Avodah Mailing List

Volume 35: Number 29

Wed, 08 Mar 2017

• 1. Rav Gustman on Not Becoming a Pulpit Rabbi (Professor L. Levine)
• 2. Re: Chometz: Less than a kezayis ()
• 3. Purin and Gematria (Professor L. Levine)
• 4. Re: Chometz: Less than a kezayis (Zev Sero)
• 5. Re: How to become a Kohen (Micha Berger)
• 6. Re: What exactly is ?Ayin Harah? and do we have to worry about it? (Prof. Levine)
• 7. Re: What exactly is ?Ayin Harah? and do we have to worry about it? (Micha Berger)
• 8. Can two brothers or a father and a son be given consecutive aliyos if their names are not mentioned? (Professor L. Levine)
• 9. prof berger (saul newman)
• 10. Re: prof berger (Micha Berger)
• 11. Why Hashem Wants Precision (Micha Berger)
• 12. waiting after meat broth (Lisa Liel)
• 13. The Challenges Ahead: Setting Sights On New Horizons ? A Classic Rav Shimon Schwab Addresss (Professor L. Levine)

Those who are not familiar with Rav Yisroel Zev Gustman, ZT"L, should read the write-up about him at

http://matzav.com/rav-yisroel-zev-gustman-ztl-on-his-20th-y
ahrtzeit-today-28-sivan/


He was truly an outstanding Talmud Chocham and an exceptional man.  He was the only Vilna Dyan to survive WW II.


More than once people have referred to me as "rabbi,"  which I am not. 
When they do, I jokingly  say,	"Being a rabbi is no profession for a
Jewish boy." and then say that I am not a rabbi.


The following is from a biography about him that was recently released by ArtScroll.

I have a feeling that Rav Gustman would have agreed with my quip about being a rabbi.


On another occasion, a student who excelled in his learning
received semichah from the Rosh Yeshivah. The student thereupon
decided to become a congregational rabbi. R' Gustman advised
him against doing so. If the student were to accept a position as a
congregational rabbi in America, the Rosh Yeshivah counseled, it
would mark the end to his spiritual growth. He would be too busy
dealing with the demands of his congregants to find time for learning.
Moreover, in a culture in which "money talks," the congregants
would run the rabbi rather than the rabbi running the congregation,
dictating to him rather than the other way around.

R' Gustman told him, "In your case, it is better to be a truck driver
than to be a congregational rabbi, because being a truck driver will
not be a source of constant aggravation. You can leave your job when
you step out of your truck, and you will therefore have an unburdened
mind to learn Torah in peace in your free time. In addition,
you will not be required to sacrifice your health for the capricious
demands of the synagogue board members and lay leadership. This
will be a hardship for you."

The talmid did not heed R' Gustman' s advice. Even after the
student assumed his rabbinic post, the Rosh Yeshivah conveyed his
dissatisfaction with that choice. As it turned out, after a few years,
the student found himself unable to withstand the headaches and

the heartaches of his position and determined to leave the rabbinate.
He asked forgiveness, which was immediately granted, for not having
heeded R' Gustman's advice. The student became a successful
businessman who had time to learn, time which he had never found
as a congregational rabbi.
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From: Akiva Miller via Avodah  <avo...@lists.aishdas.org>

>> Rav Shimon Eider (Halachos of  Pesach, page 72) quotes Rav Moshe 
Feinstein
as saying the we do NOT have to  do bedikah on seforim (although "a volume
which may have been used around  chometz" should not be brought to the
table)....
.....Pesach cleaning will  drive anyone "crazy" (to use RMB's word above) 
if he
doesn't plan for it  well, allowing sufficient time to do a proper job. If
one chooses (or his rav  instructs him) to follow the Chazon Ish, this will
include every single sefer  that might have chometz in it, and many other
parts of the house where other  poskim would say, "There's no kezayis here."
Don't blame the halacha when the  fault really lies with poor planning.<<

Akiva  Miller

 
 
>>>>>
 
Here is a practical suggestion for people with large numbers of seforim  
(most people on Avodah), and for people who bring seforim to the table --  
everyone here, I'm sure.  You do not have to wait until it is almost  Pesach to 
get rid of your crumbs. You can do it all year  long.  My father always had 
seforim on the table during Shabbos and weekday  meals, and he had a habit 
of blowing on the pages and shaking every sefer before  putting it away.  
When I once asked him why he did this, he explained that  he did it to keep 
his seforim clean for Pesach.  
 
