Avodah Mailing List

Volume 33: Number 166

Mon, 28 Dec 2015

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Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Message: 1
From: Zev Sero
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2015 14:10:13 -0500
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] asara betevet


On 12/24/2015 12:32 PM, Eli Turkel via Avodah wrote:
>
>> There *is* an opinion that in the hypothetical case that Asara B'Tevet
>> were to fall on Shabbos we would fast, but I believe the only reason
>> this opinion gets the play that it does is because it's only hypothetical.
>> If it were possible for it to actually happen we would not give this
>> opinion any consideration, and in fact it might never have been advanced
>> at all, since its originator would have known that we don't do that. >>

> Ohr Sameach (Hil Taanait 5:6) seems to disagree with this. The gemara
> in Eruvin 40b asks if one who has an individual fast on friday must
> complete the fast. Ohr Sameach asks why is the question only on an
> individual fast and not a taanit tzibur. He answers that since we
> would fast asarah betevet on shabbat certainly we fast on friday and
> so there is no question. Therefore, the gemara only asked about
> taanit yachid. Thus Ohr Sameach takes the gemara of fasting on
> shabbat very literally.

What gemara?  It's not a gemara, it's a chiddush of the Abudraham.
And I claim that if it were not merely hypothetical he might never
have proposed it in the first place, and if he did it would have
remained an obscure daas yachid and would not have been quoted by
anyone.  That the Or Sameach takes it seriously is again only because
it's merely hypothetical.


-- 
Zev Sero               All around myself I will wave the green willow
z...@sero.name          The myrtle and the palm and the citron for a week
                And if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm doing that
                I'll say "It's a Jewish thing; if you have a few minutes
                I'll explain it to you".



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Message: 2
From: via Avodah
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2015 17:07:11 -0500
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] Anthropic Principle




 

From: "Jay F. Shachter via Avodah"  <avo...@lists.aishdas.org>

Date: Sat, 19 Dec 2015 18:48:06  -0500
From: Micha Berger via Avodah
> SciAm ran this article last month  on 5 of the really finely tuned
> aspects of physics without which we  wouldn't be here.
> <http://j.mp/1QRZqyY>

I'm a member of a  book club in which we all take turns recommending a
book to the others.  ...
One of the books I recommended was "Just Six Numbers" by Martin  Rees,


Jay F. ("Yaakov") Shachter
j...@m5.chicago.il.us
http://m5.chicago.il.us





>>>>
 
You and your book club should read **THE PRIVILEGED PLANET*** by Guillermo  
Gonzales and Jay Richards.  It's one of my favorite books in the whole  
world.  I think it should be a required science textbook in every  yeshiva high 
school.  I would subtitle the book "Mah Gadlu Maasecha Hashem"  -- although 
the writers are not Jews and not theologians.  They are  scientists.  I 
love, I love, I love this book.  The book shows in a  most fascinating way how 
the universe is uniquely designed for life; even more,  it shows how the 
universe is designed to be discovered and  known.  (And the Designer means to 
be discovered.) To give just three  examples:
 
1. Even though the sun is 93 million miles away and the moon only 25,000  
miles away, the two luminaries are exactly the same [apparent] size in the  
sky!  A perfect fit!  Everything we know about the sun's corona,  we know 
only  because of eclipses.  If the moon were slightly smaller  it would not 
completely cover the sun and the sky would not be dark during an  eclipse and 
we could not see the corona.  If the moon were  slightly bigger, it would 
cover the corona as well as the sun and again, we  could not see the corona.
 
2.  If the atmosphere were just slightly different than it is, we  would 
still be able to breathe and function normally but it would be opaque  instead 
of transparent -- it would be cloudy -- and we would not even be aware  
that there are stars and planets out there.
 
3.  If we were in a different part of our galaxy, where the stars are  more 
thickly strewn, we would not have a night sky.  Instead the night sky  
would be as brightly lit (by stars) as the day sky is lit by the sun and we  
would not even know there are stars out there.
 
http://www.privilegedplanet.com/

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


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Message: 3
From: saul newman
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2015 13:50:26 -0800
Subject:
[Avodah] slichot


the minhag  in  my minyan [the earliest in the neighborhood] has  always
 been to say slichot before davening .  this  was motivated by end time
considerations  ie  the minyan functions around ending at  consistent
times. some people would not want to come earlier than 6 am  , and it was
felt better they should  miss slichot than tefila .

we start with 'slach lanu'   and say kaddish shalem at the end
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Message: 4
From: Ben Waxman
Date: Sat, 26 Dec 2015 22:41:29 +0200
Subject:
Re: [Avodah] duchening in aretz


I've never seen a chazan move to the front. He either says it in place 
or doesn't say it all. In cases of the former practice, the qehilla 
moves further back than they normally might.

