@cox.net wrote:
> The question is asked why there is a need for Shavuos AND Simchas Torah, as they basically
> have the same function. L'havdil, Xtians claim the New Testament is the fulfillment of the
> Old.  In Judaism, the holiday of Simchas Torah might be seen as the fulfillment of Shavuos.

Shavuos celebrates *learning* Torah; Simchas Torah celebrates the Sefer
Torah itself.   Shavuos is a yomtov for talmidei chachomim; "i lav hai yoma
kama Yosef ika beshuka".  Simchas Torah is an egalitarian yomtov, as we
dance with a closed Sefer, which everyone can approach equally.

-- 
Zev Sero               A citizen may not be required to offer a 'good and
z...@sero.name          substantial reason' why he should be permitted to
                        exercise his rights. The right's existence is all
                        the reason he needs.
                            - Judge Benson E. Legg, Woollard v. Sheridan



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Message: 10
From: Zev Sero <z...@sero.name>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 13:59:57 -0400
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Shavuos and Simchas Torah


On 13/05/2013 1:54 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> Minhag EY and early Ashkneazim who read the Torah in a triennial
> cycle... Did they have a special Shavuos every third year as their
> Simchas Torah?

They celebrated Simchas Torah whenever they completed a cycle, but it
wasn't on Shovuos, indeed it wasn't at the same date every time, because
the cycle wasn't exactly three years.  And IIRC not every shul was on the
exact same cycle, so in the same town each shul would have its own ST
when it got to the end of the Torah, and all the other shuls would come
celebrate with it.

-- 
Zev Sero               A citizen may not be required to offer a 'good and
z...@sero.name          substantial reason' why he should be permitted to
                        exercise his rights. The right's existence is all
                        the reason he needs.
                            - Judge Benson E. Legg, Woollard v. Sheridan



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Message: 11
From: Harry Maryles <hmary...@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 11:17:08 -0700 (PDT)
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Reading a Newspaper on Shabbos


I guess the Nolad was the fact that a blank piece of paper became a newspaper after it was printed.
HM

Want Emes and Emunah in your life? 



Try this: http://haemtza.blogspot.com/

--- On Mon, 5/13/13, Micha Berger <mi...@aishdas.org> wrote:

From: Micha Berger <mi...@aishdas.org>
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Reading a Newspaper on Shabbos
To: "The Avodah Torah Discussion Group" <avo...@lists.aishdas.org>
Date: Monday, May 13, 2013, 11:33 AM

On Sun, May 12, 2013 at 07:07:19AM -0700, Harry Maryles wrote:
: Now the question of Nolad was not addressed especially. But I have to
: assume that it is not an issue or RAS would have brought it up. He was
: very Machmir in Hilchos Shabbos

What was nolad?

Generally we consider something a new object when it undergoes a shinui
sheim. This was an argument employed to prohibit reading a fax on
Shabbos. And even that's not a given, see R JDBleich's article in
Tradition 35:1 (behind a paywall at
<http://www.traditiononline.org/news/article.cfm?id=104901>).

But newspaper doesn't lose the sheim "paper", so it would be even less
of a nolad issue.

BTW, the notion that an object is new when it has a new name fits my
phenomenology / existential view of halakhah far better than one that
insists halakhah relates to what's really there objectively.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger? ? ? ? ? ???Today is the 48th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org? ? ? ? 6 weeks and 6 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org???Yesod sheb'Malchus: What binds different
Fax: (270) 514-1507? ? ? ? ? ???people together into one cohesive whole?
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Message: 12
From: Micha Berger <mi...@aishdas.org>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 19:48:11 -0400
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] doresh el hameisim


On Mon, May 06, 2013 at 03:07:06PM -0400, Beth & David Cohen wrote:
: R. Akiva Miler wrote:
:> He might choose to repent. A total teshuva is clearly impossible, because
:> his current circumstances are so radically different than before. But is a
:> sincere charata impossible? Whatever charata he accomplishes won't be worth
:> as much as if he had done it before he died, but is it worth *zero*? Isn't
:> it possible that this "rasha" was only slighty lower than the midpoint, and
:> this tiny amount of charata might elevate him to be above the midpoint?