My feeling is that such hanhaga also fulfills the mitzva of  remembering 
yetzias Mitzra'im every day, "Lema'an tizkor es yom tzeischa  mei'eretz 
Mitzra'im kol yemei chayecha."
 
 

--Toby  Katz
t6...@aol.com
..
=============


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Please see

http://www.heritage.org.il/innernet/archives/gematria.htm


The last one is what was referred to in what I sent out yesterday about not being able to do mathematical computations.


YL
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On 06/03/17 00:15, via Avodah wrote:
> Here is a practical suggestion for people with large numbers of seforim
> (most people on Avodah), and for people who bring seforim to the table
> -- everyone here, I'm sure.  You do not have to wait until it is almost
> Pesach to get rid of your crumbs. You can do it all year long.  My
> father always had seforim on the table during Shabbos and weekday meals,
> and he had a habit of blowing on the pages and shaking every sefer
> before putting it away.  When I once asked him why he did this, he
> explained that he did it to keep his seforim clean for Pesach.

My father, OTOH, never allows seforim to be put down on a table which 
has crumbs on it.  It can be the day after Pesach and if you put a sefer 
down on the table he'll say "brekelach" (crumbs) and have you brush it 
off and hold it in your hands, or else fold the tablecloth back and put 
it down on the bare table.   Siddurim and benchers, which of course do 
go on the table during meals, are put away for Pesach.

-- 
Zev Sero                May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
z...@sero.name           be a brilliant year for us all

On Sun, Mar 05, 2017 at 05:34:44AM -0500, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
: When Pinchas was born, his father was not yet a kohen, so - obviously -
: Pinchas did not become one automatically at birth...

: And a somewhat related question:  I don't know how old Elazar and Itamar
: were at this point, but they probably were not too young, given that Aharon
: was already past 80..

Elazar and Itamar were made kohanim at the same time Aharon was. "Ve'es
Aharon ve'es banav aqadeish lekhahein Li." (Shemos 29:44) And the actual
consecration of "vehilbachta osam, es Aharon achikha ve'es banav ito
... veqidashta osam vekhihanu Li" in 28:41.

: ...                  So, was Pinchas the only grandson? In other words,
: once Pinchas became a kohen, did the kehuna now include all of Aharon's
: male descendants, or were some left out?

Shemos 6:25 mentions Pinechas before Yetz'is Mitzrayim. So he's alive
at this point.

But, since the process requires wearing bigdei kehunah, only descendents
that were old enough to serve could have been included in veqidashta. Not
just born, but 13 years old (w/ 2 sa'aros).

It is quite possible that only 1 grandchild was born during that 13 year
window. In other words, given everyone's age, perhaps he was the youngest,
with the rest of Aharon's einikelach being consecrated together with
their fathers.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Man can aspire to spiritual-moral greatness
mi...@aishdas.org        which is seldom fully achieved and easily lost
http://www.aishdas.org   again. Fulfillment lies not in a final goal,
Fax: (270) 514-1507      but in an eternal striving for perfection. -RSRH

At 01:42 PM 3/6/2017, Micha Berger wrote:
>On Thu, Mar 02, 2017 at 03:12:34PM +0000, Professor L. Levine via 
>Avodah wrote:
>: Q. What exactly is "Ayin Harah" and do we have to worry about it? (A
>: subscriber's question)
>
>I brought here a few times in the past my argument that the usage in the
>mishnah that an "evil eye" is a jealous one. It would therefore seem
>that an ayin hara is the punishment one gets for making others feel
>dissatistfied through one's flaunting and conspicuous consumption.
>
>Tir'u baTov!
>-Micha

IIRC,  this is precisely the way Rabbi A. Miller explained it.

YL 
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On Thu, Mar 02, 2017 at 03:12:34PM +0000, Professor L. Levine via Avodah wrote:
: Q. What exactly is "Ayin Harah" and do we have to worry about it? (A
: subscriber's question)

I brought here a few times in the past my argument that the usage in the
mishnah that an "evil eye" is a jealous one. It would therefore seem
that an ayin hara is the punishment one gets for making others feel
dissatistfied through one's flaunting and conspicuous consumption.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

From today's OU Halacha Yomis


Q. Can two brothers or a father and a son be given consecutive aliyos if their names are not mentioned?


A. The Mishna Berura (141:21) writes that if the shul's custom is that the
maftir is called up with the words "yaamod maftir" - "let the maftir come
for this aliya" - without specifying his name, it is permitted to call two
brothers or a father and a son one after another for shevi'i and maftir. So
too, he adds, if the shul's minhag is to call the one who receives shevi'i
without mentioning his name, the two relatives can be called to shishi and
shevi'i one after another. Likewise, if the names of those who receive
hagbaah and gelila are never mentioned, two brothers or a father and son
can receive the hagbaah and gelila (She'arim HaMetzuyanim B'Halacha 23:10
in the name of the Shu"t Avnei Chefetz Siman 16). In all these instances,
the relationship of the two people receiving Kibudim (honors) is not
obvious, because the names are not being used, and there would be no ayin
harah.