Ben

On 12/23/2015 6:55 PM, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
> What is the practice with regard to moving the chazzan for duchening 
> in Israel for those shuls who have the chazzan lead daily services 
> from next to the Aron Kodesh? Does he move?
> KT
> Joel Rich




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Message: 5
From: Prof. Levine
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2015 10:25:13 -0500
Subject:
[Avodah] SNOW REMOVAL CONTRACTS: WHAT ABOUT SHABBOS?


 From http://tinyurl.com/gp2ukua

QUESTION: A snow removal contract is an agreement, either verbal or 
written, to plow a driveway, parking lot, etc., whenever a specified 
amount of snows accumulates. Is it permitted to enter into such a 
contract which, in effect, asks a non-Jew to perform a forbidden 
Labor on Shabbos?

ANSWER: It is difficult to give a definitive answer to this question. 
Let us rather explain the pros and cons so that the reader will be 
able to present his individual case to a rav for a final ruling.

See the above URL for much more.   YL
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Message: 6
From: Eli Turkel
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2015 20:27:02 +0200
Subject:
[Avodah] slichot


<<Due to the relatively late time of netz et al the first minyan at a local
shul said slichot before the regular davening. I'm wondering if anyone
else did this and, if yes, did they just say what they would have said
after shmoneh esrai or did they say say ashrei et al. >>

In our shul we had the opposite problem. During September/October the 8am
minyan frequently says shma shortly before the zman. When there is
slichot before the davening this pushes off the saying of shma after the
zman. The rav at the time paskened that they should say selichot after
scharit and not before.

Note: The minyan felt unconfortable with that and so continued saying it
before davening. The custom in our shil is that the fitst minyan finishes
by 7am and starts whenever needed. Similarly the second minyan finishes by
8. However the third minyan starts at 8 and finishes whenever.

-- 
Eli Turkel
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Message: 7
From: Prof. Levine
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2015 16:24:11 -0500
Subject:
[Avodah] Remembering Haham Solomon Gaon


 From http://tinyurl.com/hzar9qq

At Shabbat services yesterday at Congregation Shearith Israel 
(December 26, 2015), a memorial prayer was recited for the late Haham 
Dr. Solomon Gaon (1912-1994) when Ben Cohen, a grandson of the Haham, 
was called to the Sefer. The hundred or so congregants in attendance 
all stood up respectfully during the memorial prayer.

As I looked around the room, it struck me that many of the people 
there had never known Haham Gaon personally, and many had probably 
not even heard of him. A generation comes, a generation goes, and the 
lives of most people gradually fade into oblivion.

As one of Haham Gaon's first students at Yeshiva University in 1963, 
I want to share a few thoughts about a man who was not merely a 
teacher, but a mentor and friend. Had I not studied with Haham Gaon, 
I almost surely would not have become a rabbi; had he not been a 
constant guide and friend, I almost surely would not have had a 
rabbinic career spanning nearly five decades.

<Snip>

Haham Gaon represented a balanced religiosity, deeply faithful to 
tradition while deeply sensitive to the needs and feelings of modern 
men and women. Haham Gaon was a model of dignity, compassion, and 
total commitment to the People of Israel and the State of Israel. He 
did not attempt to validate his religiosity by adopting "Hareidi" 
style rabbinic garb; on the contrary, as a proud Sephardic rabbi, he 
refused to compromise his own traditions in order to curry favor 
among others. He respected Ashkenazic rabbis who were faithful to 
their traditions, and he expected them to be respectful of his traditions.

As we mark the anniversary of the passing of Haham Gaon, we may well 
also be marking the end of an era of Sephardic rabbinic leadership. 
The broadness of vision, tolerance, spirituality and humanism of the 
Sephardic rabbinic tradition is on the brink of extinction. At the 
very moment when the Jewish world needs exactly this kind of 
spiritual leadership, we miss Haham more than ever.

See the above URL for more.




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Message: 8
From: Eli Turkel
Date: Sun, 27 Dec 2015 20:32:46 +0200
Subject:
[Avodah] duchening in EY


<<What is the practice with regard to moving the chazzan for duchening in
Israel for those shuls who have the chazzan lead daily services from next
to the Aron Kodesh? Does he move? >>

Why ask only about EY. Doesnt the same question apply in chul for yomtov.
In the Beit Midrash I grew up in NYC the chazzan always davened next to the
aron kodesh. From my dim memories of long ago the chazzan did not change on
musaf of yomtov but I couldnt be absolutely sure.

-- 
Eli Turkel
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Message: 9
From: Rich, Joel
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 2015 18:57:47 +0000
Subject:
[Avodah] Calling up for Aliyah, Hagbah


In doing some research I found that there are variant practices as to using
actual names for calling up to theTorah and for hagbah/glilah.	Does anyone
have any information on the sources of either using or not using specific
individuals' names. I'm asking since there seems to be a difference in the
ialolowability	of the propriety of  calling up family members in
succession according to some poskim.

KT
Joel Rich

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