Avodah Mailing List

Volume 30: Number 21

Mon, 16 Apr 2012

• 1. Re: The 8th Day of Pesach in Golus (Akiva Blum)
• 2. Re: Leading Charedi Posek Says metzitza' Should Not (Micha Berger)
• 3. Re: two fictional sects (Micha Berger)
• 4. Re: Kama Maalot Tovot Lamakom Aleinu? (Micha Berger)
• 5. Re: Learning from the past - another look at the 10 plagues of Egypt (Micha Berger)
• 6. Re: When do princes say shema (Micha Berger)
• 7. Re: What is Glatt? (Micha Berger)
• 8. Re: pikuach nefesh (Micha Berger)
• 9. Re: pikuach nefesh (Micha Berger)
• 10. Re: Theoretical and Real Shiurim (Micha Berger)
• 11. Re: Eliyahu beHar haCarmel (Micha Berger)
• 12. Re: Text for Bittul Chametz (Micha Berger)
• 13. Re: Kama Maalot Tovot Lamakom Aleinu? (Micha Berger)
• 14. Re: What does "Redemption/Geulah" mean? (Micha Berger)
• 15. Particles of flour cannot become Chamets (Rabbi Meir G. Rabi, its Kosher!)
• 16. Re: Kama Maalot Tovot Lamakom Aleinu? (Zev Sero)
• 17. Re: Theoretical and Real Shiurim (Zev Sero)
• 18. Re: pikuach nefesh (Zev Sero)
• 19. Re: two fictional sects (David Riceman)
• 20. Re: Stopped learning Nach? (Moshe Y. Gluck)
• 21. Re: The 8th Day of Pesach in Golus (Simon Montagu)

On 16-Apr-12 2:20 PM, Prof. Levine wrote:
> Be this as it may,  the kedusha of EY might well be a "double edged 
> sword."
>
> Many years ago I asked Rabbi Dovid Kronglass, ZT"L, who was the 
> Mashgiach of Yeshivas Ner Yisroel,  about moving to Eretz Yisroel. 
> After all, I said, Orthodox Jews are interested in doing mitzvahs, and 
> one can certainly do more mitzvahs in Israel. He responded by pointing 
> out that the mitzvahs that one can do in Israel are only of rabbinical 
> origin at this time. Furthermore, he went on, one has to keep in mind 
> the following.
>
> The land of Israel has a special Kedushah (holiness). Therefore, if 
> one does a mitzvah there, one gets more reward than if one does the 
> exact same mitzvah here. However, if one does something wrong, G-D 
> forbid,  in Israel, it is much worse than if one does the same wrong 
> here. "You just don't go to Israel," he told me. "You have to be on 
> the right spiritual level before you go."
>
> Based on this I conclude that for those people who are not on the 
> right spiritual level it is "better" for them to remain in Golus.

So it follows that having a Shabbos Yom Tov in chu"l  (leshitoscho) is a 
double-edged sword too. Perhaps many are not on the right spiritual 
level, and would be better off on Yom Tov in EY!

Akiva
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On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 04:06:32PM -0400, Beth & David Cohen wrote:
: Both R Micha and R. Zev provided arguments that metzitza is integral to the
: performance of brit milah. But nothing either has written indicates that
: metzitza b'peh is the only mandated method to accomplish metztitza...

If metzitzah is part of the mitzvah, then one would have to conclude
that at Giv'at haAralos, the generation led by Yehoshua did metzitzah
bepeh. As did the returnees with Ezra. Three millennia of metzitzah,
no indication of ever doing anything but bepeh.

It's up to us to prove that other forms of metzitzah are valid, not the
other way around.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

On Tue, Apr 03, 2012 at 03:56:44PM -0400, David Riceman wrote:
> RMB:
>> I don't think this holds if the individual moves to a place that has  
>> no minhag. See Pesachim 50a-51a. ...                           This is  
>> why we in the real US, where meqomos have no minhagim, we ARE bound to  
>> minhag avos.
>
> Even the sugya of Benei Bayshan is talking about the inhabitants of a  
> town, not the children of a parent.

Which is why I didn't said this applies to individuals.

