Volume 36: Number 99
Wed, 05 Sep 2018
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Message: 1
From: Akiva Miller
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2018 16:09:38 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Slichos without a minyan before midnight
Igros Moshe (Orach Chayim vol 2, Siman 105) begins with the
presumption that we say Selichos at Ashmores because that time is an
Eis Ratzon, as per Magen Avraham 581:1.
He spends a full half-page on this idea, and comes back to it again in
his last paragraph. I strongly recommend this teshuva to anyone who is
tempted to say selichos before chatzos. The conclusion I came to,
after reviewing this teshuva a few times, is that (according to Rav
Moshe Feinstein) saying selichos before chatzos is better than not
saying it at all, but not by much.
Akiva Miller
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Message: 2
From: Prof. Levine
Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2018 16:40:43 -0400
Subject: [Avodah] Slichos without a minyan before midnight
At 03:32 PM 8/31/2018, R. Micha Berger wrote:
>On Thu, Aug 30, 2018 at 12:07:05AM -0400, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
>: If one will be saying selichos without a minyan, and will therefore
>: be skipping the 13 middos, is there any reason to wait for midnight?
>
>The MA in hilkhos taaniyos (565:5) says "Don't say before chatzos
>halaylah any selichos nor (velo) 13 Middos beshum panim le'olam CHUTZ
>MIBEIS HAKENESSES."
I personally do not understand where the custom to say the first
Slichos at night came from. My father-in-law, A"H, told me that in
Europe selichos were said every day in the early morning starting at
about 4 am.
The Vo'Sikin Minyan I daven at will be saying Selichos this Sunday
morning and every morning stating at 5:10 DST which is equivalent to
4:10 AM EST. This agrees with the practice that my father-in-law
saw in Europe.
Why don't others follow this?
YL
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Message: 3
From: Micha Berger
Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2018 16:37:49 -0400
Subject: [Avodah] Evidence of Yetzias Mitzrayim?
https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/MAGAZINE-have-camps-built-by-the-ancient-israelites-migrating-to-canaan-been-fo-1.6432817
or <http://bit.ly/2PrCdar>:
Is This Where the Israelites Camped on Their Way to Canaan 3,200
Years Ago?
By Philippe Bohstrom and Ruth Schuster
Aug 30, 2018
Stone structures found in the Jordan Valley wasteland may have been
erected by the Israelites crossing, very slowly, into Canaan,
archaeologists postulate
(C) Haaretz Daily Newspaper Ltd. All Rights Reserved
Mosaic Magazine's snippet:
[A]rchaeologists are excavating strange ruins previously found
in inhospitable parts of the Jordan Valley, hoping to prove or
disprove the theory suggested by the late Adam Zertal of Haifa
University: that the stone structures found there were erected by
the ancient Israelites as they slowly crossed into Canaan 3,200 years
ago. Interestingly, if the Israelites did build these structures, they
may have done so to shelter not themselves but their livestock....
[A] meticulous survey of 1,000 square miles of the western part of
the Valley, headed by Zertal and his team from 1978 onward, found the
remains of hundreds of ancient settlements. (One seems to be shaped
like a foot, with toes and all.) Of the hundreds, Zertal estimated
that about 70 had been erected in the early Iron Age. That is,
about 3,200 years ago, which is when the ancient Israelites were
said to have been led by the Prophet Joshua from the wilderness to
fertile Canaan....
No signs of the builders' identity have been found thus far. The only
reasons to associate the structures in the bitterly inhospitable
valley with the ancient Israelites are their location and the
estimated timing of their erection. [The current excavation] began
with a large and very strange settlement called Khirbet el-Mastarah
(loosely translated as "hidden ruins"). While today the only sign
of life there is the occasional Bedouin shepherd passing by with his
herd, Mastarah seems to have once housed a large Iron Age village...
[Oddly], no sign of human habitation was found inside the stone
structures, with the exception of grain grinding stones that could
have been placed there later, or kept there. [This could be because]
the structures were occupied by people for a short time, which
fits with the theory of a migratory people taking a break for a
decade or two. [Another] possibility is that stone structures were
for the animals, while the people themselves, being nomads, lived
in tents.... Ancient and modern Near Eastern Bedouin... also seem
to have lived in tents but to have housed their animals in stone
compounds -- to protect their precious livestock from rustlers.
Tir'u baTov!
-Micha
--
Micha Berger There's only one corner of the universe
mi...@aishdas.org you can be certain of improving,
http://www.aishdas.org and that's your own self.
Fax: (270) 514-1507 - Aldous Huxley
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Message: 4
From: Micha Berger
Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2018 23:04:05 -0400
Subject: [Avodah] Abortion - Rav Asher Weiss
from <https://en.tvunah.org/2018/08/31/abortion>, posted by R' Akiva
Dershowitz on Tvunah, a web site of R Asher Wiess's todah.
