Avodah Mailing List

Volume 36: Number 22

Tue, 20 Feb 2018

• 1. Re: Kashrus Advisory - Tevilas Keilim (Rich, Joel)
• 2. Re: Talking During Torah Reading (Prof. Levine)
• 3. The Besht (Prof. Levine)
• 4. Hasidism, A New History Banned (Professor L. Levine)
• 5. Re: Talking During Torah Reading (Ben Waxman)
• 6. Re: The Besht (Saul Guberman)
• 7. Re: shtarei hedyotot (Akiva Miller)

From

https://goo.gl/PtWVjN<;http://hybrid-web.global.blackspider.com/urlwrap/?q=AXicY2Rl0JnHwKAKxEU5lcam6XrFRWV6uYmZOcn5eSVF-Tl6yfm5DOWGnn4u5hYeBiYGhqamDFlFmckZDsWp6YlAVWAFGSUlBcVW-vrp-fl66Tn6ASXhYVl-DAwMOxcxMAAAwrQeSg&;Z>

Kashrus Advisory - Tevilas Keilim

February 15, 2018 from the OK<http://www.ok.org/consumers/kosher-alerts/type/alert/>:

Please be advised: gift trays may need to be toiveled if they will be further reused for food use.
According to Jewish law, the proprietor is not required to perform tevilas keilim but the consumer may be obligated to do so. Please consult your personal Rav.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------




Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz -Ten Minute Halacha - The Candy Dish Problem Part
3<http://download.yutorah.org/2012/1109/772338/Ten%20Minute%20Halacha%20-%20The%20Candy%20Dish%20Problem%20Part%203.MP3>
The western alliance is safe! A list of things that don't work for allowing
full candy dishes to be sold without a lfnei iver concern, then possible
approaches that work - 1) only make the package up after you order it (and
then you should toveil first); 2) don't use glass but something that
doesn't require tvila; 3) rely on R'Asher Weiss's opinion that store can
toveil anyway; 4) only fill the dish with pre-packaged items so dish isn't
really used (me - not sure how this actually works once you open a candy
bag, it usually isn't of much use - so not sure why this is better than
putting plastic sheeting under the candy).

Rabbi Aryeh Lebowitz-Ten Minute Halacha - The Candy Dish Problem Part
1<http://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/772140/Rabbi_Aryeh_Lebowitz/Ten_Minute_Halacha_-_The_Candy_Dish_Problem_Part_1>
A real cliff hanger - can the vaad give a hechsher to a store that sells
prefilled candy dishes? Toveiling the dish by the store doesn't work (not
Kli Seudah for them) and most people won't take the candy out and toveil
them (so lfnei Iver or mesayeah?). The one time use leniency doesn't work
(the dish is not meant to be disposable) and the R'Moshe "could you do it
without it" doesn't work l'chatchila. As R' Lebowitz later notes, there may
be bigger issues facing klal Yisael J. I'm not sure why it wouldn't be
enough for the stores to say CLOR on tevilla needs (we recently had some
heimish nondairy whipped cream in a shpritz can which said in small print -
consult your clor (or something like that in frumspeak) concerning using
this product on shabbat.

https://www.torahmusings.com/2013/12/the-candy-dish-dilemma/

KT
Joel Rich


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At 06:52 AM 2/18/2018, elazar teitz wrote:
 >RDYitzchok Levine wrote:
 >

 >
 ><"The congregation is not permitted to talk
 >while the Torah is being read, not even about
 >matters of Torah study. (The need to be silent
 >begins once the Torah has been opened to recite
 >the blessings over it ? Mishnah Brurah
 >146:4.)This is true even between aliyos. (There
 >may be room to be lenient regarding Torah study
 >between aliyos ? MB 146:6.) One may not leave
 >the shul while the Torah is being read (even if
 >he already heard the Torah and even if there?s
 >still a minyan without him ? MB 146:1). One may,
 >however, exit in-between aliyos if necessary. ">
 >
 >      Google is selective in its psak. The Aruch
 > Hashulchan,cites the Beis Yosef (the source of
 > the MB), and says that his reason for
 > prohibiting is not the speaking per se, but
 > because it might continue into the aliya. He
 > adds that the Bach and The Magen Avraham permit
 > brief conversations, especially nowadays when
 > lengthy breaks occur because of mi shebeirachs.
 >
 >      I think this a classic example of "heter
 > meiah rabbonim" -- there are more than 100
 > rabbonim who talk bein gavra l'gavra.

It is not google but the OU's site that I
quoted.  Please see the actual web page at
<https://goo.gl/WG5w2e>https://goo.gl/WG5w2e) The
person who wrote this is Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
who served as Director of Programs for NCSY
before becoming Associate Director of the Pepa
and Rabbi Joseph Karasick Department of Synagogue Services.

YL


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Recently I purchased the new book Hasidism, A New History out of 
curiosity.  See

https://goo.gl/vKij3H

I have only read 51 pages of this large volume,  but I have to say 
that what I have read is to me simply beyond my understanding of Judaism.

The book quotes from the writings of the Besht where he describes 
the  ascents of his soul into heaven.  Below is s short quote that 
summarizes these ascents.

"According to these accounts, the Besht was a welcome guest in 
heaven, interacting with important personages from the past like the 
biblical Ahiah the Shilonite. The heavenly hosts affirmed his special 
spiritual status and his unique role as intermediary between God and 
the world. He spoke personally with Satan and the Messiah-in-waiting. 
This supernatural communication was not only a means for the Besht to 
represent the needs of the Jewish people before the heavenly power 
but also gave him insight into God's plan, especially for the Jews."