But Benei haBayshan are following minhag avos -- prior generations
of Benei haBayshan. The moving of a minhag hamaqom when many of the
residents of that maqom move is an instance of minhag avos -- the leaving
generation doing what their parents did. It's not what their new maqom
does -- it had no minhag.

The only difference is that the BhB moved en masse. Kind of like the
group relocation of some Chassidishe groups or of Frankfurt's KAJ.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 9th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org        1 week and 2 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Gevurah sheb'Gevurah: When is strict justice
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            most appropriate?

On Wed, Apr 11, 2012 at 09:29:12AM -0600, Liron Kopinsky wrote:
: This is fine except for the fact that we say "B'yad chazaka: zo hadever"
: (With a strong hand: this refers to the dever.) Why don't we say that dever
: counts as 5 times more than the other plagues?

I see your question as boiling down to: When do we apply "davar shehayah
bikhlal ... lo lelamei al atzmo yatzah, ela lelameid al hakelal kulo
yatza"?

We don't know how to make our own derashos. But the tannaim in question
did. So, I presume they knew that dever was such a devar hayotzei (bad
pun intended).

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 9th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org        1 week and 2 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Gevurah sheb'Gevurah: When is strict justice
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            most appropriate?

On Fri, Apr 06, 2012 at 09:40:13AM +0300, Shoshana L. Boublil wrote:
: Chazal bring various answers: Mida KeNeged Mida; To show the Egyptians the
: falseness of their gods; To teach Israel the might of Hashem; But my
: question is then - we have a tradition that anything that is in the Torah is
: intended LeShe'ata VeLeDorot. What is it that we can learn from the 10
: plagues that is relevant to OUR generation?

That punishments are mida keneged mida and to teach lessons, and therefore
we should look for these in trying to take lessons from the nisyonos in our
own lives.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

On Thu, Apr 05, 2012 at 09:59:20PM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
> While I'm on the topic of things that have puzzled me for a long
> time, can someone please explain when princes are supposed to say
> shema?

Perhaps the kings and princes who wake up at the very end of the time
range aren't the Jewish ones? We're just looking for the normal time
range for waking up -- not necessarily the normal time for people who
say Shema wake up.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

On Sun, Apr 15, 2012 at 06:16:00PM +0300, Ben Waxman wrote:
> IIRC RMF didn't say that veal isn't kosher. There are kashrut concerns  
> with force fed calfs, and he wrote that a bal nefesh won't eat it, but  
> he doesn't say that by definition the meat is treif.

(Side-note: We're talking about veal raised in particular conditions;
white veal. Not all veal. A less expensive veal cutlet isn't likely
to have been produced this way.)

RMF prohibited raising veal in this way (EH 4:92). And while he does
permit eating these animals, me'iqar hadin (as per RBW), RMF requires
an extensive check of internal organs, since some 84% of milk-fed and
crated veal are tereifos.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

On Wed, Apr 04, 2012 at 10:39:22AM +0300, Eli Turkel wrote:
:> On Sun, Apr 01, 2012 at 02:41:26PM -0400, hankman wrote:
:>: Walking home from shul I mentioned this thread to a prominent Rov
:>: in town, (not named as I did not ask if I could quote him publicly on
:>: this) he responded that for pikuach nefesh there is no lower limit
:>: -- mephakchin olov es hagal if there is the SLIGHTEST chance the
:>: man is still living -- without concern for the issur Shabbos...
: 
:> I do not believe anyone means "slightest" literally, if they thought
:> about it. Try posing to this "prominent rav" (I have anonymity!) the
:> comparison I did: Is it assur to cross the street? ...

: R Elyashiv shlita paskins one is mechallel shabbat if the chances are
: 1/1000 or greater,

Which is larger than the fraction of metzitzos bepeh that end up having
medical problems.

So from what you report, RYSE wouldn't consider MbP to be a piquach
nefesh issue.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

On Wed, Apr 04, 2012 at 09:31:47AM -0400, Rich, Joel wrote:
: It seems that 1/1000 is the halachic definition of not existing-
: I wonder if this might be the basis for us not so frumers using tap
: water on pesach.

Chazal explitcly say "afilu be'elef lo bateil".

We discussed this <http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol28/v28n095.shtml#02>
and RMR's reponse at
<http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol28/v28n096.shtml#09>.

