Volume 35: Number 117
Sun, 01 Oct 2017
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Message: 1
From: Rich, Joel
Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2017 18:52:24 +0000
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Oseh Hashalom
My questions are these: If you're old enough to remember davening
Ashkenaz in the 1970s or before, do you remember what was said during
Aseres Yemei Teshuva? And do you know of any siddur from that era
which included the newfangled text?
Akiva Miller
_______________________________________________
Never heard it until late 70's at earliest and that was at a "new" minyan in an "old" shul where iirc the old minyan continued oseh hashalom.
Gct
Joel Rich
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Message: 2
From: Zev Sero
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2017 01:03:26 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Trashing Kapporos - Kapporah Gain, or Kapporah
On 28/09/17 15:03, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> Teh Be'eir Heiteiv (#4) prefers using money (citing the Shelah and the
> Maharil), as giving an ani money is less humiliating than giving them
> a chicken. He also write that the Shelah says you can't use ma'aser money.
No, he doesn't. The idea of using money is extremely recent, and it
would never have even occured to the Baer Hetev, let alone to the Shelah
or the Maharil. The central point of kaparos but that a life is being
exchanged for a life, so it makes no sense to do it with an inanimate
object such as money.
You have confused how one does kaparos with what one does with the
chicken afterwards. Kaparos has nothing to do with tzedaka., but the
Rema, citing the Maharil, says that there is a minhag that after
kaparos, instead of eating the chicken, one gives it to the poor, or
else one exchanges it for money and give that to the poor. The Baer
Hetev, citing the Shelah, says the latter version is better, since it's
less embarrassing to the recipient.
> Also, the Rama's only reason for keeping the minhag going is its age --
> we shouldn't drop a minhag vasiqin just willy nilly.
No, it isn't. "Minhag vasiqin" doesn't mean an old minhag, it means a
minhag of the ancients. He's not appealing to its age but to its
pedigree. The vasiqin instituted it, and they knew what they were
doing, so we should not change it just because we don't understand it;
we should trust them and do as they taught us.
--
Zev Sero May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
z...@sero.name be a brilliant year for us all
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Message: 3
From: Micha Berger
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2017 16:15:53 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Trashing Kapporos - Kapporah Gain, or Kapporah
On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 01:03:26AM -0400, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
: On 28/09/17 15:03, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
: >Teh Be'eir Heiteiv (#4) prefers using money (citing the Shelah and the
: >Maharil)...
:
: No, he doesn't. The idea of using money is extremely recent, and it
: would never have even occured to the Baer Hetev...
Well, let's pull up the mar'eh maqom I cited, BH OC 605:4, d"h "bemamon".
And this is better than giving the ani a rooster, for he will
be mevayeish (Shelah, Maharil). And he should be nizhar to give
maaser; he shouldn't take this pidyon from maaser money, rather
from his own money. (Shelah)
: You have confused how one does kaparos with what one does with the
: chicken afterwards. Kaparos has nothing to do with tzedaka....
Actually, the tzedaqah of the chicken that the BH he tells you is
inferior to giving moneey, is the meilitz yosher mini elef we refer
to in the text of kaparos. Right before YK we do one last mitzcah as a
meilitz yosher before going into din.
I think the problem is that living in chassidishe circles, you have
primarily heard more mystical explanations for the minhag.
I also think /you/ are confusing the pidyon of the chicken with the
pidyon of the person.
:> Also, the Rama's only reason for keeping the minhag going is its age --
:> we shouldn't drop a minhag vasiqin just willy nilly.
: No, it isn't. "Minhag vasiqin" doesn't mean an old minhag, it means
: a minhag of the ancients. He's not appealing to its age but to its
: pedigree....
Source? He finds a geonic refernce and sayce it's been continuously
suported since, then calls it a minhag vasiqin. Admittely that proves
pedigree as well as age. But where's your source that we use vasiqin
to mean the greats among the baalei mesorah? How would your definition
fit YD 196:1: "ki kibelu me'eitzeh chakham shehorah lahen, vehu minhag
vasiqin"?
GCT and :-)@@ii!
-Micha
--
Micha Berger Life is complex.
mi...@aishdas.org Decisions are complex.
http://www.aishdas.org The Torah is complex.