:> A different scenario, a different mitzvah: The rasha is now in the Olam
:> Ha'emes, and sees his life from a new perspective, understanding things
:> that he had never understood before. In his previous life, he was a very
:> bitter person, who deeply hated Hashem. But now he understands, and makes a
:> conscious choice to thank Hashem and love Him. Is it really too late?

: It should be too late, because by now there is no longer any bechira. Once
: the person/neshama has actually experienced the presence of HKBH, how can
: there be bechira? If you actually knew (not just believed) that HKBH
: commanded you to "jump", the only question would be "how high?" But your
: bechira is taken away at that point. With no bechira, teshuva is
: meaningless.

What about the bechirah of Adam qodem lacheit?

And we say that only a rasha would spend a full year in gehenom. In which
case, why does everyone get out? Simply because the price was paid? Or
is it because it takes up to 11 months for normal people to finally "get
it" and get to where they belong? I would think it has to be the latter,
since the fires of gehenom are those of shame, and the joys of gan eden
require being able to tolerate ziv hashechinah.

(And in aeither case, there is the question of whether there is time
in the afterlife. If there isn't, then how could a meis leave gehenom
after at most 11 non-existent months? And if there is, what kind of time
is it? It's not the spacetime of today's physics, nor the property of
motion of Aristotles.)

We are also creating three layers, but reinventing terms doesn't solve
the problem. Asking if meisim have bechirah could be:
1- do they have the capacity to choose?
3- are any of those choices moral choices?
2- are they faced by any meaningful moral choices, or does being in
   olam ha'emes mean that everything has one clear answer?

All three would require answering, and saying bechirah means this one
or that does not dismiss the other two questions.

Aside from my already cited example of Adam, I also wonder about the
possibility of choices between two equally valid but different approaches.
So, a meis could be purely driven to do good, but he could choose to do
this good or that good. Assuming meisim can "do" at all. Maybe, he could
choose to develop in himself the ability to choose this way of relating
to G-d or that way.

(Much like the contrast the Rambam makes between the chakham's shevil
hazahav in every middah in De'os pereq 1, and the chassid's going to
one extreme in certain middoes in pereq 1. Two different equally valid
ideals, approaches in avodas Hashem.)

On Mon, May 06, 2013 at 06:36:02PM -0400, hankman wrote:
: Furthermore. the drasha of "hayoim la'asoson" isn't quite right either if
: you hold that bechira is possible after misa and there is sechar veonesh
: for those choices. So even if you say this is not common, nevertheless
: "lemachor" la'asosn remains a possiblity.
...
: Finally you very commonly see in various meforshim the assumption that
: this is the olam ha'asiah and the next is not -- it is for the gemul. The
: terms of omeid and holeich are applied in this sense -- after death you
: become an omeid during life you are a holeich. According to RZS in theory
: you remain a holeich after misa.

As the Ramchal writes in the 1st pereq of MY and in Derekh Hashem, this
world was created for preparation, before one enters the banquet-hall. In
which case, it could be a statement of appropriateness, not exclusivity:
we are supposed to do the mitzvos now in order to be more capable
later. He does not speak of omeid veholeikh, except in describing
mal'akhim.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 48th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org        6 weeks and 6 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Yesod sheb'Malchus: What binds different
Fax: (270) 514-1507             people together into one cohesive whole?



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Message: 13
From: Zev Sero <z...@sero.name>
Date: Mon, 13 May 2013 19:35:55 -0400
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Reading a Newspaper on Shabbos


On 13/05/2013 1:42 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> On Mon, May 13, 2013 at 12:40:14PM -0400, Rich, Joel wrote:
> : What language do we go by in such determinations and is it the hamon
> : am that paskins by usage? What about when usage changes over time?
> : What about today when a fax comes via my computer and I print it out
> : and we don't call it a fax anymore even once we see the page? I have
> : to admit a bias because I never understood that fax differentiation
> : based on what I had always been taught as the definition of nolad .
>
> Yes, shinui sheim is situational, and changes with the times and
> location. Why is that a difficulty?