RET suggested this isn't an issue of bitul, but that something not
detectable at all by any of our senses doesn't even qualify as a
"something" to require bitul
<http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol25/v25n085.shtml#25>.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 9th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org        1 week and 2 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Gevurah sheb'Gevurah: When is strict justice
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            most appropriate?

On Fri, Apr 06, 2012 at 10:08:27AM -0400, Zev Sero wrote:
>> I was going to cite it as a 6th example, except that qiddush hachodesh
>> has "hachodesh hazeh*lakhem*" to separate astronomy from Rosh Chodesh.
>> We define, not find, RC. One can't use it to point to a general rule
>> about following pesaqim even when based on a mistake.

> And the same thing applies to Yovel, where the pasuk says "vesafarta
> lecha".  So if this is the way we counted then it doesn't matter if
> we "should" have counted a different way.  So the example from the
> Rambam fits exactly.

You would think so, but Chazal do say that bit about lakhem WRT RC,
and I couldn't find a parallel WRT yovel. Nor the "vesafarta lakh"
of omer, nor the "vesafrah lah" of a zavah. Perhaps sefirah is too
deterministic to imply that the "lekha" gives over control.

>> I am not sure you're correct. Why would the Rambam mention the geonim
>> rather than people in bayis sheini, Chazal, or the generations since the
>> geonim (e.g. "mei'avosai"), if he meant something continuous that happened
>> to run through their era.

> Becuase he didn't get the kabalah from his fathers.  The kabalah is
> specifically kept by the Geonim, who have it ish mipi ish.  The Rambam's
> own ancestry was from Spain, not Iraq.

But his chain of mesorah was from Pumbedisa via the Rif (among others).

In any case, I didn't speak of im qabbalah hi in particular, but as
an instance of halachic process creating law despite our assessment of
the facts.

It would seem that somewhere in that chain of qabbalah, there was a flaw.
It's not ish mipi ish since the first shemittah, or else an error couldn't
have crept in.

(Or perhaps someone will invoke RSS's hava amina of hidden years at the
beginning of bayis sheini to account for the yovelos?)

>>> Where is that from, exactly?  For what application....

>> R' Chaim Kanievsky, reporting on the CI's seder. Nidon didan.

> Unless he's talking about the single kezayis of matza that women eat
> (if they're not getting from the kaarah), all the kezeisim of the
> seder can be 1/3 of a kebeitza, rather than 1/2.

> Besides which, this is inconsistent with the CI's letter to RACN,
> published in Shiurei Mikveh, where he insists that even though he
> has no proof for his shiurim, "libi omer li" that they are correct,
> and he would rely on them even to permit an eishes ish to the world.
> How could he then turn around and not use them himself?

RCK (zol zein gezunt un shtark) is an eid ne'eman. You raise good
questions, but what happened, happened.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 9th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org        1 week and 2 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Gevurah sheb'Gevurah: When is strict justice
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            most appropriate?

On Mon, Apr 02, 2012 at 03:40:24PM -0400, Saul Guberman wrote:
:>>> Ein [habamah] niteres ela benavi." I'm I wrong, or is RYBC saying that
:>>> the permissability of a navi making a bamah is mutar in principle,
:>>> even if only one navi invoked it?
...
:> The pasuq isn't about pesaqim in general nor about hora'ah. The pasuq in
:> Devarim is a statement speicifically about bamos. And its heter appears
:> to be based on the fact that Eliyahu was told to build a bamah on Har
:> HaKarmel, it wasn't a place he picked himself, and thus not within the
:> terms of the issur.

: IIRC the medrash claims that Eliyahu was not commanded to build the bamah &
: it was one of the many acts that he did of his own accord that seems to
: "force" God's hand.  In the end that is why Eliyahu had to be "taken away"
: and Elisha put in his place.

I couldn't find a primary source for this medrash. But it is possible for
it to be a machloqes chazal. I was just reporting R Yosi ben Chaninah's
shitah -- that Eliyahu wasn't violating the issur bamah because he built
his bamah in a location HQBH showed him. No less "el hamaqom asher yivchar
H'" than the beis habechirah was.

But....

