Avodah Mailing List

Volume 06 : Number 020

Monday, October 23 2000

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Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 09:07:43 -0400 (EDT)
From: jjbaker@panix.com
Subject:
Standing on the shoulders of giants


From: Micha Berger <micha@aishdas.org>
 
> Bikitzur rav: The first known use of the metaphor was Bernard of Chartres
> (a younger contemporary of Rashi) and brought to the Jewish world by
> Tosefos Rid.
 
> I refer you back to the original post, as R' Mechy also discusses why the
> times called for the term, what the expression has been taken to mean,
> etc...

I'm sure I quoted this before from Bartlett's data file at Bibliomania:

: Pigmaei gigantum humeris impositi plusquam ipsi gigantes vident
: (Pigmies placed on the shoulders of giants see more than the giants
: themselves) - Didacus Stella in Lucan 10, tom. ii. (39-65 CE, roughly
: contemporary with Hillel/Shammai).

<http://www.bibliomania.com/Reference/Bartlett/data/1404.html>

It long predates the Middle Ages.

   Jonathan Baker     | I see the Tik'u Bachodesh Shofar design on arks &
   jjbaker@panix.com  | scrolls; does the verse end "kisui leyom chageinu"?
    Web page update: Vidui, Siyum on Moed. http://www.panix.com/~jjbaker/


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Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 12:38:56 -0500
From: "Yosef Gavriel and Shoshanah M. Bechhofer" <sbechhof@casbah.acns.nwu.edu>
Subject:
RE: tinok shenishba


At 11:15 AM 10/20/00 -0400, Shinnar, Meir wrote:
>In response to my posts on TSN
>Let us therefore eliminate the discussion about today's hilonim and discuss
>the classical case of a tinok shenishba.  I think it is clear that the
>poskim have treated him as either in the category of an anus or a category
>of a shogeg, and therefore the halachot of mehallele shabbat, mumarim, and
>reshaim do not apply.

[snip]

Yasher koach on all the material!

The sources do not prove your point, but are good marei mekomos.

KT,
YGB
ygb@aishdas.org      http://www.aishdas.org/rygb


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Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 14:55:49 EDT
From: Kenneth G Miller <kennethgmiller@juno.com>
Subject:
re: Sukkah Sensitivity on Shmini Atzeres


R' Harry Maryles wrote: <<< But even though the SA Paskins this way, it
seems to me that ultimately Bal Tosef is indeed violated. No one eats in
a hut in the usually inclement weather of late October. Eating in a
Sukkah will not be mistaken by anyone as anything but "eating in a
Sukkah". >>>

Having a Second Seder will also not be mistaken by anyone as anything but
having a second seder.

I can see how Bal Tosef might have applied way back when there was a
genuine safek about the day. Back then, those who had not yet gotten the
news about when Rosh Chodesh was declared, and they would have had to
balance a genuine Safek Chiyuv Sukkah against a genuine Issur Bal Tosef,
and I can see how they would resort to saying that "people eat outside
anyway". But people do NOT have a Second Seder anyway, and I'd imagine
that they were sure to eat a kezayis of matza avoid melacha, but they
skipped d'rabanans like kiddush and hallel. (If I'm wrong, please tell
me.)

But that was then, and this is now. The Second Seder is not a safek, and
there is no question of Bal Tosef. There is also no safek about the
Second Day Of Hoshana Rabbah, and the gemara clearly paskened that we do
eat in the sukkah, albeit without the bracha.

But clearly, I have misunderstood something, because even nowadays, the
poskim do invoke the argument that "people eat outside anyway". So my
question is: Why? How is the last day of Sukkos different than the last
day of Pesach?

If Sukkos ended the way Pesach does, no one would have a problem with
eating in the sukkah on a day that was safek Yom Tov and safek Isru Chag,
would we?

