Avodah Mailing List

Volume 40: Number 70

Mon, 24 Oct 2022

• 1. Are all foods subject to the gezeira of bishul Akum? (Prof. L. Levine)
• 2. Re: priorities (Arie Folger)
• 3. Is it permissible to eat or drink anything before hearing kiddush Friday night? What about a sip of water? (Prof. L. Levine)
• 4. Rav Schwab on the Role of Woman (Prof. L. Levine)
• 5. Prehistoric Man (Prof. L. Levine)

From today's OU Kosher Halacha Yomis


Q. Are all foods subject to the gezeira of bishul Akum?

A. Two groups of foods may be eaten even if cooked by an aino Yehudi:

  *   Food that can be eaten in a raw state is not prohibited when cooked
  by an aino Yehudi. For example, bishul Akum does not apply to baked
  apples. Since raw apples are edible, baking the apple is not viewed as a
  significant improvement, and Chazal did not include such a food in the
  prohibition of bishul Akum.
  *   Food that is not fit to be served at a royal dinner or an eloquent
  affair is not subject to bishul Akum. Here too, the cooking is not
  significant because the food is not a prestigious item. As an example,
  the Rambam (Hilchos Ma?achalos Assuros 17:17) writes that toasted grains
  are not subject to bishul Akum (even if the grain is not eaten raw),
  since toasted grains are not served at fancy dinners.
  *

Professor Yitzchok Levine
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RJoel Rich cited a pastor named Timothy Keller, who cited CS Lewis' "Aim at
heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither."

RJR then asked: Do we reflect this? Should we?

Well, the Maharal seems to have a version thereof in this week's parsha. To
Bereishis 1:11 or 1:12, on Rashi commenting on eitz peri osseh peri, Mahral
states that the material world (in his terminology, the earth) is
inherently imperfect, and that if we aim for the earth, we become
defficient, which he finds captured in the verse ki adam ein tzaddik
baaretz asher yaaseh tov velo ye'htah. If you reach for the heavens, i.e.,
in Maharal's context, you understand that blessing comes from heaven, and
it is heaven which gives trees their fruits, and through heavens blessings,
the earth becomes blessed, as a mekabbel, then you will find inherently
more than if you reach for the earth.
-- 
Mit freundlichen Gr??en,
Yours sincerely,

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

<http://rabbifolger.net/2016/01/28/wir-missionieren-nicht-aber-warum-nicht/>
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From

https://oukosher.org/halacha-yomis/permissible-eat-drink-anything-hearing-kiddush-friday-night-sip-water/?category=kiddush&;spMailingID=34601715&spUserID=MjM3MTAxNzY3NzIS1&spJobID=2284262277&spReportId=MjI4NDI2MjI3NwS2

Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 271:4) writes that from the time one accepts
Shabbos until hearing Kiddush, it is forbidden to eat, drink, or even take
a sip of water. However, Magen Avrohom permits rinsing out one?s mouth,
since there is no intention to enjoy the water. Similarly, Minchas Yitzchok
(8:18) writes that a woman who lit Shabbos candles and then wishes to
swallow a medicine pill (a Rabbi should be consulted regarding taking pills
on Shabbos), may do so with a sip of water if she is not thirsty (but not
other drinks). For this same reason, one who sips water with a pill and is
not thirsty should not recite a bracha, but a bracha would be recited on
other drinks even if the person is not thirsty. The reason for these
distinctions between water and other drinks is that water is enjoyable only
when one is thirsty because it is tasteless. In contrast, other drinks are
enjoyable because of their taste, even if one is not thirsty. (See Orach
Chaim 204:7 and Mishna Berurah ibid 42)

Professor Yitzchok Levine





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Western civilizations' notion that women play second fiddle or have
an inferior role to men is refuted by this statement of Adam, who
understood that his wife was to be perfectly matched to him, equal to
him in importance.

kol kivuda bas melech pnema -The Jewish daughter is a bas melech; she is a
princess, and her glory reigns inside. Binoseinu k'saviyos, sings the mshorar in
Tehillim (144:12), our daughters are in the corners, michutavos tavnes hachel , yet
carved in the format of the Beis Hamikdash.