Could it be that the decision to confront Achav and force a demonstration
of Yad H' was Eliyahu's. But after he did so and HQBH acquiesced,
Hashem chose the location for the confrontation. So that the challenge
was presumptuous (although not technically assur), and thus Hashem's
acquiescing is notable. But, the bamah aspect itself was -- according to
RYBC -- not a hora'as sha'ah.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 9th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org        1 week and 2 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Gevurah sheb'Gevurah: When is strict justice
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            most appropriate?

On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 04:56:54PM +0000, kennethgmil...@juno.com wrote:
: In the longest versions, there are three phrases:
: - dachazitay ud'la chazitay
: - dachamitay ud'la chamitay
: - d'viartay ud'la viartay
...
: From Jastrow's dictionary, I got the impression that "chazi" and
: "chami" are synonyms, with little or no difference between them, other
: than "chazi" being more common in Bavel, and "chami" being more common
: in Eretz Yisrael.

When I repeat it in English, just in case bitul chameitz is in Aramaic
because you ought to say it in your native language, I render it:

- which I saw or didn't see,
- which I noticed or didn't notice,
- which I destroyed or did not destroy.

Chama also means to guard, to watch. I therefore took it as a more
conscious activity than simply seeing. (Compare to listening vs
hearing.) Chasa can happen accidentally, chama cannot. At least, KNLAD.

Notice, though, that this is a daisy-chain, and only makes sense as:
- which I saw or didn't see,
- of those I saw -- which I recognize or didn't recognize,
- and of those that I saw and noticed were lumps of chaimeitz -- which
  I destroyed or did not destroy.

Your question implies the daisy-chain continues, the next step only
elaborating one of the two predicates in the previous clause:
- and of those I saw, identified as chameitz, but did not destroy --
  they shall be ownerless etc...

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 9th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org        1 week and 2 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Gevurah sheb'Gevurah: When is strict justice
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            most appropriate?

On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 05:09:48PM -0400, David Wacholder wrote:
: While Rabi Akiva was counting out 250 plagues and 50 on the sea, Roman
: Emperor Hadrian was terrorizing the Eretz Yisrael inhabitants, using every
: cruel means available to him. With each new torture or hanging, arose from
: the people an outcry for revenge, for rebellion no matter at any costs. He
: may have sought to portray the Romans as just another wave of oppression,
: which can be waited out and weathered.

While it's a popular idea that the seder in Benei Beraq was during the
hadrianic persecutions, it's just a theory. There are other reasons for
them to meet in Benei Braq, at R' Aqiva's, rather than join R' Gamliel
(the nasi's) seder. R' Gamliel's focus was on the mitzvos of the night, R'
Aqiva was busy finding every neis he could that HQBH did for us. Halakhah
vs aggadah -- totally different notions of what a seder should be.

Tangent: Although interestingly, Rabbi Gamliel held a seder in Lod and
also ran all night -- Tosefta, Pesachim 10:8. And while it's poetic to
think they're both the same year, I don't know if we can prove that.

R' Aqiva lived a long time; he was even the great Rabbi Aqiva for
40 years, plus much of the prior 40 when he was in the yeshivos and
possibly quotable. (Be those 40s literal or representational.) The
Hadrianic persecutions began with his arrival in Y-m in 130 CE, and R'
Aqiva was killed in something like 137.

We therefore have no way to know that R' Aqiva was subject to persecution
at the time he did this math.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 9th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org        1 week and 2 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Gevurah sheb'Gevurah: When is strict justice
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            most appropriate?

On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 02:38:48PM +0000, kennethgmil...@juno.com wrote:
: I received an answer in this morning's email, in an article from Rabbi
: Ephraim Schwartz of the Young Israel of Karmiel. You can read his entire
: article at
: http://holylandinsights.blogspot.com/2012/04/third-cup-passover-2
: 012.html

Quoting RES's blog entry:
:     Which brings us to our Seder today. Yes, we have Eretz Yisrael,
:     we have our freedom. We have the ability to learn and grow close to
:     Hashem and bring his Name to the world. But yet, something is missing
:     in what seems to be this almost perfect world. What is missing is
:     us. Why are we not waking up each morning with a special closeness
:     to Hashem? Why are we not running around dedicating ourselves to
:     building a country that would only serve to make His name great;
:     To create a home for him that he would gladly and speedily return
:     to? The answer is because we are still lacking Geula / redemption. 2000
:     years of exile has made us cold and stagnant. We have been freed,
:     we are no longer being persecuted and that seems to be enough for
:     most of us... most of the time. We have V'Hotzaisi, V'Hitzalti,
:     V'lokachti V'Havaisi. But we are still lacking the V'Goalti. We are
:     missing that inner sense of redemption that makes sense of the past
:     and that allows us to rectify it and appreciate and move to our new
:     roles. We still need to be redeemed.

