Avodah Mailing List

Volume 33: Number 129

Sun, 04 Oct 2015

• 1. Whole Hallel on Sukkos (Micha Berger)
• 2. Re: Buying minim from a child (Zev Sero)
• 3. Shehecheyanu on Matza (Akiva Miller)
• 4. Re: Shehecheyanu on Matza (Lisa Liel)
• 5. Nusach Ari (Lubav) questions (Zev Sero)
• 6. Rav Eitam Henkin, who was murdered today (David Hojda)
• 7. is it kosher? (saul newman)
• 8. Re: is it kosher? (Micha Berger)
• 9. Re: is it kosher? (Zev Sero)
• 10. A Very Urban Sukkos ? A Very Special Sukkos (Prof. Levine)
• 11. THE MISSING "VOV" (Cantor Wolberg)
• 12. Vesamachta beChagecha (Micha Berger)
• 13. Shaving with a Skarp - permitted? (Micha Berger)

I just noticed something that is likely to be meaningful.

We say whole Hallel every day of Sukkos because the qorban mussaf differs
each day.
The mussaf differs by the number of cows, which total 70 across the YT.
The 70 cows are keneged the 70 nations.
Among the things we would have otherwise skipped was "Lamah yomeru
hagoyim..."
So...
Because we bring qorbanos on behalf of the 70 nations over the course
of Sukkos, we pray for their abandonment of AZ on each day of it.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             It's never too late
mi...@aishdas.org        to become the person
http://www.aishdas.org   you might have been.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                      - George Eliot

On 09/25/2015 03:32 AM, Ben Waxman via Avodah wrote:
> When I was in yeshiva, we were told to refrain from buying any of the
> four minim from a child. If the product was stolen, a child can't
> take possession via shinu reshut or ma'aseh. Therefore the theft
> falls on the buyer and his minim are pasul.
>
> Thinking about during my jog, I had a few questions:
>
> 1) Is this a real chashash or simply are we trying to cover all
> halachik corners? Meaning, if I do buy from a child do I really have
> anything to worry about? And if it isn't a real concern, then why am
> I not being oveir on "chosheid b'kesheirim"?
>
> 2) If it is a real chashash (the presence of stolen minim in the
> market) than why buy from an adult? Buying stolen goods is also a
> sin. At the very least, one can only buy from a place with a heksher.
>
> 3) Or can one? Can we assume that the kashrut agencies really check
> were their minim come from?
>
> 4) Who determines if there is a significant presence of stolen goods
> in the market every year?  I assume that the amount of stolen goods
> has to be above a certain minimum for there to be a real issue?


The chashash is not for actually stolen goods, but that the land on
which the minim were grown was stolen hundreds or thousands of years
ago, and since karka eina nigzeles it still belongs to the rightful
heirs of the original owner.  Thus the person who harvests the minim
is technically the gazlan, ye'ush happened a long time ago, so we
need a shinuy reshus, which happens when you buy from the "gazlan",
but not if he's a katan.   If he bought it from someone else then
this problem doesn't exist, but there's another problem: it won't
be shelachem, which it needs to be for the first day.

This is also why one should not use minim one cut oneself, but rather
sell those and buy ones that someone else cut.

All of this only applies in countries where land title is uncertain;
where it can be traced directly back to a valid kibush milchama,
there is no problem.


-- 
Zev Sero               All around myself I will wave the green willow
z...@sero.name          The myrtle and the palm and the citron for a week
                And if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm doing that
                I'll say "It's a Jewish thing; if you have a few minutes
                I'll explain it to you".

I'm sure it will seem odd that I'm asking Hilchos Pesach at this time of
year, so I will explain how I got here: I was thinking about the sequence
of Kiddush on the first two nights of Sukkos (hey, Israelis! don't turn me
off yet! this is relevant to you too!), and how most in Chu"l say
Shehecheyanu last on the first night, but Leshev last on the second night.
To understand that better, I tried to construct a similar scenario under
other circumstances.

I figured that if one were to make Kiddush on Matza at the Seder, this
might be what I'm looking for. This could come about if one was at the
Seder, and had neither wine nor any other drink for Kiddush, and was
therefore forced to say the Kiddush on Hamotzi. (This actually happened to
me personally when I was much younger than now, and I was working as a
busboy in a hotel which had an excellent hechsher on the food, but a
kitchen manager who did not care much for those of us who wanted to
participate in a seder.)