Do Hasidim today believe that the Besht spoke to Satan and the 
Messiah-in-waiting?

Also,  RSRH writes that Am Yisroel needs no intermediary between it 
and HaShem,  so how is one to reconcile this with the claim that the 
Besht was such an intermediary?

YL


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Not surprisingly, the book Hasidism, A New History has been banned. See

https://goo.gl/vSNRDh.<;https://goo.gl/vSNRDh>


Click on the English translation on the right to enlarge it.


Apparently those who banned the book do not agree with  the way the Torah portrays our great men.


The following is from the new translation of the commentary of Rav Samson
Raphael Hirsch on Bereishis 12: 10 - 13. He is discussing the question of
how Avraham could leave EY and put Sarah in danger.

In light of this, I have to wonder why some think that all "negatives"
about our predecessors should be suppressed. What I am talking about is the
tendency of some to go so far as to deny that certain things took place in
the past if they do not jive with our present view of what the religious
world should look like.

RSRH quotes the Ramban "Our father Avraham inadvertently committed a grave
sin by placing his virtuous wife before a stumbling block of iniquity
because of his fear of being killed . . . His leaving the Land, about which
he had been commanded, because of the famine was another sin he committed"
- nevertheless, none of this would perplex us.

The Torah does not seek to portray our great men
as perfectly ideal figures; it deifies no man. It says of no one: "Here you
have the ideal; in this man the Divine assumes human form!" It does not set
before us the life of any one person as the model from which we might learn
what is good and right, what we must do and what we must refrain from
doing. When the Torah wishes to put before us a model to emulate, it does
not present a man, who is born of dust. Rather, God presents Himself as the
model, saying: "Look upon Me! Emulate Me! Walk in My ways!" We are never to
say: "This must be good and right, because so-and-so did it." The Torah is
not an "anthology
 of good deeds." It relates events not because they are necessarily worthy of emulation, but because they took place.

The Torah does not hide from us the faults, errors, and weaknesses of our
great men, and this is precisely what gives its stories credibility.The
knowledge given us of their faults and weaknesses does not detract from the
stature of our great men; on the contrary, it adds to their stature and
makes their life stories even more instructive. Had they been portrayed to
us as shining models of perfection, flawless and unblemished, we would have
assumed that they had been endowed with a higher nature, not given to us to
attain. Had they been portrayed free of passions and inner conflicts, their
virtues would have seemed to us as merely the consequence of their loftier
nature, not acquired
by personal merit, and certainly no model we could ever hope to
emulate.



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All he did was to translate the text, he didn't give a survey of the 
relevant literature. Therefore I don't see how this page over rules the 
Aruch Hashulchan and any other poseik.

Ben

On 2/19/2018 12:12 PM, Prof. Levine via Avodah wrote:
 > Please see the actual web page at
 > < https://goo.gl/WG5w2e>https://goo.gl/WG5w2e) The
 > person who wrote this is Rabbi Jack Abramowitz
 > who served as Director of Programs for NCSY
 > before becoming Associate Director of the Pepa
 > and Rabbi Joseph Karasick Department of Synagogue Services

On Mon, Feb 19, 2018 at 5:15 AM, Prof. Levine wrote:
> Recently I purchased the new book Hasidism, A New History out of
> curiosity.  See
> https://goo.gl/vKij3H
...
> The book quotes from the writings of the Besht where he describes the
> ascents of his soul into heaven....

> "According to these accounts, the Besht was a welcome guest in heaven,
> interacting with important personages from the past like the biblical Ahiah
> the Shilonite. The heavenly hosts affirmed his special spiritual status and
> his unique role as intermediary between God and the world. He spoke
> personally with Satan and the Messiah-in-waiting. This supernatural
> communication was not only a means for the Besht to represent the needs of
> the Jewish people before the heavenly power but also gave him insight into
> God's plan, especially for the Jews."

> Do Hasidim today believe that the Besht spoke to Satan and the
> Messiah-in-waiting?
...

Why wouldn't hasidim and others thing that the BESHT could not ascend to
the heavens.  There are stories in the gemorah like this.  There are
stories of the ARI doing this and Rav Caro talking with angels.  Yahadus is
more than 3,000 years old.  RSRH is not the only commentator and expounder
on the religion.  There is no reason to square this with his thoughts.  He
was not a tanah, amorah, Gaon or Rishon.

.
R' Joel Rich asked:

> On the topic of shtarei hedyotot, I wonder why the reading of
> newspaper advertisements on Shabbat is rarely addressed. If
> there is no general heter, is this just a case of mutav
> sheyihiyu shoggegin? (I?m thinking specifically of all the
> weekly divrei torah publications)

What do you mean "rarely addressed"? It is pretty clearly stated in
Shmirat Shabbat K'hilchata 29:46-47 and R' Ribiat pg 981, and many
other seforim.

If you mean that rabonim rarely speak out about it, my guess is that
it is less a case of "mutav sheyihiyu shoggegin", and more like
choosing one's battles selectively  (though one could argue that
there's little difference between those two ideas).

> My suspicion (and that?s all it is so I am really wondering if
> anyone has clarified this) is that like a number of gzeirot
> that according to the algorithm should not be able to be undone,
> common practice has recognized the reality that perhaps their
> application today is less clear?  Any insights into current
> rabbinic thinking would be very much appreciated.

In what way is the application less clear nowadays?

Akiva Miller


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