However, the Mishna Berura (ibid.) adds that the above halachos only apply
when the shul's minhag is not to call the person's name for these honors.
If, however, the regular custom is to use the person's name, it is not
appropriate to call up these relatives by omitting their names as this
omission would draw attention to the fact that they are being called up and
lead to ayin harah.


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http://p
odcast.headlinesbook.com/e/21817-our-relationship-with-chabad-and-the-impor
tance-of-a-secular-education-in-our-yeshiva-system/

headlines  featured an interview w prof  berger on chabad issues of
messianism. the host felt that rabbi kotlarsky's assertion on a prior show
that anyone praying to the rebbe instead of RBSO is off the derech is
enough to counter the idea that it is acceptable in chabad to assert any
divinity to its leader , and thus to make the assertion that [as prob
berger contends] a messianic  shochet need be further questioned to
determine if he believes that the rebbes are the atzmus of Hashem in an
avoda zara sense.

there were sources the host brought up ,  bavli and yerushalmi , that would
seem to indicate that at some point it was normative to believe in a
messianic second coming---ie an asserted messiah who failed in the
messianic mission and then dies is currently believed to be a false
messiah, but that idea was not initially held            I wonder at what
point historically did this change--was it when christianity became
dominant , therefore a profession that second comings are possible would
make jewish existence in a xtian world without converting even more
precarious;;;
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On Sun, Mar 05, 2017 at 09:29:01PM -0800, saul newman via Avodah wrote:
: headlines  featured an interview w prof  berger on chabad issues of
: messianism. the host felt that rabbi kotlarsky's assertion on a prior show
: that anyone praying to the rebbe instead of RBSO...

But this is a mi'ut delo shekhiachah. WADR to R/Dr Berger, this is a
non-issue, a battle against a handful of people of questionable mental
stability.

:                  a messianic  shochet need be further questioned to
: determine if he believes that the rebbes are the atzmus of Hashem in an
: avoda zara sense.

"Ah rebbe iz atzmus umahus vos hot zich areingeshtelt in a guf" isn't
about praying to him.

As I have written here in the past, the concept is more useful to compare
or contrast against Buddhism than against Yeishu.

See RJJB's http://thanbook.blogspot.com/2006/04/chabad-rebbe-and-god.html
A useful snippet:

   Chabad acosmism: God is One and Unchanging both before and after the
   Tzimtzum and Creation. The Tzimtzum, far from creating a physical space
   inside Hashem (as the Ari writes plainly in the Etz Chayim), was a
   spiritual restriction, a veiling, as it were, of the Infinite Light so
   that the created world could stand it without perishing. Then the world
   was created after the tzimtzum. However, since God is no different
   after the Creation than He was before, and since He is the sole Unity,
   it follows that the world has no separate physical existence. Rather,
   the world is in some way a part of God. I am part of God, you are part
   of God, the trees and rocks are parts of God, the PC is part of God,
   etc. That is the reality of the Universe from God's perspective. It is
   only from our perspective that we imagine the rock to have physical
   existence, that I have physical existence, that the PC has physical
   existence.

   This is symbolized by the verse "Hashem is God, there is none besides."

So, a rebbe is an embodiment of G-d, but in a sense so is everythying else.

In Mahayana Buddhism, all of the world is an illusion. There is only the
Absolute One. Lehavdil Chabad's very literal take of "ein od milvado" and
their whole understanding of yeish mei'Ayin (which by their explanation
requires capitalization of the "A").

The bodhisattva, having been able to pierce this illusion, that creation
holds distinct items hangs around this world to help others do the
same. Compare to the L notion that while everything is G-d, because
tzimtzum is taken as metaphoric, and the rebbe, as the yechidah of the
national soul, is able to connect to that. HQBH medabeir mitokh gerono
shel Moshe - haRebbe bedoro keMoshe bedoro.