Fax: (270) 514-1507 - R' Binyamin Hecht
: Shelah or the Maharil. The central point of kaparos but that a
: life is being exchanged for a life, so it makes no sense to do it
: with an inanimate object such as money.
:
: You have confused how one does kaparos with what one does with the
: chicken afterwards. Kaparos has nothing to do with tzedaka., but
: the Rema, citing the Maharil, says that there is a minhag that after
: kaparos, instead of eating the chicken, one gives it to the poor, or
: else one exchanges it for money and give that to the poor. The
: Baer Hetev, citing the Shelah, says the latter version is better,
: since it's less embarrassing to the recipient.
:
:
: >Also, the Rama's only reason for keeping the minhag going is its age --
: >we shouldn't drop a minhag vasiqin just willy nilly.
:
: No, it isn't. "Minhag vasiqin" doesn't mean an old minhag, it means
: a minhag of the ancients. He's not appealing to its age but to its
: pedigree. The vasiqin instituted it, and they knew what they were
: doing, so we should not change it just because we don't understand
: it; we should trust them and do as they taught us.
:
: --
: Zev Sero May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
: z...@sero.name be a brilliant year for us all
: _______________________________________________
: Avodah mailing list
: Avo...@lists.aishdas.org
: http://lists.aishdas.org/listinfo.cgi/avodah-aishdas.org
:
GCT and :-)@@ii!
-Micha
--
Micha Berger Life is complex.
mi...@aishdas.org Decisions are complex.
http://www.aishdas.org The Torah is complex.
Fax: (270) 514-1507 - R' Binyamin Hecht
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Message: 4
From: Zev Sero
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2017 16:33:13 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Trashing Kapporos - Kapporah Gain, or Kapporah
On 29/09/17 16:15, Micha Berger wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 01:03:26AM -0400, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
> : On 28/09/17 15:03, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> : >Teh Be'eir Heiteiv (#4) prefers using money (citing the Shelah and the
> : >Maharil)...
> :
> : No, he doesn't. The idea of using money is extremely recent, and it
> : would never have even occured to the Baer Hetev...
>
> Well, let's pull up the mar'eh maqom I cited, BH OC 605:4, d"h "bemamon".
> And this is better than giving the ani a rooster, for he will
> be mevayeish (Shelah, Maharil). And he should be nizhar to give
> maaser; he shouldn't take this pidyon from maaser money, rather
> from his own money. (Shelah)
As I pointed out before, that is not talking about how to do kaporos, it
refers only to what to do with the chicken afterwards. Kaporos cannot
be done on money. The idea makes no sense. Kaporos is done on a
chicken, and then there is a separate minhag to give tzedaka, and it's
better to give money than the chicken.
> : You have confused how one does kaparos with what one does with the
> : chicken afterwards. Kaparos has nothing to do with tzedaka....
>
> Actually, the tzedaqah of the chicken that the BH he tells you is
> inferior to giving moneey, is the meilitz yosher mini elef we refer
> to in the text of kaparos. Right before YK we do one last mitzcah as a
> meilitz yosher before going into din.
Since when? Where did you get that idea? The language of the Rama and
the nos'ei kelim is very clear, and there is no mention at all of a
connection between kaparos and tzedaka. Plus, kaporos is not done
right before YK, it's supposed to be done in the morning watch, before
daybreak (though nowadays because of the large numbers some recommend
doing it as much as a few days earlier).
> I think the problem is that living in chassidishe circles, you have
> primarily heard more mystical explanations for the minhag.
Where did you see a *non*-mystical explanation?
> I also think /you/ are confusing the pidyon of the chicken with the
> pidyon of the person.
The chicken is the pidyon of the person. Zeh chalifasi. Later,
instead of giving the chicken to tzedaka as is the minhag, one can buy
it, like pidyon maaser sheni.
> :> Also, the Rama's only reason for keeping the minhag going is its age --
> :> we shouldn't drop a minhag vasiqin just willy nilly.
>
> : No, it isn't. "Minhag vasiqin" doesn't mean an old minhag, it means
> : a minhag of the ancients. He's not appealing to its age but to its
> : pedigree....
>
> Source?
It's what the word means. Vasikin is not an adjective, it's a plural
noun. It doesn't mean "ancient", it means "the ancients".