It turns out that there is an entire siman (#483) in Orach Chaim on this
very situation, explaining what to do at the Seder if one has a very
limited amount of wine, or even no wine at all, or even no Chamar Medinah
at all. I expected that the proper procedure would be very similar to what
we do the first night of Sukkos. I expected the answer to be: Hamotzi,
Kiddush, Al Achilas Matza, and finally Shehecheyanu. But as it turns out,
Beur Halacha "Ad Shegomer" says: "See the sefer Maamar Mordechai, who is
machria that the bracha of Zman is part of Kiddush [birkas zman bichlal
kiddush hu], so therefore, say Zman and afterwards Al Achilas Matza." (The
Kaf HaHayyim 483:8 also says to say Al Achilas Matza after the
Shehecheyanu, and also refers to the Maamar Mordechai.)

I'm shocked, and I'm not exaggerating. Is there no Shehecheyanu on the
mitzva of eating matza?

We say Shehecheyanu on the mitzva of shofar, and on the mitzva of reading
Megilas Esther. Why not on matza?

We say Shehecheyanu on the sukkah and on the lulav. One could argue that
these are not on the mitzva itself but on the making of the objects, in
which case I'd suggest to say Shehecheyanu on the making of the matza! Why
not?

For decades, I've begun the Seder by telling the others that when we say
Shehecheyan, we should have all the mitzvos of the night in mind. I've
taken this to be a davar pashut, but now, I've reviewed my notes, and I see
it mentioned in only two of my hagados: Kol Dodi 7:5 (by Rav Dovid
Feinstein) who refers to the Siddur of the Yaavetz; and Yaynah Shel Torah
3:11:7 (by Binyamin Adler) who quotes Vayadeg Moshe 15:11. Is it possible
that these are minority opinions, who disagree with the Beur Halacha?

After writing the above, I found in the Halichos Shlomo on Moadim, vol 2,
chapter 9, footnote 151, that Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach used to announce
at his Seder, that the Shehecheyanuapplies to all the mitzvos of the night,
and that this is why there is no problem for the women to answer Amen, even
if they already said Shehecheyanu at candle lighting. On the other hand, he
writes in footnote 152 that if such a woman is actually saying the Kiddush
herself, she should omit the Shehecheyanu, because "they did not make a
takana to say Shehecheyanu on the mitzvos of the night on their own."

Apparently, RSZA holds that as long as one is saying Kiddush at the Seder,
and Kiddush does have Shehecheyanu, then that Shehecheyanu can include
matza too. But if for some reason one could not say Kiddush at the Seder
[let's say he has no hagada or no light and doesn't know the kiddush by
heart] he is not allowed to say Shehecheyanu directly on the matza. That
would fit the Bur Halacha very well. But now I am utterly mystified at why
we say Leshev Basukkah BEFORE Shehecheyanu. Why is Sukkos different than
Pesach?

Those who want to see the Maamar Mordechai itself, it is available online.
Go to http://www.hebrewbooks.org/20231  and then to page 408, and read
se'if 3. I did not see any clear explanation of why the Al Achilas Matza
should come last, but perhaps someone else can find a nuance that I missed.

(One last note: Some might suggest that the Shehecheyanu on matza is
included in the bracha on the second cup: "v'higiyanu halailah hazeh
le'echol bo matzah." But that seems dachuk to me.)

Akiva Miller
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On 10/1/2015 3:19 PM, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
>
> I'm shocked, and I'm not exaggerating. Is there no Shehecheyanu on the 
> mitzva of eating matza?
>
> We say Shehecheyanu on the mitzva of shofar, and on the mitzva of 
> reading Megilas Esther. Why not on matza?

Matza is gross.  It's the bread of affliction in more ways than one.  
Yes, there may be people who like it, but I think they're in the 
minority.  To say shehecheyanu on matza or maror would, IMNSHO, verge on 
a bracha l'vatala.

Lisa

Two questions recently occurred to me about the L nusach:

1. Throughout Yom Kippur, every time we mention "yom hakippurim hazeh",
the L nusach adds "yom selichas ho'ovon hazeh, yom mikra kodesh hazeh".
This includes the piece between Ki Anu Amecha and Al Chet.  But there
is one exception: in musaf, in the selichos after the avodah, there is
a mention of "yom hakipurim hazeh", and on this occasion it's followed
by "yom *mechilas ho'ovon hazeh, yom mikra kodesh hazeh".  Why is this
one instance different from all the others?

2. Throughout the year the L nusach follows the Sefardi minhag that every
time a yomtov is mentioned it's followed by "yom tov mikra kodesh hazeh".
On Chol Hamoed the addition is "yom mikra kodesh hazeh".  However, unlike
the Sefardi minhag, L makes this addition on chol hamoed only in musaf
(twice) but not in yaaleh veyavo, whether in davening or benching.  Does
anyone know why yaaleh veyavo is an exception?

