Avodah Mailing List

Volume 44: Number 9

Tue, 10 Feb 2026

• 1. Re: Faith Talk? (Arie Folger)
• 2. Re: caskets (Akiva Miller)
• 3. Blessed be a true judge (Jay F. Shachter)
• 4. Re: Baruch Dayan Emes? (Micha Berger)
• 5. Re: robots on shabbat (Micha Berger)
• 6. Missing Rambam on Today's Daf? (Moshe Y. Gluck)

RJR wrote:
> Charlie Kirk's widow on faith
> does our community talk like this?
> Should we?
>
> https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1290467793118078

Sefardim talk like that and it is very powerful. In Israel you will find
along those more affected by the water - people who lost loved ones - that
Ashkenazim also talk like that.

I totally think we should do this more often. We could be in the habit of
thanking G"d more often and more publicly.

Mit freundlichen Gr??en,
Yours sincerely,

Arie Folger
Visit my blog at http://rabbifolger.net/

<http://rabbifolger.net/2016/01/28/wir-missionieren-nicht-aber-warum-nicht/>
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.
R' Joel Rich asked:
> At the very end of sefer breishit it states that Yoseph was
> buried in a "aron" in Egypt. It doesn?t mention anything about
> an aron by any of the avot. A number of commentaries state
> that the reason was so he could be taken back to israel. It
> occurs to me that maybe this is the symbolism of the fact that
> most burials outside of israel are in a coffin and those back
> home or not. Food for thought.

To me, the most obvious reason for the aron is to facilitate Yosef's
reburial later on. The avos were all expected to stay put, and had no need
for an aron.

Akiva Miller
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>
> Message: 7
> Date: Wed, 4 Feb 2026 20:54:36 -0500
> Subject: [Avodah] Baruch Dayan Emes?
> 
> Sometimes, I hear people say "Baruch Dayan Emes", and sometimes I hear
> "Baruch Dayan HAemes" (with the Heh prefix). A quick look in any siddur
> shows that the Heh is supposed to be included, and I have wondered whether
> those who omit the Heh are simply slurring it. But the recent rise of
> abbreviations in text messages, where this appears as "BDE", suggest that
> the Heh is missing deliberately, and I have wondered if dropping the Heh
> might be justified.
> 
> Today's Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Yomi includes halacha 59:6, where the KSA
> paskens that in certain cases, where the loss is felt strongly, one should
> say, "Baruch Atah Hashem E-okeinu Melech Haolam Dayan Ha'emes", but in
> other cases, where one is not so upset, he skips Shem U'Malchus, and says
> merely "Baruch Dayan Emes," with*out* the Heh.
> 
> I understand that one should invoke Hashem's Name only in serious cases,
> but is that the significance of the Heh prefix? Why drop the Heh if the
> loss is not so acute?
> 
> I thought this might be a typo of some sort. But three different publishers
> (ArtScroll, Feldheim [Sh'arim Metzyanim B'halacha], Shabsi Frankel) all
> printed it as I translated - include the Heh in the long one, omit it in
> the short. OTOH, two others (Metzudah and Sefaria) include the Heh in both.
> 
> Can anyone suggest other poskim who have weighed in on this? (Mishna Brura
> 223:8 does mention the idea of saying this bracha without Shem U'Malchus,
> but he does not give the full text like the KSA does.)
> 
> I just now saw the Ateres Zekeinim on O"C 223, who says that for close
> relatives one says the bracha with Shem U'Malchus but *without* the Heh,
> and to say the bracha for others without Shem U'Malchus and also without
> the Heh. That would make sense *IF* the bracha means the same thing with or
> without the Heh. But I have 3 publishers who say that the KSA felt that
> there *is* a difference between saying the Heh and omitting it.
> 

Hebrew sometimes likes to use nouns in places where English uses
adjectives.  For example, "shabbath haqqodesh", literally means "the
Sabbath of holiness".  A person who thinks in English would likely
want to say "hashabbath haqqdoshah", the holy Sabbath, because in
English the adjective is more idiomatic.  Similarly, in Hebrew you say
"lshon hara`", whereas someone who thinks in English would likely want
to say "hallashon hara`ah".

(One consequence of this Hebrew idiom, probably not intended by the
speakers of the language, but unquestionably intended by the Creator,
is that it tells you who the ignoramuses are.  If you hear a rabbi say
"lashon hara`" or "loshon hara`" with a qamatz instead of a schwa, you
know that he is an ignoramus, and it is forbidden to learn Torah from
that rabbi, because he will get it wrong.)

"Dayan ha-emeth", translated into idiomatic English, replacing the
noun with an adjective because that's how we say it in English, means
"the true Judge".  "Dayan emeth", in contrast, means "a true judge".
I really don't think that "blessed be a true judge" is what you want
to go around saying when you hear sad news.  You probably want to say
"blessed be the true Judge" when you hear sad news (and you're
supposed to say it when you hear any sufficiently sad news, I don't
get it that some people say it only when they hear about a death).

It is true that the definite article in Hebrew is sometimes used in
places where English would not use it.  The familiar phrase "vraxatz
bammayim", for example, should arguably be translated "he will wash in
water" and not "he will wash in the water" (and certainly not "he will
wash in the waters").