If so then we have the absurd situation that in America the "paper" remains
a "paper" and thus is not nolad, while in EY "neyar" becomes an "iton" and
thus is nolad!  I don't think that's supportable.   As I see it in neither
case is there nolad, because the paper existed before Shabbos, and all that
has changed is that ink was applied to it.


-- 
Zev Sero               A citizen may not be required to offer a 'good and
z...@sero.name          substantial reason' why he should be permitted to
                        exercise his rights. The right's existence is all
                        the reason he needs.
                            - Judge Benson E. Legg, Woollard v. Sheridan



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Message: 14
From: "Kenneth Miller" <kennethgmil...@juno.com>
Date: Tue, 14 May 2013 03:57:30 GMT
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Shavuos and Simchas Torah


Cantor Wolberg repeated a famous question:

> The question is asked why there is a need for Shavuos AND
> Simchas Torah, as they basically have the same function.

I recently saw another interesting answer, given by Rabbi Yissocher Frand
in the name of Rav Simcha Zissel Brody. Summarized, he says that on Shavuos
we celebrate the gift (the Torah), and on Simchas Torah we celebrate the
Giver (Hashem). The full article can be read at
http://www.torah.org/learning/ravfrand/5772/emor.html

Akiva Miller


____________________________________________________________
Fast, Secure, NetZero 4G Mobile Broadband. Try it.
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Message: 15
From: "Kenneth Miller" <kennethgmil...@juno.com>
Date: Tue, 14 May 2013 10:43:03 GMT
Subject:
[Avodah] Shavuos Night, and Shacharis


Yeshiva World News (http://tinyurl.com/cguyycn)
published a review of halachos for Shavuos, written by Rabbi Yissachar Dov
Krakowski (biographical details there). Among the many other things in that
article, is:

> The Minhag of staying Lel-Shavuos is based on the idea that
> we are trying to make up for the fact that Klal-Yisroel slept
> on the day of Kabbolas HaTorah. If this is the case, Davening
> Neitz (with Sunrise) would also be a way to compensate for
> that earlier failure.
>
> There is a minhag amongst some of the Chasidim to stay up all
> night learning, but to go to sleep at dawn. Then they daven
> Shacharis at a regular time.
>
> This minhag is also attempting to fix the same mishap of
> Klal-Yisroel sleeping late, but there is a fear that if one
> davens Shacharis after an all-nighter one will be sleepy and
> not daven properly.

I certainly understand the problem of staying up all night and not davening
Shacharis properly. My question is what gets accomplished by going to sleep
at dawn and then davening at the "regular time". My question has several
aspects to it:

1) Once the zman for shacharis has arrived, it is assur to go to bed, isn't it? This point alone would seem to trump all other considerations.

2) Even if it is muttar, one will still get much less sleep than one a
regular night, and this brings many dangers of missing minyan, missing
zmanei tefila, and lack of kavana.

3) In what way does this "fix the same mishap of Klal-Yisroel sleeping
late", if one has not yet actually re-enacted Matan Torah by hearing the
day's Krias Hatorah? I suppose that if one continues his overnight learning
into the morning, then the learning he does after the morning arrives can
be considered like Kabalas Hatorah. But still, to me, going to sleep on
Shavuos morning before Shacharis smells like one has finally received this
wonderful gift but then he turns away without even unwrapping it.

Personally, I try to go even farther than merely waiting for after Musaf to
go home. Many years ago, a friend and I began the practice of staying in
shul past Musaf, for yet another couple of minutes, trading at least one
short vort, so as not to rush home before we've savored the gift of Matan
Torah.

Good Yom Tov!

Akiva Miller
____________________________________________________________
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Message: 16
From: David Wacholder <dwachol...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 14 May 2013 10:47:33 -0400
Subject:
[Avodah] HAR SINAI AS FAMILY


1.    A few Payytanim take a Family Approach to Har Sinai. A sense of trust
and unity was being built, day by day. As powerless slaves, along with the
rest of the populace,  they felt the  complete subjugation of the slave,
 under the despotic hand of the Egyptian Empire.  Nagof V?Rafo ? Hashem
initiated unilateral kindness, virtually a new Form never before seen. Just
as a parent takes care of a helpless infant in the physical sense; Hashem
adopted the Bnai Yisrael as his obligation to help and feed and support.