Akiva Miller


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Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 13:14:05 +0200
From: "Carl M. Sherer" <cmsherer@ssgslaw.co.il>
Subject:
Re: Sukka on Shemini Atzeret


On 20 Oct 2000, at 12:44, MIKE38CT@aol.com wrote:

> 1) Apparently, not eating in a sukkah on Shemin Atzeret is a chassidic
> custom, which started when those Hasidim who wanted to eat with the
> rebbe on Shemini Atzeret had a problem because they were mitztayer by
> crowding into the sukkah. Hence, a heter was granted and the custom
> began not to eat in the sukkah during this time.

> [I read the reason given in (1) in Nefesh haRav, but I assumed RYBS was not
> being serious. -mi]

IIRC, (1) was the reason we were taught at Maimonides. We were 
also taught that there was no basis whatsoever for not eating in a 
Succa on Shmini Atzeres (at least in chutz la'aretz).

-- Carl

Please daven and learn for a Refuah Shleima for my son,
Baruch Yosef ben Adina Batya among the sick of Israel.
Thank you very much.


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Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2000 20:28:36 +0000
From: sadya n targum <targum1@juno.com>
Subject:
Re: Sukkah Sensitivity on Shmini Atzeres


Harry Maryles <hmaryles@yahoo.com> writes:
 
> But even though the SA Paskins this way, it seems to me that ultimately
> Bal Tosef is indeed violated. ...
>                               So it perplexes me that the D'Rabbonan
> of Sfeka D'Yoma overrides the D'Oraisa of Bal Tosef when it is not a
> Shev V'Al Taseh. 

	Why aren't you equally bothered by the blowing of Shofar on the second
day of Rosh Hashana, or the brachos of al achilas matza and al achilas
maror at the second seder?

	And it's not just the SA's psak. It's the gmara's: hilchisa yesuvi
yasvinan, bruchei lo mvarchinan.

Sadya N. Targum


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Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 14:55:49 EDT
From: Kenneth G Miller <kennethgmiller@juno.com>
Subject:
Re: Using a match on Yom Tov


R' Micha Berger answered my question with <<< What bothers me is that if
I'm correct then you can't use the active end of a match for taking the
flame from one candle to another on Yom Tov. Because the antimony
[tri]sulfide at the end of the match will, rov pe'amim, burst into a new
flame before it can catch from the pre-existing one. >>>

Oh, now I get it. Let me suggest this as a practical aytzah:

Bishul takes time. The temperature of an object changes either slowly or
quickly, but not instantaneously. Hav'arah, on the other hand, does take
instananeously once the object reaches a critical temperature. (I'm not
talking about the time that it takes for the fire to spread out from the
point of ignition, only that there is a clearly defined point of
ignition.)

Therefore, perhaps you can solve this problem by thrusting the match into
the middle of the flame, where it will indeed "catch" from the
pre-existing flame, rather than letting it get cooked in the hot area
outside of the flame. Which is how most (all?) people do it anyway.

Good Yom Tov
Akiva Miller


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Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2000 20:23:48 +0200
From: "Carl and Adina Sherer" <sherer@actcom.co.il>
Subject:
Smoking on Yom Tov


Micha Berger writes:

> In either case, lidinei Yom Tov we know that one may light a candle (or
> ch"v a cigarette) from another candle. 

Despite the fact that many yungerleit here in Eretz Yisrael smoke, 
as we have noted on this list in the past, almost no yungerleit 
smoke on Yom Tov. In fact, I don't think I have seen anyone 
smoking on Yom Tov in many years now. This is based, at least in 
part, on the Korban Nesanel Os Yud in the Rosh in Beitza Perek 2 
Siman 22. Ayen sham.

-- Carl

Please daven and learn for a Refuah Shleima for our son,
Baruch Yosef ben Adina Batya among the sick of Israel.  
Thank you very much.

Carl and Adina Sherer
mailto:sherer@actcom.co.il

Gmar Chasima Tova (or Gmar Chatima Tova,
depending on your preference).
May you and yours be sealed in
the books of life, health and happiness.


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Date: Sat, 21 Oct 2000 19:57:46 +0200
From: D & E-H Bannett <dbnet@barak-online.net>
Subject:
Re: Tallis question


On the tallis question and Chabad second hole to anchor the tzitzis on a
particular side of the corner., R' Akiva A commented:

<<This isn't a Lubavitch shita -- it's a Chassidic custom to have two
holes in each corner.>>

I see it a bit differently. The two holes to place the tzitzit on one
side of the beged is used only on the tallit katan, not on the tallit
gadol. Usually the two holes are spaced horizontally but Chabad places
the outer hole higher than the inner. Thus the tzitzit tends to hang
outward rather than downward.