Sarah Schenirer a"h told the Jewish daughters of the royalty, the
nobility of the Jewish woman. Jewish women are capable of reaching the
highest madreigah, heights of ruach hakodesh and even nevuah. To them
is entrusted the task of bringing up the Jewish child, of raising a new
generation, when the children are yet infants. And to them is entrusted
the shalom bayis of the Jewish family. And when the pasuk says that the
chachmah of a Jewish woman lies in her ability to spin threads, it refers
to the threads which bind together husband and wife, the old generation
and the new. Threading, binding together-that is her chachmah.

Selected Writings, page 327

I wonder how many women today would agree with these statements, even observant women.

Professor Yitzchok Levine


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Although the piece below is somewhat lengthy, I think that many will find it of considerable interest.

Professor Yitzchok LevineR

The following is from Rav Schwab on Chumash pages 51 - 52.

Berieshis 2:23

???? ????????? ????????? ????? ????????? ?????? ??????????? ????????? ???????????? ??????? ????????? ???????? ????? ???????? ???????????????:

And the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
This shall be called Woman, for from man was she taken."

Rashi cites Rabbi Eliezer, who says (Yevamos 63a), "From here we learn
that Adam mated with all domesticated and wild animals, but found no
satisfaction until he was paired with Chava.''

Did Adam really have relations with elephants and donkeys?
The Torah relates in the second chapter of Bereishis (2:19-20):-And Hashem
formed out of the ground every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought
them to the man to see what he would call each one; and whatever the man called each
living creature, that remained its name. And the man assigned names to all the cattle
and to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field; but as for man, he did not find
a helper corresponding to him.

"Beasts of the field" might connote creatures that have the ability to work the
fields, to plow and plant like human beings, creatures possessing a higher level
of intelligence, resembling human beings. Nonetheless, they still lack a neshamah,
which is why they do not fall into the category of "man."

The mishnah in Kilayim (8:5) states that there is a type of creature called
masters of the field. Rabbi Yosei comments that this creature, like humans,
renders a person impure if it dies under the same roof. The Talmud Yerushalmi
(ibid.) states that this creature is a type of human being called mountain
man. Commentaries remark that this "mountain man" looks like a human being in
every way, except that "its navel is attached to the ground by an umbilical cord."

On the words (Iyov 5:23), For you will have a treaty with the
stones in the field, Rashi states that stones in the field refer to humanoid
creatures. They are not considered humans, Rashi tells us, because they do not
possess a neshamah. Furthermore, Rashi comments that when Chazal say that
these creatures are connected to the earth by an umbilical cord, they mean that the
creatures' life source is the earth rather than the spirit (neshahmah).

Quite possibly..,. Adam attempted to find a mate from among these creatures,
which Hashem created especially for this purpose. However, Adam found no
satisfaction in them because they had no neshamah.

With this, one can possibly understand the mystery of the Nachash Hakadmoni,
the Serpent, which walked in an upright position and possessed intelligence and
the ability to speak (Midrash Rabbah 19:1). The pasuk says (Bereishis 3:1),
The Serpent was cunning beyond any beast of the field. Evidently,
the Serpent was the wisest of all "beasts of the field," which were endowed with
intelligence. The Serpent was nearly as intelligent as Adam. Concerning this
Serpent, the Gemara says (Sanhedrin 59b), "Woe to the great servant of Hashem that
perished from the world." The fact that this Serpent is referred to as the "servant of
Hashem" indicates that it possessed great spiritual significance. However, because
it lacked a neshamah, it could never be categorized with human beings.

??????Some time ago, I suggested that these achnei hasada or adnei hasasa, could
??????very well have been the so-called "prehistoric man." They looked like
??????men, walked upright like men, and perhaps even talked like men.
??????Nevertheless, they were merely highly intelligent animals, because
??????Hakadosh Baruch Hu had not endowed them with a neshamah. It is
??????very possible that some of them might even be alive today as uncivilized
??????tribes in the jungles of the Amazon, or other remote areas of the world.
??????These man-like creatures-who do not seem to be able to learn enough
??????to advance out of the Stone Age-may not be bnei adom, descendants of
??????Adam Harishon; rather, they may be highly developed animals who can
??????be as dangerous as wild beasts.

????????????Rav Schwab on lyov, pages 65-66




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