Avodah Mailing List

Volume 43: Number 77

Tue, 23 Dec 2025

• 1. Re: Truth, Absolute Truth, Prophecy (Micha Berger)
• 2. Re: The Ram of the Akeida (Micha Berger)
• 3. Re: Right? (Micha Berger)
• 4. Re: Saying Sheimos Aloud (Ken Bloom)
• 5. Re: Saying Sheimos Aloud (Micha Berger)
• 6. Re: Saying Sheimos Aloud (mgl...@gmail.com)

On Tue, Dec 09, 2025 at 10:44:12AM +1100, Rabbi Meir G. Rabi via Avodah wrote:
> The Navi reprimanded him
> mind your own business
> not HKBH's business.
> InOtherWords,
> HKBH knows what He's doing
> DON'T MIX IN
> Just do as you're told.

> Why does this not apply to
> Rivkah and YaAkov's meddling
> to gain the blessings from Yitzhak

Why does it not apply to a choleh eating on Yom Kippur? Isn't that
another version of the same question?

Or perhaps a closer match: Eliyahu behar haKarmel. He brought a qorban
on a bamah because eis la'asos Lashem, which is arguably what Rivqa was
also doing.

I think in Chizqiyahu's it has more to do with knowledge of the future,
and how treating it as certain violates free will. His son had to exist
and be given the choice of becoming the rasha he did. You cannot predecide
these things.

Hishtadlus must depend on trying your best to shape the future for
the better, and not acting on glimpses you get of that (potential?)
future.

(Bad things need not happen, so any negative nevu'ah perhaps should
be called only "potential future".)

An enlightening and enjoyable Zos Chanukah!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 The mind is a wonderful organ
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   for justifying decisions
Author: Widen Your Tent      the heart already reached.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF

On Wed, Dec 03, 2025 at 06:29:55AM -0500, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> There is a mishna in perek 5 of Pirkei Avos which lists several things that
> were created at Bein Hashmashos just prior to the Shabbos of Bereishis. My
> understanding is that they were all miraculous, unnatural things...

My understanding is similar, but with a nuance...

First, nissim are pe'ulos, not cheftzos. Or in something closer to
English: "miraculous" is an adverb, not an adjective.

So we need a new category for objects whose essence or other properties
can't exist within nature.

And what we see is that a list of such objects is listed as being
created in the gray area between being made during the creation process
and being after. Like an exception built into the rules.

But that difference doesn't change the core of your question: Mah
nishtanah ha'ayil hazeh mikol ha'eilim? Why yeish omerim that it have
to be made before the rules of nature were entirely sealed and started
running?

Some answers were already provided by R Sholom Simon.

Here's a creative addition to the list:

The Rambam (Moreh 2:42) writes that "Vayisa es einav" is a term
referring to prophetic vision.

And if so, Avraham sudden ability to see the ram may have been
either

- The Rambam take -- that the rest of the story is prophetic. Which
is what he does with parashas Vayeira, no?

- The more common take -- that this was an angelic ayil that just
now became physical, so that it only came into this world in response
to the aqeida moment. There and not there, like a Schreodinger Cat,
ready to appear the moment the knift was lifted.

A lichtikn un freilechn Chanukah!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 The same boiling water
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   that softens the potato, hardens the egg.
Author: Widen Your Tent      It's not about the circumstance,
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF    but rather what you are made of.

On Wed, Dec 03, 2025 at 06:06:09AM +0200, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> In a number of places in halacha we give priority to the right-hand side
> and turning to the right. It's interesting that 80+ percent of humans are
> right-handed. While there are a number of theories as to why this might
> be(especially compared to other life forms), I wonder if there's some
> message as to why HKBH created the world this way. Any thoughts appreciated?

This raises the question I was discussing a few weeks ago with a cousin of
mine. He is the Chabad Shaliach to New Orleans (deputized by his father,
who RMMS personally sent to Louisiana as a whole). So he and I come to
Qabbalah from very different positions.

Are most people righties because Chessed on the Metaphysical "Right",
and Chessed should always be stronger than Din for the universe(s)
to exist. So therefore the Metaphysical "Right"'s effect in the
physical universe, the physical concept of Right, will be stronger than
left. Leading to more Righties than Lefties.

Or, do we place Chessed on the Metaphysical "Right" because most people
are righties. Since they should think of Chessed as the stronger middah
than Din, for most of us we should picture it on the right.

There is a lemaaseh difference for us lefties. The first one would ask
lefties to just see themselves as an exception to the rule. The latter
would have the things righties do on the right side because Chessed be
done on the left side by lefties.

More things are done with the right hand because of the kavod of the
mitzvah to be done with the more capable hand. Or tying with the left
because of tefillin. And lefties would swap those anyway.

But minhagim like the right order to wash hands is about Chessed first.
To conform to my minhag, should I actually wash my left hand first?

A point in favor of Qabbalistic Right vs Left being projections back from
the physical experience is that right is inherently a subjective term,
depending on which direction you're facing.

Something quite related to physical right (Yemin) is south (Teiman).
That's more objective, at least until we know what "Teiman" would mean
on whatever other planets we someday live on.

You may recall from halachic discussion that I am predisposed to
believe that a system whose main goal is to shape humans care more
about human experiences than objective realities. Which gives me
a bias towas the idea that Chessed is on the speaker's stronger or
more agile side.