On the tallit gadol, Chabad also has one hole from which all four strings
of the tzitzit are suspended but does have a second hole near the edge
through which one string is threaded just before the knots./ Thus,the
tzitzit hang sideways rather than straight down.

Others, like my non-Chabad self, so tie the tzitzit of the tallit gadol
as to wrinkle the cloth a bit and the tzitzit can be "shoved around the
corner" to keep them from hanging straight down.

David


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 10:01:37 -0400
From: Gil.Student@citicorp.com
Subject:
Re: Kevias Se'udah, Pas Habba b'kisnan, Hypothesis


RR Wolpoe wrote:

> Hypothesis:
> Shabbos and Yom Tov can create a kvias se'udah particularly l'inyan Pas
> habba b'kisnin. (PhBbK)

Pesachim 105a
Rav said: Just like Shabbos is kovei'ah for ma'aser, it is kovei'ah for kiddush.

See also Beitzah 34b.

Gil Student


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 10:23:43 -0400
From: Gil.Student@citicorp.com
Subject:
Re: Sukka on Shemini Atzeret


RC Sherer wrote:

> IIRC, (1) was the reason we were taught at Maimonides. We were 
> also taught that there was no basis whatsoever for not eating in 
> a Succa on Shmini Atzeres (at least in chutz la'aretz).
     
The Minchas Elazar (sorry, no cite. in a teshuvah) justifies not eating ina 
sukkah on Shemini Atzeres with Tosafos's comment that it is not bal tosif to sit
in a sukkah on Shemini Atzeres because it is a comfortable place to sit and many
would sit/eat there anyway without the mitzvah.  Since in Eastern Europe (let's 
forget where the ba'alei hatosafos lived), sukkos is very cold and people would 
not otherwise eat in their sukkah, it is bal tosif.  The Minchas Elazar thinks 
this sevara is so strong that he considers it shver that litvaks eat in the 
sukkah on Shemini Atzeres.

BTW, there is a long history of not eating in the sukkah on Shemini Atzeres, 
dating back to the rishonim.  I think Dr. Chaim Soloveitchik has taught classes 
on that topic (using it as a backdrop for the history).

Gil Student


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 16:26:22 +0200
From: "Carl M. Sherer" <cmsherer@ssgslaw.co.il>
Subject:
re: Sukkah Sensitivity on Shmini Atzeres


On 20 Oct 2000, at 14:55, Kenneth G Miller wrote:

> But clearly, I have misunderstood something, because even nowadays, the
> poskim do invoke the argument that "people eat outside anyway". So my
> question is: Why? How is the last day of Sukkos different than the last
> day of Pesach?

It's different because by Pesach it says ba'yom ha'rishon shaboson 
uba'yom ha'shvii shabason, whereas by Succos the eighth day is a 
separate chag (differentiated by pza"r ksha"v - see the Gemara in 
Succa 48a). 

Personally I think the bal tosif argument is kind of bogus, although 
my wife vehemently disagrees with me....

> If Sukkos ended the way Pesach does, no one would have a problem with
> eating in the sukkah on a day that was safek Yom Tov and safek Isru Chag,
> would we?

Eating in a Succa is a kum v'aseh. That's different from the eighth 
day of Pesach where all you're doing is a shev v'al ta'aseh from 
eating chometz (you're not required to eat matza if you don't want 
to).

-- Carl


Carl M. Sherer, Adv.
Silber, Schottenfels, Gerber & Sherer
Telephone 972-2-625-7751
Fax 972-2-625-0461
mailto:cmsherer@ssgslaw.co.il
mailto:sherer@actcom.co.il

Please daven and learn for a Refuah Shleima for my son,
Baruch Yosef ben Adina Batya among the sick of Israel.
Thank you very much.