Here it is, transliteration mine:
Tvunah in English
Beit Midrash for Birurei Halachah Binyan Zion
Under the Leadership of Maran HaRav Asher Weiss Shlita
...
Question:
BS"D
L'Kavod HaRav Shlita,
I recently listened to your shiur about rodeph in parshas Pinchas. It
occured to me that your comparison between the gemorra about the
donkey being thrown off the boat to save the merchandise and an
unborn fetus would imply a surprising leniency. That is to say, if
a pregnant women felt her financial or social situation was being
threatened by the uber, she might be able to have an abortion for
this reason. Thank You for your time.
Answer:
An abortion has the additional stringency because of the concept of
[chalel alav shevus achas kedei sheyishmeru Shabbasos harbei], we
find the Torah justified desecrating Shabbos to save it, and from
this we learn there is a Biblical prohibition against aborting it. So
to justify an abortion would only be in extreme cases of danger to
mother and other extreme circumstances.
It seems RAW is invoking chaleil alav as a way to get much of the import
of retzichah without saying it's actual murder. After all, the fetus
has a potential of future shemiras Shabbos even if it didn't yet
become a person.
Tir'u baTov!
-Micha
--
Micha Berger I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
mi...@aishdas.org I awoke and found that life was duty.
http://www.aishdas.org I worked and, behold -- duty is joy.
Fax: (270) 514-1507 - Rabindranath Tagore
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Message: 5
From: Professor L. Levine
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2018 12:32:17 +0000
Subject: [Avodah] Who is an considered an am ha'aretz
The following is from pages 567 - 568 of the sefer Rav Schwab on Chumash.
Judaism without Torah is "just another religion," and is not in consonance with
the will of G-d. Ritual is common to all religions; the unique quality of Yiddishkeit is
the special relationship with Hashem that a Jew achieves only through Torah study.
Exactly who is considered an am ha'aretz? The Rambam writes, "The Sages
defined an am ha' aretz as one who hates to learn Torah. But if someone
loves to learn Torah and
just did not have the chance yet to learn it, then although he is not one
who actually sits in the beis medrash, he is still considered miyoshvei
beis hamedrash. He identifies himself with and loves the yoshvei beis
hamedrash and is eager to exert his best efforts to master the rudiments of
learning. He tries to be a Zevulun and to make it possible for Yissachar to
learn. He sends his children to the beis medrash so that they can become
talmidei chachamim. Eventually, he is zocheh to understand more and
more Torah so that he can indeed say, We are grateful to You that You have placed our lot among the occupants of the beis hamedrash.
On the other hand, we also have the world of Do'eg and Achitofel,
a world which is outside of the parameters of the beis medrash. It says
regarding Do'eg and Achitofel that All their Torah was from their lips
outward. They went through Shas, but Shas never went through them; it made
no impression upon them! They discussed hundreds of halachos, and the
Gemara tells us that this included the
halachah of a tower that was suspended in the air.And they did not even
know that it was talking about them! They were also big towers-big talmidei
chachamim, suspended in the air and not connected to the ground, and
therefore not implementing the principle
of yiras Shamayim into daily living. Therefore, they could be considered
as if hovering in the air. Do'eg and Achitofel belong to the other side - the
world of confusion, of doubts and of emptiness. They were the street corner loiterers, even while they were learning.
Today we have the same situation. We have yoshvei beis hamedrash,
people who learn all day in the beis medrash, who are zocheh to have
Torah as their full-time profession. We also have those who
are miyoshvei beis hamedrash, who are koveiah etim l'Torah-they set aside
time each day to study, and support the Torah.
On the other hand, we have the yoshvei kranos -those who sit at the
corners, who are also koveiah etim, who "set aside time"- a lot of time each
night - for the television. While the yoshvei beis hamedrash are learning
their Daf Yomi, the yoshvei kranos have their "channel yomi," and while the
yoshvei beis hamedrash learn one masechta after another, the yoshvei kranos
learn only one "masechta": the "masechta of "emptiness of emptiness," and they never make a siyum!
Selected Speeches, pages 182-183
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Message: 6
From: Micha Berger
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2018 16:40:38 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Who is an considered an am ha'aretz
On Tue, Sep 04, 2018 at 12:32:17PM +0000, Professor L. Levine via Avodah wrote:
: The following is from pages 567 -- 568 of the sefer Rav Schwab on Chumash.
:> Judaism without Torah is "just another religion," and is not in consonance
:> with the will of G-d. Ritual is common to all religions; the unique
:> quality of Yiddishkeit is the special relationship with Hashem that a
:> Jew achieves only through Torah study.