> He finds a geonic refernce and sayce it's been continuously
> suported since, then calls it a minhag vasiqin. Admittely that proves
> pedigree as well as age. But where's your source that we use vasiqin
> to mean the greats among the baalei mesorah? How would your definition
> fit YD 196:1: "ki kibelu me'eitzeh chakham shehorah lahen, vehu minhag
> vasiqin"?
The same thing. Although don't know who gave this heter someone must
have, and it's a custom of the ancients so don't mess with it even if we
don't understand it.
--
Zev Sero May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
z...@sero.name be a brilliant year for us all
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Message: 5
From: Ben Waxman
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2017 22:35:00 +0200
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Trashing Kapporos - Kapporah Gain, or Kapporah
If I can mix actuality with the idea below:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/236149
What is the story a scandal? If the minhag has nothing to do with
tzedaka, why the need to redo it? OK, I understand that it isn't nice or
honest that someone made a buck with these chickens but why should that
affect the people who did kaparot? Given that this scandal happened in
Chabad communities, it only emphasizes the question.
Ben
On 9/29/2017 7:03 AM, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
>
> You have confused how one does kaparos with what one does with the
> chicken afterwards.?? Kaparos has nothing to do with tzedaka., but the
> Rema, citing the Maharil, says that there is a minhag that after
> kaparos, instead of eating the chicken, one gives it to the poor, or
> else one exchanges it for money and give that to the poor.?? The Baer
> Hetev, citing the Shelah, says the latter version is better, since
> it's less embarrassing to the recipient.
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Message: 6
From: Micha Berger
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2017 21:03:12 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Trashing Kapporos - Kapporah Gain, or Kapporah
On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 04:33:13PM -0400, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
: >Well, let's pull up the mar'eh maqom I cited, BH OC 605:4, d"h "bemamon".
: > And this is better than giving the ani a rooster, for he will
: > be mevayeish (Shelah, Maharil). And he should be nizhar to give
: > maaser; he shouldn't take this pidyon from maaser money, rather
: > from his own money. (Shelah)
:
: As I pointed out before, that is not talking about how to do
: kaporos, it refers only to what to do with the chicken afterwards.
: Kaporos cannot be done on money. The idea makes no sense. Kaporos
: is done on a chicken, and then there is a separate minhag to give
: tzedaka, and it's better to give money than the chicken.
Only because you think we're switching topics from the pidyon of the person
to the pidyon of the person's pidyon.
: >Actually, the tzedaqah of the chicken that the BH he tells you is
: >inferior to giving money, is the meilitz yosher mini elef we refer
: >to in the text of kaparos. Right before YK we do one last mitzcah as a
: >meilitz yosher before going into din.
:
: Since when? Where did you get that idea? The language of the Rama
: and the nos'ei kelim is very clear, and there is no mention at all
: of a connection between kaparos and tzedaka...
The Be'er Heiteiv assumes that if you're not giving the poor
person the money, you'd be giving them the more embarassing chicken.
(We also know from the line said immediately before kapparos are about
a meilitz yosher testifying that the person isn't all bad, which makes
no sense of this minhag weren't all about doing a mitzvah.)
As you yourself write, epmashsis added:
: The chicken is the pidyon of the person. Zeh chalifasi. Later,
: instead of GIVING THE CHICKEN TO TZEDAKA AS IS THE MINHAG, one can
: buy it, like pidyon maaser sheni.
: >: No, it isn't. "Minhag vasiqin" doesn't mean an old minhag, it means
: >: a minhag of the ancients. He's not appealing to its age but to its
: >: pedigree....
: >
: >Source?
:
: It's what the word means. Vasikin is not an adjective, it's a
: plural noun. It doesn't mean "ancient", it means "the ancients".
Yes, something done a long time ago is something done by people who lived
a long time ago. That is an appeal to age. I was asking where you find
"vasiqin" as a reference to pedigree, that it can't just be an old custom
of the masses. Vasiqin doesn't mean tzadiqim or talmdei chakhamim.
Minhag vasiqin means a custom kept by people who lived long ago. Which
is close enough to "old mminhg" to have made this digression pointless.
The Rama is advocating we keep this minhag and all he mentions in its
defense is its age. An argument that loses much of its thrust once the
chain was already broken for a couple of generations.
Gut Voch!
-Micha
--
Micha Berger A cheerful disposition is an inestimable treasure.
mi...@aishdas.org It preserves health, promotes convalescence,
http://www.aishdas.org and helps us cope with adversity.