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Date: Fri, 20 Oct 2000 17:30:03 -0400
From: Isaac A Zlochower <zlochoia@bellatlantic.net>
Subject:
succah on Shmini Atzeret


Harry seems to believe that those of us who eat in the succah on Shmini
Atzeret (w/o a bracha - of course) are faced with the problem of "ba'al
tosef" (the prohibition against adding to the mitzvot of the Torah).
This is not the case. No one considers that eating in the succah on
shmini atzeret is commanded by the Torah. It is simply a way of dealing
with the ancient tradition in the diaspora of taking an extra day of
the holiday because of the original doubt as to when the new moon was
sanctified. Nor does the Torah intimate that it is forbidden to use
a succah when it is not Succot. By eating in the succah tonight and
tomorrow, we show our loyalty to the ancient tradition in the golah and to
the counsel of our talmudic sages (in Israel) to maintain this tradition.

Those who do not use a succah on shmini atzeret - primarily Hassidim,
would probably argue that eating in a succah can be viewed as diminishing
the honor owed to the new chag of shmini atzeret. The succah is less
comfortable than a house, and using the succah could give the impression
that it is still Succot rather than a new chag.

Yitzchok Zlochower


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 10:28:49 -0400
From: "Stein, Aryeh E." <aes@ll-f.com>
Subject:
RE:Succa on Shmini Atzeres


IIRC, Bal Tosif does not apply to eating in a succah after (the yom tov of)
Succos is over, especially when the weather is beautiful, and there are
non-Jewish neighbors eating outside on their porch at the same time that we
are eating in the succah. 

I don't have the time right now to go through the sugya of Bal Tosif as it
applies to a succah, but I am pretty sure that the Mateh Efraim (in the Elef
L'Mateh) explains it well.

KT
Aryeh


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 10:26:19 -0400
From: "Wolpoe, Richard" <richard_wolpoe@ibi.com>
Subject:
RE: Sukka on Shemini Atzeret


My best guess is that this evolved in the cooler climates when sitting in
the sukkah for that extra day was "mitztayer" anyway.  I'm sure this has
been said already.

I'm not big on chumras per se, but I always eat in the sukkah on Shmini
Atzeres (bagola) because it seems to me a "straght" halacha w/o it being a
chumra.

I would love to see ONE major poseik say in a Tshuva that it's ok to not eat
in the sukkah on Shmini Atzrees, but I have not found one.

WRT to mimetics or minhagim, it is my impression that this "kulah of the
cooler climates" is a late-comer and therfore does not have the same
authority of more ancient minhaggin.

Rich Wolpoe


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 16:37:09 +0200
From: "Carl M. Sherer" <cmsherer@ssgslaw.co.il>
Subject:
Re: Sukka on Shemini Atzeret


On 23 Oct 2000, at 10:23, Gil.Student@citicorp.com wrote:
> The Minchas Elazar (sorry, no cite. in a teshuvah) justifies not
> eating ina sukkah on Shemini Atzeres with Tosafos's comment that it is
> not bal tosif to sit in a sukkah on Shemini Atzeres because it is a
> comfortable place to sit and many would sit/eat there anyway without
> the mitzvah.  Since in Eastern Europe (let's forget where the ba'alei
> hatosafos lived), sukkos is very cold and people would not otherwise
> eat in their sukkah, it is bal tosif.  

The baalei ha'tosfos lived in France and Germany IIRC. Are you trying
to tell me that it was so much colder in Munkatch than in France and
Germany as to justify saying that if one ate in the Succa in Munkatch
that would be bal tosif, yet the Tosfos living in France and Germany
didn't see it that way? Seems kind of far fetched....

Furthermore, if it's just an issue of weather, why not require people to
eat in the Succa in those places where it wouldn't be so obvious that
they were doing it because of Succos and therefore it would not be bal
tosif because of Tosfos' svara?

The Minchas Elazar thinks this
> sevara is so strong that he considers it shver that litvaks eat in the
> sukkah on Shemini Atzeres.