A lichtikn un freilechn Zos Chanukah!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   you are,  or what you are doing,  that makes you
Author: Widen Your Tent      happy or unhappy. It's what you think about.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                      - Dale Carnegie

See
https://jewishaction.com/religion/jewish-law/whats-the-truth-about-saying-g-ds-name-in-the-course-of-torah-study/
for a summary of poskim about saying God's name in various contexts
(learning, berachot, and zemirot). It seems like the consensus of poskim is
to allow it. Regarding RSGanzfried himself, he writes in Kitzur Shulchan
Aruch 6:3 "??????? ???????? ?????????? ??????? ??????????? ?????? ?????????
??? ??? ????????? ?????? ????????? ?????? ???????? ???????? ??? ????????
???????", which seems like he permits it.
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On Mon, Dec 22, 2025 at 02:17:46PM -0500, Ken Bloom via Avodah wrote:
> See
> https://jewishaction.com/religion/jewish-law/whats-the-truth-about-saying-g-ds-name-in-the-course-of-torah-study/
> for a summary of poskim about saying God's name in various contexts
> (learning, berachot, and zemirot). It seems like the consensus of poskim is
> to allow it. Regarding RSGanzfried himself, he writes in Kitzur Shulchan
> Aruch 6:3 ...

Mod hat on: Sorry, I should have inserted something, maybe a
transliteration. So I'll include the translation of R Avrohom Davis
(of the Metzuda set of sefarim):
    Included in the concept of fear is not mentioning His great Name
    except in praise of Him or when reciting a berachah whenever required,
    or when studying Torah.

>           which seems like he permits it.

Indeed.

I was amazed by the latter bit of that se'if, that RSG considers "Gutt"
or "Adieu" to be kinuyim for the Creator, since both are most often
used for the trinity. Adieu isn't even the actual French word for God;
it is conjugated -- "with God" (a+Dieu). And yet he prohibits throwing
out mail that says "Adieu" on it. Would he have a similar problem with
"Goodbye", as people originally were saying it as a slurred up version of
"God be with you?" It's not like French people in his day were thinking
"With God" when they were writing "Adeiu!", the etymology was lost under
generations of usage as "farewell!"

On the other hand, he also calls "HaGadol", "HaGibor", etc... kinuyim,
and they only refer to Hashem within the context of the sentence. (Unless
transliterated as I did, with a capital letter denoting Who I am
speaking of.)

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 "As long as the candle is still burning,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   it is still possible to accomplish and to
Author: Widen Your Tent      mend."
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF        - Anonymous shoemaker to R' Yisrael Salanter

R? AM: 

Near the beginning of Hilchos Chanuka in the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (139:1),
he uses the phrase, "ad shericham aleihem E-lohei avoseinu." I checked
several different recent editions, and they all printed that Shem with a
heh. Not a kuf, or any other sort of typographical modification.

 

I would love to know how the author pronounced this as he was writing it, or proofreading it, or teaching it.

 

In the communities I'm familiar with, no one would speak aloud any of the
Sheimos Sheinan Nimchakim (divine names which, if written, may not be
erased), unless in the context of a pasuk or some sort of tefilah. But not
in the contexts of learning Torah or of conversation, even if the reference
was sincerely intended to refer to Him. We've even invented a placeholder
for such situations: Hashem. Or we use one of His many titles or kinuyim,
such as Creator or Hakadoshbaruchu.

 

My question is about the situations where we allow such Sheimos to be said
aloud, and where we use the other terms. Please note that I am NOT asking
about the printing or publication of these Sheimos, such as I cited from
the Kitzur - a sefer is unlikely to be discarded in the trash, so I can
easily imagine why there might be no hesitation to print the Shem from that
perspective. But people often do read from seforim aloud, and it is *that*
perspective which concerns me.

 

<?>

 

Does anyone know of any poskim or other articles who deal with this?

 

MYG:

 

I appreciate this question because I gave a shiur that touches on this topic about a month ago. 

 

I spoke about whether a person should say the sheim Hashem when they?re
reading the gemara that brings down a pasuk, and if the gemara brings down
a nusach of a berachah. Marei mekomos: 

 

*       Tur Yoreh Deiah 321 

*	Yismach Leiv, Yoreh Deiah 16 (?"? ??? ??????)  https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=543
<https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=543&;st=&pgnum=107>
&st=&pgnum=107

*       Magein Avrohom Orach Chaim 215:5 (with Machatzis Hashekel there) 

*	Sh?eilas Yaavetz 81: https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=67710
<https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=67710&;st=&pgnum=108&hilite=>
&st=&pgnum=108&hilite= 

*	Birkei Yosef Cheilek Aleph Orach Chaim 215:4-5: https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=7626
<https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=7626&;st=&pgnum=113>
&st=&pgnum=113 

*	Z?chor L?Avraham, page 1: https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=23714
<https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=23714&;st=&pgnum=5>
&st=&pgnum=5 

*       Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 215:2-3 

*       Mishneh Berurah 215:14 (see also the notes in the Dirshu edition there)

*       Gemara Taanis 27b 

*       Igros Moshe Orach Chaim cheilek 2, #56 

 

The Yismach Leiv, from what he says, clearly held that it?s not a problem
to say the sheim hashem as you?re learning the text of a berachah in the
Tur (the first of the marei mekomos). Because of that, he says that in a
case of safek berachah (on pidyon peter chamor) he would learn that Tur in
YD 321, say the berachah exactly as quoted by the Tur, with Sheim Umalchus,
and be yotzei the berachah mi?safek. But as you?ll see, that?s not a
universally accepted stance. 

 

KT and AFC,

MYG

 

 

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