Fax: (270) 514-1507 - R' SR Hirsch, "From the Wisdom of Mishlei"
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Message: 7
From: Ben Waxman
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2017 14:14:07 +0200
Subject: [Avodah] Not hadar is pasul
A halacha guide book that I got (Mikrei Qodesh) states that if the 4
minim are not hadar, that is a pasul for Ashkenazim the entire week of
Succot (only the first day for Sefardim).
What is the source for this halacha? (The book gives references to
another book which I don't own).
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Message: 8
From: Ben Waxman
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2017 14:05:15 +0200
Subject: [Avodah] expensive etrog
?In OH 656 the Mechaber writes that if one is shopping for an etrog and
sees two etrogim, one more mehudar than the other, you need to buy the
mehudar (either it is mitzvah or possibly a chiyuv). However, this only
applies if the mehudar etrog is no more than 33% more expensive. The
language that the Mechaber uses in the "yesh omrim" is "ein meyakrim oto
yoter m'shlish". Does this mean that it is assur to pay more or there is
simply no need (but if you want to, you? can)? If there is no need to
pay a lot of money for an etrog, is it really a hiddur to buy one?
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Message: 9
From: Zev Sero
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2017 22:22:16 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Not hadar is pasul
On 29/09/17 08:14, Ben Waxman via Avodah wrote:
> A halacha guide book that I got (Mikrei Qodesh) states that if the 4
> minim are not hadar, that is a pasul for Ashkenazim the entire week of
> Succot (only the first day for Sefardim).
>
> What is the source for this halacha? (The book gives references to
> another book which I don't own).
Shulchan aruch OC 649. See aruch Hashulchan se'if 15-16, that it's a
machlokes of Rambam v Raavad, Tosfos, and Rosh, and the BY paskens like
the Rambam.
Hadar means things such as the top of each kind being intact, the
lulav's leaves not being spread out like a broom, the hadas not being
covered in more red berries than leaves, etc.
--
Zev Sero May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
z...@sero.name be a brilliant year for us all
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Message: 10
From: Zev Sero
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2017 00:05:48 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] expensive etrog
On 29/09/17 08:05, Ben Waxman via Avodah wrote:
> ?In OH 656 the Mechaber writes that if one is shopping for an etrog and
> sees two etrogim, one more mehudar than the other, you need to buy the
> mehudar (either it is mitzvah or possibly a chiyuv). However, this only
> applies if the mehudar etrog is no more than 33% more expensive.
The first opinion is that only if one is hadar and the other is not,
must one spend up to a third more for the hadar, but if both are hadar
one may buy the cheaper one. The second opinion is that even if both
are hadar, but one is more hadar than the other, one must spend up to a
third more for the better one. This rule is not just for esrog, it's
in all mitzvos; "zeh Keli ve'anvehu" means one must pay up to a third
extra for hiddur mitzvah (Bava Kama 9b).
> The language that the Mechaber uses in the "yesh omrim" is "ein
> meyakrim oto yoter m'shlish". Does this mean that it is assur to pay
> more or there is simply no need (but if you want to, you can)? If
> there is no need to pay a lot of money for an etrog, is it really a
> hiddur to buy one?
It means neither one. You left out a word. The Mechaber's language is
"*im* ein meyakrin oto yoter mishlish". One should buy the better one,
*if* they don't make it more expensive than a third above the inferior
one. If they charge more than that, you don't have to buy it. But
there's certainly no restriction if you want to. The gemara says "Up to
a third is from his own, more than that is from Hakadosh Baruch Hu",
i.e. that Hashem will pay him back for what he spends over a third.
--
Zev Sero May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
z...@sero.name be a brilliant year for us all
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Message: 11
From: Zev Sero
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2017 22:25:53 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Trashing Kapporos - Kapporah Gain, or Kapporah
On 30/09/17 16:35, Ben Waxman via Avodah wrote:
> If I can mix actuality with the idea below:
> http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/236149
>
> What is the story a scandal? If the minhag has nothing to do with
> tzedaka, why the need to redo it? OK, I understand that it isn't nice or
> honest that someone made a buck with these chickens but why should that
> affect the people who did kaparot? Given that this scandal happened in
> Chabad communities, it only emphasizes the question.