The Litvaks have the Gemara which is about as crystal clear as you can
get - yisuvei yasvinan, bruchei lo mivorchinon. If the Amoraim decided
it wasn't bal tosif, who are we to decide otherwise? There are years in
which it is pretty cold in Bavel on Shmini Atzeres (here in Yerushalayim
it was cold and drizzly all day on Shabbos). I don't understand how the
ME could be cholek on what is a mefurash Gemara.

> BTW, there is a long history of not eating in the sukkah on Shemini
> Atzeres, dating back to the rishonim.  

Which rishonim? Obviously not Tosfos unless there was an issue of
mitztaer, which would be a heter during Succos itself as well. Is this
history documented anywhere?

> I think Dr. Chaim Soloveitchik
> has taught classes on that topic (using it as a backdrop for the
> history).

And RCS has argued that you don't have to eat in the Succa on Shmini
Atzeres?!?!

-- Carl

Please daven and learn for a Refuah Shleima for my son,
Baruch Yosef ben Adina Batya among the sick of Israel.
Thank you very much.


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 08:55:03 +0000
From: Elazar M Teitz <remt@juno.com>
Subject:
Re: Seuda on Hoshana Raba


	A source for the seuda can be found in the Aruch Hashulchan OC 664:13. 
It was our family's (and apparently Litvishe) minhag to eat the seuda, or
at least begin it, before chatzos, because it is Erev Yom Tov.

EMT


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 10:44:16 -0400
From: Micha Berger <micha@aishdas.org>
Subject:
Re: Using a match on Yom Tov


On Fri, Oct 20, 2000 at 02:55:49PM -0400, Kenneth G Miller wrote:
: Therefore, perhaps you can solve this problem by thrusting the match into
: the middle of the flame, where it will indeed "catch" from the
: pre-existing flame, rather than letting it get cooked in the hot area
: outside of the flame. Which is how most (all?) people do it anyway.

And I still think a certain percentage of matches will spark up before they
get into the flame. For example, if the candle you're using is one of a
very full set of Shabbos licht (kein yirbu), or the pilot light of an oven
or water heater. In either case the heat can start working on the match
well before you reach the flame.

At the top of the thread I made a different suggestion: just use the other
side of the match.

-mi

-- 
Micha Berger                 When you come to a place of darkness,
micha@aishdas.org            you do not chase out the darkness with a broom.
http://www.aishdas.org       You light a candle.
(973) 916-0287                  - R' Yekusiel Halberstam of Klausenberg zt"l


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 16:41:17 +0200
From: "Carl M. Sherer" <cmsherer@ssgslaw.co.il>
Subject:
RE:Succa on Shmini Atzeres


On 23 Oct 2000, at 10:28, Stein, Aryeh E. wrote:
> IIRC, Bal Tosif does not apply to eating in a succah after (the yom
> tov of) Succos is over, especially when the weather is beautiful, and
> there are non-Jewish neighbors eating outside on their porch at the
> same time that we are eating in the succah. 

I think bal tosif doesn't apply so long as you are not doing it l'shem
mitzvas Succa. A year or two ago, I was up all night the night of Erev
Succos (so what else is new? :-), and after I davened Mincha Gdola,
I asked a posek where I should go to sleep if I chose to go to sleep
around licht bentching time and sleep until Maariv (total of about 70-75
minutes here). IIRC he said I should sleep in the Succa, but be mechaven
that I am not sleeping in the Succa before shkiya l'shem mitzvas Succa.

-- Carl

Please daven and learn for a Refuah Shleima for my son,
Baruch Yosef ben Adina Batya among the sick of Israel.
Thank you very much.


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 11:04:53 -0400
From: "Wolpoe, Richard" <richard_wolpoe@ibi.com>
Subject:
RE: Sukka on Shemini Atzeret


Carl M. Sherer:
> Furthermore, if it's just an issue of weather, why not require people to
> eat in the Succa in those places where it wouldn't be so obvious that
> they were doing it because of Succos and therefore it would not be bal
> tosif because of Tosfos' svara?

See KSA 138:5 and the piskei MB there...

It seems clear that the kullah of not sleeping in the sukkah on Shmini
Atzeres is related to the climate.  In fact the kullah of not sleeping in
the sukkah during sukkos is usually climate related (safey in bad
neighborhoods is another factor).