But first of all, I'm not sure that this example is a good one.  Maybe
the definite article in "bammayim" is meant to denote a specific kind
of water, i.e., a miqveh or a ma`ayyan.  I notice that Scripture felt
no need to use the definite article in Leviticus 15:14 ("bmayim
xayyim") because there the kind of water is explicitly stated.

Second of all, and more to the point, even if the definite article in
Hebrew is sometimes used in places where English would not use it, the
reverse is never true.  If the definite article is absent in Hebrew,
it is never present in a correct English translation of the Hebrew.
"Dayan emeth" means "a true judge".  That's probably not what you want
to say.

As for why the Qitzur Shulxan `Arukh said what it said, if it even did
say what it said, because we have no idea what it said, I wouldn't
worry about it, if I were you.  The Qitzur Shulxan `Arukh often
reports what people do, even when it is obvious that the only reason
why people are doing it is that they are mindlessly repeating what
they have seen or heard other people do, without giving it any thought
(the Qitzur Shulxan `Arukh does do this less often than the `Arokh
HaSulxan, thank goodness).  Why do people say "Parashath Bammidbar"
(but they say "Parashath B'har")?  Obviously the only reason why
people say it is that they are mindlessly repeating what other people
say, without giving it any thought.  How it got started, I don't know,
and you don't know, but who cares?  It's dumb, and it's wrong.  It's
equally wrong to say "barukh dayyan emeth", unless you want to go
around saying "blessed be a true judge" when you hear sad news.

               Jay F. ("Yaakov") Shachter
               6424 North Whipple Street
               Chicago IL  60645-4111
                       +1 773 7613784   landline (voice only)
                       +1 410 9964737   GoogleVoice (voice or text)
                       j...@m5.chicago.il.us
                       http://m5.chicago.il.us

               When Martin Buber was a schoolboy, it must have been
               no fun at all playing tag with him during recess.

Two data points:

1- The aveil's bentchin according to the SA (OC 189:2) includes "Dayan
Emes" but it works well in context:
    ... haKeil Avinu Malkein Bore'einu Go'aleinu Qedosheinu
    Qedosh Yaaqov
    haMelekh haChai haTov vehaMeitiv
    haTov vehaMeitiv
    Keil Emes, Dayan Emes...
    

2- R Hutner (Pachad Yitzchaq, RH) talks about Melukhah (logical enough
for RH) and how its ultimate expression is "bayom hahu yihyeh H' Echad
ushmo echad".

R Hutner holds that Zekhariah is describing a time when "kesheim
shemevorkhim al hatov, kakh mevorkhim al hara" is no challenge.
Because when we can see Hashem as Melekh al kol ha'aretz, we can accept
that what we experience as ra is only evil and unpleasant in the moment,
not in the long term.

Which brings him to Barukh Dayah haEmes...

RYH says that the berakhah is *not* calling Hashem, "the True Judge",
but "the Judge of the Truth". The One Who decides which truths are to
be revealed and understood.

We accept Hashem's justice with a declaration that we accept that He
will reveal why we have to live though some tragedy when the time is
right. And it's simply that the time isn't right yet.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 It is harder to eat the day before Yom Kippur
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   with the proper intent than to fast on Yom
Author: Widen Your Tent      Kippur with that intent.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                     - Rav Yisrael Salanter

On Sat, Jan 24, 2026 at 08:10:22PM +0200, Eli Turkel via Avodah wrote:
> In 2024, Germany's courts ruled that fully automated robotic supermarkets
> must close on Sundays. Let me repeat that: robots got the day of rest.

How is this different than many cases that exist already: Motion
detectors turning on lights, in a case where walking buy is a
pesiq reisha denicha lei?

If the trigger for the robot doing the melakhah were entirely
before Shabbos, then it would be an issue of shevisas keilim.

But if the robot is responding to anything you do, I would think
it's pesiq reisha denicha lei, and we already hold halakhah
lemaaseh similar cases are assur.

If the robot only maybe will react, we have another precedent -- home
and refrigerator thermostats. With gray area about how likely does the
action have to leave to the melakhah for it to be assur.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Friendship is like stone. A stone has no value,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   but by rubbing one stone against another,
Author: Widen Your Tent      sparks of fire emerge. 
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                - Rav Mordechai of Lechovitz

Mossad Harav Kook has a sefer called Biurei Hachasidus al HaShas by R'
Yishai Chasidah that cites a Rambam in connection with today's daf, with
the story of Hashem showing Moshe Rabbeinu how R' Akiva was doresh tilei
tilim on each kotz. According to the citation, the Rambam says that Hashem
told Moshe that he should teach Klal Yisroel with simplicity, without
remazim and secrets, and goes on in that vein. He cites Yesodei HaTorah
4:13. The problem is that it isn't there. Does anyone know anything about
this Rambam?

(This is also brought down in Daf al HaDaf (here's a link:
https://files.daf-yomi.com/files/bookfiles/daf-al-hadaf-menachot/daf-al-hadaf-menachot106.pdf
- second paragraph in second column) but it looks like they're quoting R'
Chasidah verbatim.)

Thanks,
MYG
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