The problem had nothing to do with someone making a buck. There's
nothing wrong with a yid making a parnassah:-) Especially on Erev Yom
Kippur one should not begrudge a yid his parnassah. The scandal is
that they were not shechted, which *is* the kaparah. If they shechted
them properly and *then* sold them to the arabs nobody would have cared.
[Email #2]
On 30/09/17 21:03, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 29, 2017 at 04:33:13PM -0400, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
>:> Well, let's pull up the mar'eh maqom I cited, BH OC 605:4, d"h "bemamon".
>:> And this is better than giving the ani a rooster, for he will
>:> be mevayeish (Shelah, Maharil). And he should be nizhar to give
>:> maaser; he shouldn't take this pidyon from maaser money, rather
>:> from his own money. (Shelah)
>: As I pointed out before, that is not talking about how to do
>: kaporos, it refers only to what to do with the chicken afterwards.
>: Kaporos cannot be done on money. The idea makes no sense. Kaporos
>: is done on a chicken, and then there is a separate minhag to give
>: tzedaka, and it's better to give money than the chicken.
> Only because you think we're switching topics from the pidyon of the person
> to the pidyon of the person's pidyon.
We clearly have switched topics. There is no other way to read the
Rama. The Mechaber says what the minhag of kaparos is: to shecht a
chicken and say pesukim over it. No mention of tzedaka. The Rama says
that we should not change this minhag. Then he says how it should be
done, with a bird of the appropriate gender, and preferably white.
*Then* he introduces a completely new minhag, that *after* doing kaparos
we give the bird to the poor, or we redeem it and give the money. The
Rama's word is "lifdosan", to redeem *them*, i.e. the birds, not the
person. and the Baer Hetev refers to this money as "pidyon kaparos",
not "kaparos" itself, or "pidyon ha'adam". It's a pidyon just like
pidyon maaser sheni; since there is a minhag to give this bird to the
poor, we buy it back from tzedaka.
>:> Actually, the tzedaqah of the chicken that the BH he tells you is
>:> inferior to giving money, is the meilitz yosher mini elef we refer
>:> to in the text of kaparos. Right before YK we do one last mitzcah as a
>:> meilitz yosher before going into din.
>: Since when? Where did you get that idea? The language of the Rama
>: and the nos'ei kelim is very clear, and there is no mention at all
>: of a connection between kaparos and tzedaka...
> The Be'er Heiteiv assumes that if you're not giving the poor
> person the money, you'd be giving them the more embarassing chicken.
Yes, of course he does; that is what the Rama writes explicitly. The
minhag is that once we're done with the bird we give it to the poor
rather than keep it for ourselves, *or* we buy it back and give them
money. On *this* the Baer Hetev says the second option is preferable.
See the next paragrah, about the minhag to go to the cemetery and give
tzedaka there, that this tzedaka is the pidyon hakaparos mentioned
earlier. So these are two different customs, kaparos and pidyon
kaparos, and the pidyon kaparos is done at the cemetery.
See Siddur R Yaacov Kopel, which says explicitly that after it's
shechted it remains in its kedusha and there is no need to give it to
the poor. (Not that he objects to giving it, but that's a separate
minhag, and failing to do so doesn't invalidate the kaporah.)
> (We also know from the line said immediately before kapparos are about
> a meilitz yosher testifying that the person isn't all bad, which makes
> no sense of this minhag weren't all about doing a mitzvah.)
Where did you get this idea? There's nothing about it in the source
we're discussing, or in any source that I've seen. The pasuk from Iyov
is said because it says "I have found a ransom", which is the "gever"
that we will shecht instead of this "gever". It has nothing to do with
doing a mitzvah. Indeed the whole thing is based on this pasuk in Iyov,
which is why we say from Tehillim 107 only the pesukim about a prisoner
and a sick person, and not those about a traveler or a seafarer, because
only those two are mentioned in that section of Iyov.
> As you yourself write, epmashsis added:
>: The chicken is the pidyon of the person. Zeh chalifasi. Later,
>: instead of GIVING THE CHICKEN TO TZEDAKA AS IS THE MINHAG, one can
>: buy it, like pidyon maaser sheni.
Yes, but I don't see how you find support in this. Giving it to the
poor is a separate minhag.