To be fair the KSA and the MB who are meikel legabie sheina are not meikel
legabie achilah.

>> BTW, there is a long history of not eating in the sukkah on Shemini
>> Atzeres, dating back to the rishonim. I think Dr. Chaim Soloveitchik
>> has taught classes on that topic (using it as a backdrop for the
>> history).

> And RCS has argued that you don't have to eat in the Succa on Shmini
> Atzeres?!?!

I'm not as familiar with medeival sources as R Dr. Chaim S., but (to echo
Carl) I have not seen any early source making this a kullah.  If indeed
there is an old minhag to not eat on Shemini Atzeres it escapes me.  I can
say that KAJ follows many many of the old Minhag Ashkenaz BOTH lekula and
lechumra and AFAIK they are by and large makpid to eat in the sukkah, -
although admitt3edly there are those who just say kiddush in the sukkah and
go home for the meal. And   again, my impression for those that are meikel
is that the climate is a factor.

Rich Wolpoe   


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 11:26:20 -0400
From: "Wolpoe, Richard" <richard_wolpoe@ibi.com>
Subject:
RE: Timers and bishul


FWIW I spoke to R. Herschel Shachter last night and asked him re:a timer
used to go  OFF only (as in a Crock Pot on Shabbos)

	He said it was OK as far as he was concerned it is like lighting a
candle that is too hsort to last all Shabbos and it burns out...

	What is assur, is a timer that goes  off and back on again.

AIUI this too is analgous to a candle once off it must remain off.         

Rich Wolpoe


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 12:24:06 -0400
From: Micha Berger <micha@aishdas.org>
Subject:
Help identifying medrash about Yisrael, Yishma'el and ge'ulah


I was asked the following. As I don't know what he's referring to, I secured
the sho'el's permission to ask the chevrah.

-mi

: I seem to recall reading about a Midrash or Zohar (or perhaps some other 
: Kabbalistic source) that describes a time when we and Yishmael will present 
: a korban to Hashem as a test to see who has a right to the Har Habayis. If I 
: recall correctly, Hashem will surprisingly take the Korban of Yishmael 
: (indicating that we are not yet worthy of the Geulah yet). Then, we (those 
: who still retain their emunah and don't join Yishmael) will be forced to 
: flee to the desert (Midbar Yehudah, I believe) for "forty five days" (after 
: Moshiach Ben Yosef is killed?) until Moshiach Ben Dovid leads us back to our 
: final victory and Geulah.

: Would you please tell me the M'kor for the above.

: I ask  for two reasons.

: 1. I want to see if this is actually a part of traditional, accepted Jewish 
: mesorah. Yes, I know I don't have the ability to interpret these Midrashim 
: properly. I just want to verify the source.

: 2. Some non-affiliated Jews I interact with sometimes point a finger at 
: current events and draw the conclusion that we are no different than other 
: nations and that there is no "master plan" that Hashem is guiding. If I show 
: them these Midrashim, maybe I can show them that traditional sources have 
: accurately predicted the fact that Yishmael will be allowed (by Hashem) to 
: have the Har Habayis and that we will undergo a period of "fleeing from the 
: enemy" before the final Geulah.


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 13:11:32 -0400
From: Gil.Student@citicorp.com
Subject:
Re: Help identifying medrash about Yisrael, Yishma'el and


I don't have a source, but it sounds like an explanation of what will lead up to
"Ve'alu moshi'im behar tzion lishpot es har eisav".

Gil Student


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Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 16:34:05 -0400
From: "David Glasner" <DGLASNER@ftc.gov>
Subject:
Re: sukkah b'shemini


My grandfather, R. Akiva Glasner, included an essay on the question in
his book, Dor Dorim, published originally in the 1930s and republished
around 1987. He pointed out that the minhag not to eat in the Sukkah,
outside Israel, is a very old one which the Tur attempted to shoot down.
Although it is now identified with hassidut, the minhag is much older
and more widespread than hassidut. Without presenting even a summary
of the entire essay, I will just not a couple of points. The bal tosif
issue is not an issue if one is acting in accord with a takannat hazal,
so eating in the sukkah on Shemini Atzeret is not a problem, but on
Simhat Torah might well be a problem, but see below.