It would appear that R Schwab does not take "Judaism is not a religion" as
literally as you do. After all, he describes it here as a religion, if
one with a unique quality.
I am curious, though, how one can reduce Yahadus to ritual plus Torah study.
Nothing about other ways to maintain that special relationship with Hashem?
Nothing about uniquely Jewish ethics and morality? In short, Torah,
vaAvodah -- full stop?
: Exactly who is considered an am ha'aretz? The Rambam writes, "The Sages
: defined an am ha' aretz as one who hates to learn Torah..."
It also depends on context. Sotah 22a:
R' Elazar: someone who learned Tanakh and halakhah (qara veshana) but
lo meshameish t"ch is an am ha'aretz. R' Shemu'els bar Nachmani says he is
a bur, R' Yanai likens him to a Kusi, R' Acha bar Yaaqov and R' Nachman bar
Yitzchaq - to a witch.
R' Meir: An am haaretz is somoene who doesn't recitew Shema with the berakhos
twice a day.
Chakhamim (same beraisa as R' Meir): Who does not lay tefillin.
Ben Azai: who doesn't put tzitzis on his clothing.
R' Yonasan ben Yoseif: doesn't give his children chinukh.
Acharieim (going back to R' Elazar): Even if he was qara veshanah, but never
learned the reasons of the mishnah (ie pesaqim).
Etc... But not about amei haaretz in particular.
The Maharal explains the machloqes from R" Meir to RYbY in terms of different
limus tests for the same middah. See last paragraph of
<http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=14202&;st=&pgnum=70>
And leshitaso (next page, Nesivos Olam, Nesiv haTorah ch. 15, pg 68) the
attempted poseiq who lacks shimush doesn't get the Torah seikhel.
As I said, am ha'aretz appears to be an idiom whose meaning depends on
context. Contrary to the usage R Schwab is discussing, omeone who loves
learning, learned, but didn't get by osmosis the ineffible elements
of the feel, the art, of pesaq, and still thinks he's qualified, just
doesn't get it and is an am haareitz.
Sidenote: "Peasant" is from the Old French "paisent", a country dweller.
From the Latin "pagus", an outlying administrative district. Pretty close
parallel to am haaretz. As is "boor", from the Low German meaning "farmer".
Tir'u baTov!
-Micha
--
Micha Berger I always give much away,
mi...@aishdas.org and so gather happiness instead of pleasure.
http://www.aishdas.org - Rachel Levin Varnhagen
Fax: (270) 514-1507
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Message: 7
From: Micha Berger
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2018 17:09:31 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Who is an considered an am ha'aretz
About 20 min ago, at 4:40:38pm EDT, I wrote:
:: Exactly who is considered an am ha'aretz? The Rambam writes, "The Sages
:: defined an am ha' aretz as one who hates to learn Torah..."
: It also depends on context. Sotah 22a:
I found another usage -- Ezra 4:4:
Then the am haaretz undeminded the resolve of Am Yehudah, and made
them afraid to build.
... bayis sheini.
Rashi defines "am haaretz" there as "tzarei Yehudah uVinyamin".
Ralbag identifies them with the Kutim, which is interesting given:
: R' Elazar: someone who learned Tanakh and halakhah (qara veshana) but
: lo meshameish t"ch is an am ha'aretz. R' Shemu'els bar Nachmani says he is
: a bur, R' Yanai likens him to a Kusi, R' Acha bar Yaaqov and R' Nachman bar
: Yitzchaq - to a witch.
And yes, it was the Kusim who would be displaced by the return of Yehudah,
and opposed us.
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
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Message: 8
From: Zev Sero
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2018 17:49:52 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Who is an considered an am ha'aretz
On 04/09/18 17:09, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
>
> I found another usage -- Ezra 4:4:
> Then the am haaretz undeminded the resolve of Am Yehudah, and made
> them afraid to build.
>
> ... bayis sheini.
>
> Rashi defines "am haaretz" there as "tzarei Yehudah uVinyamin".
AFAIK throughout Tanach the term "am ha'aretz" means literally "the
people of the land", and is completely unrelated to the usage we're
discussing. It's not a pejorative, it's just descriptive.
In this case Rashi is simply explaining who these "people of the land"
were, that even then the recently-arrived inhabitants identified as
"indigenous Palestinians" and resisted the return of the true am ha'aretz.
--
Zev Sero A prosperous and healthy 5779 to all
z...@sero.name Seek Jerusalem's peace; may all who love you prosper
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Message: 9
From: Eli Turkel
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2018 14:11:19 +0300
Subject: [Avodah] friedberg manuscript society
upgrades have been made to the major Jewish manuscript web site
https://fjms.genizah.org/
--
Eli Turkel
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