BTW the embarrassment to the poor is not that you're giving them a
chicken, it's that you're giving them your kaparah, and they feel like
you don't want to eat it because it's tainted with the averos it carries
or something, but you think it's good enough for them. This isn't a
logical thing, it's a feeling that the aniyim have, so giving them money
prevents it. On the contrary, if they see that the rich and important
don't disdain to eat their own kaporos, then they know there's nothing
wrong with it, so they won't be embarrassed to take chickens from those
who do give them (whether because they can't afford to buy them back, or
because they don't want to deal with cleaning and kashering on this busy
day).
>:>: No, it isn't. "Minhag vasiqin" doesn't mean an old minhag, it means
>:>: a minhag of the ancients. He's not appealing to its age but to its
>:>: pedigree....
This whole discussion got off on a wrong track, because I assumed you
were at least right in associating the word "vosik" with age, and that
had it says "minhag vosik" you'd have been right to translate it as "an
old minhag". But I suspected something was wrong, and then I realised
what it was. "Vosik" does not mean old. You're confusing it with
"`atik". "Vosik" means, as Jastrow renders it, "enduring; trusty;
strong; distinguished". "Talmid vosik" is "a faithful student; a
distinguished scholar". "Vosik nesaticho bo'umos" is "I made thee
distinguished among the nations". "Esp. Vethikin (ancients), the
conscientiously pious men of former days."
So "minhag vosikin" is not at all an appeal to its age, but to its
pedigree as a minhag of distinguished people who knew what they were
doing, just like saying krias shema "kevosikin" means like the
especially scrupulous, not like the elderly people who are up at dawn
because they can't sleep anyway:-)
[Email #3]
PS to my last post, I just looked "vosik" up in Ivrit, to see whether
its meaning has perhaps changed over time, but it appears not really.
https://he.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%A7 defines it in
leshon Chazal, as "trustworthy", and in Ivrit as "experienced". So even
when it's used in its modern sense it refers not to the passage of time
itself but to the experience gained over that time. The etymology is
not clear, but it's close to an arabic word meaning "trustworthy". It
does offer the English words "old, senior" as a translation of the
modern definition, but again it's clearly not "old" in the sense of age,
but of experience.
--
Zev Sero May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
z...@sero.name be a brilliant year for us all
Go to top.
Message: 12
From: Akiva Miller
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2017 22:18:58 -0400
Subject: [Avodah] Writing on Yom Tov
.
A few days ago, my son Avi posted this to our family chat group:
> The great Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev was very calm when
> Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat and explained why it was so. It is
> known we are commanded as not to write on Shabbat, that it is
> a desecration of the holy Shabbat! Just for saving a life one
> is allowed to write. And therefore G-d can only write us in
> for a year of life as writing is only permitted for saving
> lives but for no other exception. We will surely be blessed
> and inscribed and sealed for a great year filled with all good
> both physically and spiritually!
When I spoke to him on Erev YK, I thanked him for the vort, but I told him
that I have heard something similar, but significantly different: I had
heard that on Rosh Hashana, Hashem can write us in the Sefer Chayim for the
same reason as above (pikuach nefesh), but if anyone is going into the
other book it would have to wait until after Yom Tov, because writing is
assur on Yom Tov. In this light, it seems that the Berditchever's vort
would apply on ANY Yom Kippur, not just when it happens to fall on Shabbos.
My son responded immediately: "Vayanach bayom hashvii" - The pasuk tells us
that Hashem rests on Shabbos, but who says He doesn't do melacha on Yom Tov?
I was stumped. It sounds like a perfectly good question. Perhaps the
Berditchever is right about Yom Kippur on Shabbos, and what I heard about
Rosh Hashana applies only when the first day is on Shabbos.
Has anyone ever heard anything about anything like this? Over the years,
I've heard snippets about halachos that Hashem Himself observes, but I
don't remember much of it. OBVIOUSLY we are VERY deep in the midrashic -
allegorical - poetic territory here. (If we took this stuff literally, we'd
point out that Hashem is *constantly* busy keeping the world running,
Shabbos included, and that is certainly a major melacha. And when I wrote
"Shabbos included", I meant even that very first Shabbos, at the beginning
of Bereshis. So any attempts to say that Hashem keeps Shabbos must use a
pretty fuzzy definition of "keeps".)
So... back to my question: To whatever extent "writing" in the "Book of
Life" is a melacha, should it matter whether it is Shabbos or Yom Tov?
Looking forward to your responses.
Akiva Miller
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