I once developed a fusion of the Qetzos and R' Hutner's Pachad Yitzchaq
to define "ge'ulah" <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2008/04/geulah.shtml>
and <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2008/05/geulah-king.shtml> (which is
based on the prior.

The Bereishis Rabba (8:5) where 4 mal'akhim (who appear to be Platonic
Forms) debate the creation of man, has Shalom and Emes objecting, and HQBH
finally creates humanity after throwing Emes to the ground. Citing the
pasuq "Emes mei'eretz tatzmiach", the medrash indicates that humanity's
job is a process to make Emes manifest. And this, the haqdamah to
the Qetzos says, is why the Torah is described as "vechayei olam nata
besocheinu", Torah is the neti'ah from which Emes is tatzmiach.

The PY, OTOH, is about the difference between the qabbalas ol Malkhus of
Shema and that of RH. Shema is about HQBH being the King in hypothetical
purity, acceptance of an abstract fact about His Glory. RH is the
realization of his Kingship in a "ein melekh belo am" sense.

"Veyaha H' leMelekh... bayom hahu yihyeh Hashem Echad ushemo echad."
Melukhah is unity of peception of HQBH -- the split of "Hashem E-lokim",
the need to use two names in Ber' pereq 2, caused by Adam's cheit,
would be healed. This is an era when "kesheim shemivorkhim al hatov kakh
mevarkhim al hara" -- and even with the same lashon. Where we see "gam zu
letovah" even about the worst, "Barukh haTov vehaMeitiv". "Dayan haEmes"
in his hands becomes "He Who judges truths" -- which are we ready to
accept, and which need hiding.

Now my fusion: Ge'ulah is that "emes emi'eretz tatzmiach", and thus when
"H' echad ushemo echad".

Galus is a metaphysical state of hesteir panim, galus haShechinah, and
thus galus Yavan can be entirely while Jews live in EY. It's a hiding
of truth as a seedling in the ground.

And that's why the ge'ulah after galus Mitzrayim isn't until Maamud
Har Sinai.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 9th day, which is
mi...@aishdas.org        1 week and 2 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Gevurah sheb'Gevurah: When is strict justice
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            most appropriate?

Can anyone assist understanding the ShaArei Teshuva 460, who says that even
those who will not soak a whole Matza during Pesach will nevertheless use
Matza meal since only a blob of flour can become Chamets. When pulverised
throughout the meal the same flour particles cannot become Chamets.
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On 16/04/2012 4:16 PM, AES wrote:
> and from the fact that
> we call what the kohanim do during duchening as "nesias kapayim" and
> not "nesias yadayim" since they lift their fingers*and*  their palms
> when they duchen.

In Tanach it's always called "nesiat yadayim", in contrast to "perisat
kapayim" which is used for prayer.   E.g. in this week's parsha, "vayisa
Aharon et yadav el ha`am vayvar'chem".

-- 
Zev Sero        "Natural resources are not finite in any meaningful
z...@sero.name    economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion
                  may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather
                 are expanding through human ingenuity."
                                            - Julian Simon

On 16/04/2012 6:16 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> It would seem that somewhere in that chain of qabbalah, there was a flaw.
> It's not ish mipi ish since the first shemittah, or else an error couldn't
> have crept in.

The Rambam takes it on faith that it *is* ish mipi ish.  There was no error
in transmission; the "error", if one can call it that, was in the counting.
This is explicit in the Rambam; he says how he holds one should count, and
then he says that the Geonim have a kabalah that the count was not done that
way.