2.    Only after Hashem convinced the Bnei Yisrael that his kindness and
beneficence will be continuous and ongoing, did  Bnei Yisrael begin to
trust him more and more. After seeing that Hashem had no ultimatums and
demands, water and Manna were there each and every day, a ?mutual trust?
was built up.

3.    The greatest praise of Hashem, the most significant to Har Sinai ? is
then Hamashpili Lir?os ? who concerns himself with the material needs of
Yisrael.

4.    The metaphor is that of an adoptive family, where all sides recall a
time before they were a family. Many passages in the Torah bespeak the
close quarters and shared spaces of family life.

5.    Because Hashem is an assertive presence, doing chasadim morning to
night, the ?family members? must keep their part of the bargain. That means
recognition of both the Commitment of Hashem to permanent involvement, and
the current expressions of that commitment, in terms of supernal wonders in
an endless bounty.

6.    Since our soul and strength is given back to us every morning, we
respond with trusting recognition. Rokeiach incisively suggests that
Nishmas Kol Chai, now said only as one of many pieces of Festival
Shacharit, was once the entire reaction to waking up in the morning. That
explains why it begins with the words ?the Life-Force breathed into each
living creature will KNEEL BEFORE YOU IN GREETING ACKNOWLEDGING YOUR
PRESENCE.

7.    That is not standard translation, rather it is one aspect of the word
Bracha. It is related to kneeling, and seeing a person the first time early
in the morning, we nod or bow or curtsey in recognition. Before greeting
human beings, we first greet Hashem, the first ___ to warmly greet us.
Bar?chu et Hashem Hamevorach in this aspect means Kneel deeply and
sincerely to the ONE  to Whom ALL MUST KNEEL!! Then the reply ? truly can
we KNEEL sincerely to the ONE WHO WILL be ALWAYS doing even more to be the
ONE  to Whom ALL MUST KNEEL!!

8.    Modim Drabanan ? was once the last chance for the  the congregation
to physically acknowledge the Presence of Hashem. Since many of us are
exiled far away, we trust and request the return to the Chatzros Kodshecha
? to be able to bow at the Gates of Your House and Abode.

9.    In Nishmat ? each BERRECH Kneeler will kneel with the most heartfelt
dedication [all the limbs of my body will proclaim WHO IS LIKE YOU!!] .
That interpretation comes from no less a source than RASHI himself as
reported in Machzor Vitri page ~151.

10.                    Why bow in the Amidah saying Baruch Ata? Because one
of its facets is ? You are the One To Whom all Kneel. The beginning of the
bow ? is the moment of the beginning of the Tefila. Batsheva bowed to
Hamelech David ? whatever words she could say Yechi Hamelech David Le?olam
? were secondary to the bowing.

11.                    Mevareich et Rei?eihu baboker Hashkeim ? he kneels
or bows to his neighbor early in the morning.

12.                    Using our knees ? the acknowledgment of Hashem?s
presence ? is similar to family who are around us all the time and we greet
them and see them often.

13.                    Our common spaces must be kept pleasing so as not to
be displeasing for any of the family members. Vehaya Machanecha Kadosh ?
your Camp shall be kept in good order for Hashem?s ongoing inspections.
That is another recognition of Hashem?s ongoing presence.

14.                    Har Sinai was the time that it became manifest that
Hashem?s ongoing presence ? his moving into the house ? is here to stay.

15.                    The RAMA begins his comments on Shulchan Aruch ?
your way of acting casually ? all by yourself nobody to take into account ?
may be slovenly.

16.                    When somebody you care about ? your patron and
provider ? is making a thorough inspection ? and you need that patron
immediately ? then you jump and react showing that your patron is present.

17.                    ON THAT DAY THEY ARRIVED AT HAR SINAI ? AND AS ONE
UNIT MADE CAMP WITH FULL AWARENESS OF THE MOUNTAIN?S PRESENCE.

TZAVTA presence in company ? leads to cleanliness.


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