Month: July 2017 – י׳ בתמוז תשע״ז

Kol Hara’uy Lebilah

Shlach. When the Opposite of Reb Zeira’s Rule Applies

I’m putting this up because I thought it too interesting to fall between the cracks. Also, Rav Simcha Soloveitchik says it’s brilliant, so even discounting for גוזמה and חנופה, it must be ok. Please forgive the peculiarities – I don’t have time to make it pretty.

Reb Zeira’s famous rule (for example in Menochos 13b) is that כל הראוי לבילה אין בילה מעכבת בו וכל שאינו ראוי לבילה בילה מעכבת בו.  Something the Torah says is part of a Mitzva is sometimes essential and sometimes not. Where the Torah does not make it fundamentally essential, the rule tells us that although you can do without, that is only where under the circumstances you could have done the act. IF, however, the circumstances are such as to make it impossible to do the act, then you can not fulfill the Mitzvah.

The first application is by a Korban Mincha: Most Menachos are meant to be mixed with oil. Failure to mix the oil into the flour would not render the Mincha unfit: you simply will have missed the opportunity to do the mitzva of “mixing the flour with oil.” But this is true only where you could have mixed it. Where you could not mix it, then failure to mix renders the Mincha unfit.

Other applications:
Nedorim 73a, that even though a man can be meifir without hearing the neder, a cheresh cannot be meifir.
Yevomos 104b, that even though reading is not me’akeiv, a mute man or woman cannot do chalitza.
BB 81b, you need ro’ui to read by Bikurim.
Taz in OC 689 that a deaf person is not chayav Birkas Hamozon, Megilla, Krias Shema based on kol horo’ui. See also Shagas Aryeh 6 – 7.
Kiddushin 25 on Ro’ui le’biyas mayim regarding beis hastorim.

In fact, the Sdei Chemed in Klal Choph 37 brings the Mas’as Binyomin who says the rule doesn’t apply by derbabonons, proving that from the fact that if you’re during shmoneh esrei shomei’a k’oneh works, even though you’re not allowed to talk. Many argue, and he brings many that say that indeed there is no s’k when you’re not allowed to talk.

We Do NOT Always Follow the Shulchan Aruch!

Following the Rulings of the Rambam: A Recent Discussion of Consistency in Deciding Halakhah

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לק”י

Rambam SignatureIn response to a recent article on the topic of taharat ha-mishpahah published on the website, a certain rav objected to my use of the Mishneh Torah in coming to halakhic conclusions. Among other things, relying on the Rambam obviates the need for either invasive internal bedikot or the use of a mokh. Citing the common Haredi claims that “we don’t pasken like the Rambam” and “we follow the Shulchan Aruch,” this rav attempts to invalidate my conclusions for anyone but those who happen to be traditional Yemenites, a conclusion which I vigorously oppose.

The discussion of these particular issues is central to understanding the gap that divides Mekoriut (and the classical Sefardic approach) from the Haredi world, and clearly displays the halakhic double-standards inherent in their position.

A PDF our exchange is available for download here: A Recent Exchange

Download (PDF, 169KB)

From Forthodoxy, here.

Dov Lipman Is Right About One Thing

WHY HAREDIM SHOULD BE ZIONISTS

BY DOV LIPMAN APRIL 23, 2012

I am a Zionist on every level. This created a challenge for me when I studied in a haredi (ultra-Orthodox) yeshiva in Jerusalem where rabbis never mentioned Israel’s Memorial Day, Israel’s Independence Day, or Jerusalem Day. No prayers were said for the state or on behalf of the IDF soldiers. These omissions disturbed me but my arguments about the magnitude of our return to Israel and Jerusalem fell on deaf ears.

Why? Because “the state is secular,” it is a non-kosher entity. Any official acknowledgment of its holidays and the recitation of special prayers associated with the state would be giving legitimacy to a body which was foreign to Torah and the values the yeshiva espoused. On that basis, my pleas were entirely ignored.