My grandfather suggested that the source for the minhag is the targum
yonatan ben uziel on the pasuk bayom ha-shemini atzeret tihiyeh lakhem,
which goes something like the following: b'yoma t'mina'a tehevun knishin
b'hedva l'bateikhon min matilkhon. In other words, according to the targum
yonatan ben uziel the meaning of atzeret is to gather yourself into
your house from the sukkah. Thus, there is a mitzvat asseh mi-d'oraita
to come back into your house on Shemini Atzeret. That is how Shemini
Atzeret can be both a regel b'fnei atzmah and the eighth day of some
unit whose first seven days are Sukkot. But going out into the sukkah
and coming back into the house are integral parts of that cycle. If you
look at the Tur you will see that he specifically mentioned a minhag
of coming back into the house on the night of Shemini Atzeret and the
Beit Yosef explains that the presumption would then be that the gemara
in Sukkah that says v'hilkhita meita yatvinan u-b'rukhei lo m'varkhinan
was referring only to the day. The Tur and the mainline poskim have all
rejected that possibility, but my grandfather referred to a p'lugta in
the Yerushalmi between Rav and R. Yehoshua b. Levi on what one must do,
in Israel if one wishes to eat in the sukkah on Shemini Atzeret. One of
them says that you have to make the sukkah unkosher, the other says you
just have to make kiddush inside your house. So whether and how one may
eat in the sukkah on Simhat Torah would seem to depend on this p'lugta.
My grandfather used this Yerushalmi to argue that the Bavli in Sukkah
took as a given that one has at least come back into his house to
make kiddush on the night of Shemini Atzeret. Interpreting the sugya
in this way allowed him to resolve a number of difficulties raised by
the Rishonim and Aharonim with the sugya. (And after the first night
of Sukkot, once you come back into your house for some valid reason,
you are not obligated to go back out to the sukkah to finish your meal,
except according to the G'ra you are obligated to do so on Shemini
Atzeret k'dai l'hotzi mi-libam shel tz'dokim. So if you are obligated
to make kiddush in your home on the night of Shemini Atzeret you are
not then obligated to finish your meal in the sukkah.)

But according to this line of reasoning there is no basis for not eating
in the sukkah on the day of Shemini Atzeret.

David Glasner
dglasner@ftc.gov


Go to top.

Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 16:55:27 -0400
From: "Wolpoe, Richard" <richard_wolpoe@ibi.com>
Subject:
RE: sukkah b'shemini


There MIGHT be another reason...

The term Atzeres seems to imply a chag w/o any speical mistva (such as
chometz or sukkah).

The term atzeres in re'ei re: Pesach is used to show that matzah is optional
for the last 6 days.   The lamdus is perhaps a bit counter-intuitive...

Shavuos is Atazers - no special mitzvos (well besides shtei halechem)

Shimni Atzeres as an atzeres should have no sukkah.  And so it is in EY.
But it is arguable (I guess) that this is true in golah too.  If the
Yerushalmi supports this against the Bavli we might have yet another case of
old Minhag Ashekenaz, but a case with which I am unfamiliar.

Also remember that matzo is optional on shvi'i shel pesach and it can be
said that the eating in the sukkah mi'sofeik - as opposed to being a mitzva
- is also optional.  And this thread might be continued by bracha.  There is
no mitzva of al achilas matza EXCEPT at the seder, similarly there is a
brach  on leisheiv basukkah ONLY during the first 7 days.  The omission of
the bracha on shmini atzeres itself is a small token of withdrawal from the
sukkah, withdrawing from the mitzva aspect....

Shalom and Regards,
Rich Wolpoe
Richard_Wolpoe@ibi.com  
 

  
-----Original Message-----
<SNIP>
But according to this line of reasoning there is no basis for not eating
in the sukkah on the day of Shemini Atzeret.

David Glasner
dglasner@ftc.gov


Go to top.


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