The only difference, and it's not a small one, is that in Buddhism, they
don't link the one-ness of Buddha nature to a concept of Divine Will,
or Divinity altogether. IOW, very different concepts of Absolute One.

: there were sources the host brought up ,  bavli and yerushalmi , that would
: seem to indicate that at some point it was normative to believe in a
: messianic second coming---ie an asserted messiah who failed in the
: messianic mission and then dies is currently believed to be a false
: messiah, but that idea was not initially held

Not normative, but a permissible false belief. As R Aharon Soloveitchik
wrote in 1994, non-normative; in 1996 - non-heretical; in 2000 -- clarified
the 1996 letter to explain he did not intend to contradict what he wrote
in 1994:
   To my great dismay... publications affiliated with the Lubavitch
   movement have persisted in stating that I validate their belief that a
   Jewish Messiah may be resurrected from the dead. I completely reject and
   vigorously deny any such claim. As I have already stated publicly...
   such a belief is repugnant to Judaism and is the antithesis of the
   truth. My intent in signing the original letter... was merely to
   express my opinion that we should not label subscribers to these beliefs
   as heretics. Any statements in that letter which imply an endorsement of
   their view were not shown to me at the time I signed and I once again
   repudiate any such ridiculous claim.

Repugnant to the spirit of Judaism, but not hertical (apiqursus, meenus
or kefirah). And, as per the 1996 letter, not reason to turn our backs
on people who do so much good for the Jewish People.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The meaning of life is to find your gift.
mi...@aishdas.org        The purpose of life
http://www.aishdas.org   is to give it away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                     - Pablo Picasso

Here's Mosaic e-Zine's snippet from R Jonathan Sacks' essay for parashas
Terumah 5777 "The Architecture of Holiness"
<http://rabbisacks.org/architecture-holiness-terumah-5777>:

    Torah commentators... have drawn attention to the way the terminology
    of the construction of the Tabernacle is the same as that used to
    describe God's creation of the universe. The Tabernacle was, in other
    words, a micro-cosmos, a symbolic reminder of the world God made. The
    fact that the divine presence rested within it was not meant to
    suggest that God is here [rather than somewhere else]. It was meant
    to signal, powerfully and palpably, that God exists throughout the
    cosmos. It was a man-made structure to mirror and focus attention
    on the divinely-created universe. It was in space what Shabbat is
    in time: a reminder of creation.

    The dimensions of the universe are precise, mathematically exact. [For
    instance], the universe is shaped by six mathematical constants
    which, had they varied by a millionth or trillionth degree, would
    have resulted in no universe or at least no life... Precision
    matters. Order matters. The misplacement of even a few of the
    3.1-billion letters in the human genome can lead to devastating
    genetic conditions.... That is the message the Tabernacle was intended
    to convey.

    God creates order in the natural universe. We are charged with
    creating order in the human universe. That means painstaking care
    in what we say, what we do, and what we must restrain ourselves from
    doing. There is a precise choreography to the moral and spiritual life
    as there is a precise architecture to the Tabernacle. Being good,
    specifically being holy, is not a matter of acting as the spirit
    moves us. It is a matter of aligning ourselves with the Will that
    made the world.

Is the idea here precision for the sake of seder itself, or that --
like the creation of the universe and the 6 Physical Constants --
details matter in the mechniacs of things?

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "'When Adar enters, we increase our joy'
mi...@aishdas.org         'Joy is nothing but Torah.'
http://www.aishdas.org    'And whoever does more, he is praiseworthy.'"
Fax: (270) 514-1507                     - Rav Dovid Lifshitz zt"l

https://www.scribd.c
om/document/337590069/Further-on-Waiting-Times-After-Eating-Parmesan-Pizza-
Response-to-R-Ysoscher-Katz

I was reading an article today, when I came across this:

    R. Katz then introduces another rationale for permissibility in the
    case under discussion, based on the rule that one need not wait
    after consuming soup into which meat was dissolved or liquefied (a
    "tavshil shel basar" - YD 89:3), arguing that:

I've never heard of this before.  Is this saying that meat broth with no 
solids whatsoever doesn't require the same waiting period before eating 
dairy as meat?

Lisa


---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

From

http://tinyurl.com/zun5mjq


As we approach the twenty second ????????  of Rav Schwab ????<https://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Shimon_Schwab> on ?? ???, we can recall him with a fine video
recently posted online<https://vimeo.com/193242296>. Go
back in time and experience the eloquence of a master orator, and ????
????? ?????, by playing it.


See the above URL for the video and more.


YL
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