-- 
Zev Sero        "Natural resources are not finite in any meaningful
z...@sero.name    economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion
                  may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather
                 are expanding through human ingenuity."
                                            - Julian Simon

On 16/04/2012 4:52 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 04, 2012 at 09:31:47AM -0400, Rich, Joel wrote:
> : It seems that 1/1000 is the halachic definition of not existing-
> : I wonder if this might be the basis for us not so frumers using tap
> : water on pesach.
>
> Chazal explitcly say "afilu be'elef lo bateil".

WRT a beryah, the Noda Biyhuda suggests that "afilu be'elef" means
that it is batel in *more* than 1000.

-- 
Zev Sero        "Natural resources are not finite in any meaningful
z...@sero.name    economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion
                  may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather
                 are expanding through human ingenuity."
                                            - Julian Simon

RMB:

<<But Benei haBayshan are following minhag avos -- prior generations of 
Benei haBayshan. The moving of a minhag hamaqom when many of the 
residents of that maqom move is an instance of minhag avos -- the 
leaving generation doing what their parents did. It's not what their new 
maqom does -- it had no minhag. The only difference is that the BhB 
moved en masse. Kind of like the group relocation of some Chassidishe 
groups or of Frankfurt's KAJ.>>

Aren't you assuming your conclusion? The mishna talks about minhag 
hamakom.  The earliest source I can recall off hand for "minhag avos" is 
the Ran about Herem d'Rabbeinu Gershom.  What justifies your 
retrojecting the concept into Hazal?

It is plausible that a town adopts a custom in response to local 
circumstance: e.g., Tosafos say they marry their children off at a very 
young  age because they're afraid the local ruler will confiscate the 
marriage fee on another pretext if they save it until the kids are 
samuch l'pirkan.  They didn't retain the custom of child marriage when 
they moved to Poland.   In this case Rashi says the market day was now 
on Friday - - so plausibly the question was precisely whether a change 
of circumstance in the absence of a change of locality is sufficient.  
When the gemara associates minhag with location it may be implying that 
moving to a new location, even with the same population, provides the 
opportunity to revisit old customs.

David Riceman

R'n TK:
"It seems to me that it wasn't the Christians who "stole" Tanach? from us by

memorizing portions that few frum Jews study.? It was actually? the 
Haskalah, the Documentary Theory and all that -- turning Tanach into a
field? of 
secular academic study -- that "stole" it from us, because the response of? 
the yeshiva world was to look askance at anyone who had too deep an?
interest 
in Tanach.? In the same way and for the same reason, the study of? Hebrew 
language and dikduk was "stolen" from us."
?
R' JK:
While it's always easier to blame others for problems ("they" made me do
it), it's often more adult to take at least some personal responsibility.?
In this case, ISTM that no one "stole" Tanach or its study or that of
Hebrew/dikduk from us.? If we no longer have it or no longer cherish it
properly, then it's most probably our fault to a large extent, and?the way
to perhaps solve this is through introspection rather than pointing fingers
at others.
--------------------


"stole" Tanach from us. But the rabbanim of the era, as a direct response to
the Haskalah, specifically chose that their followers not learn Nach. I'm
not clear that it's a problem, to tell you the truth; those who want to,
usually end up learning it themselves. (As an example, I'm told that my
great-grandfather hid in his bedroom in Yeshiva to study Nach where no one
would see him and maybe get the wrong idea about him.)

KT,
MYG

On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 2:20 PM, Prof. Levine <llev...@stevens.edu> wrote:
> The land of Israel has a special Kedushah (holiness). Therefore, if one does
> a mitzvah there, one gets more reward than if one does the exact same
> mitzvah here. However, if one does something wrong, G-D forbid,? in Israel,
> it is much worse than if one does the same wrong here. "You just don't go to
> Israel," he told me. "You have to be on the right spiritual level before you
> go."
>
> Based on this I conclude that for those people who are not on the right
> spiritual level it is "better" for them to remain in Golus.

This advice seems to me to lead to stagnation. I can only speak for
myself, but if I wait to be on the right spiritual level before doing
mitzvot I will never do anything.

--
"It seems to me that what this job calls for is a superman."
... Wong chuckled and flexed his arms. "Maybe so, Matt, but there
aren't any supermen, so we'll have to do the best we can with young
squirts like you."

R.A.Heinlein, "Space Cadet"


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