This was unacceptable to me. While I needed no sources to validate what I knew to be right, since the primary message conveyed in a haredi yeshiva is that the Torah is the wellspring for our ideologies and must serve as our guiding light through life, I decided to explore what Torah sources had to say about Zionism and the role which the State of Israel plays in our faith. Perhaps this could sway my mentors and friends. This search led to remarkable results.

The most glaring sources relate to the flourishing of the fruits of Israel. The Bible relates in Leviticus 26:32 that while the Jews are in exile, Israel will remain desolate. The implication, taught outright by the 11th-century Spanish rabbi and philosopher Bahya ibn Paquda (Rabbeinu Bachya in his commentary to Genesis 17:8), is that the reversal of that desolation indicates the end of the exile. This sign is stated more clearly by the prophets. Ezekiel (chapter 36), Isaiah (chapter 51), and Amos (chapter 9) all describe the growth of trees and fruits in Israel as an indication of the arrival of the messianic age.

In yeshiva, great weight is placed on talmudic teachings. Turning to the Talmud for clarification, I found that the most obvious sign of the redemption is that the fruits of Israel will grow once again (Tractate Sanhedrin 98a). The Talmud also teaches in Tractate Megilla (17b) that the final redemption begins with the ingathering of the exiles, followed by the flourishing of the fruits of Israel, and concludes with the arrival of the Messiah and the rebuilding of the Temple.

This idea was concretized by the revered Rabbi Akiva Eiger just 200 years ago when he taught that if we succeed in growing fruit in Israel then the final redemption is imminent (as related by his student, Rav Zvi Hirsch Kalischer, Shivat Zion, volume 2, pp. 51-52).

No one can refute the reality that after thousands of years of desolation, Israel is now flourishing and producing fruits. Anyone who agrees with the most basic haredi tenet, that the words of the Bible, Prophets, Talmud and the great rabbis serve as the basis of our faith, must conclude that the flourishing of trees and fruits in Israel indicate that we are experiencing a significant step toward redemption.

Continue reading…

From The Jerusalem Post, here.

Preparing to Build the Temple – You Don’t Have to Be on a High Level!

Moshiach Is Not Your Cleaning Lady

The world has become a bloodbath filled with violence and insanity.

We are almost up to Tisha B’Av, the worst day in our Jewish history.  We mourn and weep over the destruction of our two Temples. This is our focus for the entire Three Week period and culminates on Tisha B’Av.  But what happens when it’s over?  We just pick ourselves up, dust off the ashes and go out to eat or back to work the next day?

Moshiach is coming. He’ll fix the world. He’ll make everything all better and clean again. The world will be transformed into a magical wonderland, Moshiach will rebuild the Temple and everything will be okay.

No.

Rebuilding the Beit HaMikdash/Temple is a collective mitzvah.

Yes, Moshiach will come, and we await his coming daily as we are commanded, but we have responsibilities that we must fulfill in the meantime.

The Beit HaMikdash/Temple is not some elusive pipe dream of the future or the stuff of ancient Jewish history, but the Temple is for NOW; for TODAY in our times. We cannot just sit back and wait for Moshiach to come and fix everything. We live in a broken world that is a complete mess. But, at times it seems that we are used to this mess.

We go about our daily routines and, like a messy house, we just step over or walk around the broken pieces and the piles of clutter. “Not my job. Moshiach is coming.”

No again. It is your job. It is OUR job.

I hear many people say, “I can’t focus on the Temple during the entire year. It’s too much. I have a life. I have a job, kids, and responsibilities.”  Well, the Temple is also your responsibility. It’s not all about YOU. It’s about the world. It’s about all of humanity that is caught in an endless cycle of violence and suffering. We all have a Divine responsibility to take care of the world. Yes, WE ARE our brother’s keeper.

Instead of shoving the dirt under the rug or tossing the clutter into an out-of-the-way closet until Moshiach comes to clean it up, let’s start cleaning up our own mess, shall we?

Many people have told me, “But I don’t feel that I’m on that level spiritually.” Relax, because that’s not one of the requirements for doing a required mitzvah.

Continue reading…

From Times of Israel, here.