-- 
Zev Sero               All around myself I will wave the green willow
z...@sero.name          The myrtle and the palm and the citron for a week
                And if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm doing that
                I'll say "It's a Jewish thing; if you have a few minutes
                I'll explain it to you".

https://eitamhenkin.wordpress.com/

A brilliant talmid chacham, highly-original thinker, and author of many
fascinating ma'amarim and an important sefer on Hilchos Tola'im, making the
case for a more lenient approach.

(Note the range of his writings, on Arukh HaShulkhan, Rav Kook, Historia,
book reviews.)

http://thepartialview.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-impromptu-sukka-at-ai
rport.html
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On Thu, Oct 01, 2015 at 01:52:02PM -0700, saul newman via Avodah wrote:
: http://thepartialview.blogspot.com/2015/09/a-impromptu-sukka-a
: t-airport.html

The most obvious question would be whether it's 7 x 7 tefachim, and 10
tefachim high. (22-1/2 x 22-1/2 in, and 23 in high or so as a smaller
but commonly used tefach.) It seems so, but I'm bad at visually estimated.

Assuming:
he had all three "walls" next to each other before throwing on his sekhakh
(ta'aseh velo min ha'asui),
he isn't under the terminal roof, and
he has enough luggage on the carts that they wouldn't blow away in a
ruach metzuyah.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             If you won't be better tomorrow
mi...@aishdas.org        than you were today,
http://www.aishdas.org   then what need do you have for tomorrow?
Fax: (270) 514-1507              - Rebbe Nachman of Breslov

On 10/02/2015 02:32 AM, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> The most obvious question would be whether it's 7 x 7 tefachim, and 10
> tefachim high. (22-1/2 x 22-1/2 in, and 23 in high or so as a smaller
> but commonly used tefach.) It seems so, but I'm bad at visually estimated.

If a normal sized person can sit in it, as this person clearly is, then
it's big enough.

> Assuming: he had all three "walls" next to each other before throwing
> on his sekhakh (ta'aseh velo min ha'asui),

He must have had them all there, or the schach would have fallen down.


> he isn't under the terminal roof,

That's a fair assumption from the fact that he's on the footpath,
and simply from the fact that this is an obvious thing to look for.


> and he has enough luggage on the carts that they wouldn't blow away
> in a ruach metzuyah.

The carts themselves would be heavy enough for that.  Also, in that
spot, sheltered on at least one side by the terminal building, a ruach
metzuya would be fairly weak.



-- 
Zev Sero               All around myself I will wave the green willow
z...@sero.name          The myrtle and the palm and the citron for a week
                And if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm doing that
                I'll say "It's a Jewish thing; if you have a few minutes
                I'll explain it to you".

 From http://tinyurl.com/pzebwt8

Sukkos ? for many, it?s summer?s last hurrah. 
Being outdoors, hopefully in green, lush and warm 
(or not too cold) surroundings. A pleasant return 
to nature before autumn really kicks in. A great 
time to spend away from home, perhaps in a rural 
environment. (Imagine spending Sukkos at a 
sleepaway camp or a bungalow colony?) Sukkos is 
the singular Yom Tov when getting out of the city 
is truly appealing and really seems like a must.

But alas, I have been privileged to spend Sukkos 
for the past several years in a heavy-duty urban 
environment ? and I would not trade this unique 
experience for most anything in the world.

For us urbanites, Sukkos means schlepping our 
food and everything else to a downstairs building 
courtyard sukkah or a shul sukkah; it means a 
lack of privacy during meals; it means outside 
city noise as we eat, learn and even sleep in the sukkah. Who needs it?

On the contrary, the urban Sukkos experience has 
taught me so much about Sukkos and Yom Tov in 
general, and it can incredibly enrich our 
appreciation for the Moed (holiday period) and its important values.

See the above URL for more. YL
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Gut'n Moed,

Has anyone ever noticed in the Sukkot Torah reading, third day of chol hamo?ed, the word "minchatam" does not carry a vav?  (29:24, 1st word)

Everywhere else you have ?U-minchatam? but here only "minchatam".

Any insights? I?ve checked many different sources and it is never even addressed.

Moadim L'simchah and Shabbat Shalom.
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The following was posted in the Facebook group "Chareidim Yisraelim"
by a R' Tal Or. Translation from the Hebrew, mine.

-Micha

    Something I learned from the Admor of Seret-Vizhnitz [R' Eliezer
    Hager, Chaifa]:

    How can you be happy when the situation is difficult, and everything
    around us is black?

    As a young woman I was priviledged to have received an audience with
    him, an he sat and talked with me for about an hour. He saw that I
    was very upset about some matter, and although I did not say it in
    those words, he understood on his own that the matter overshadowed
    my joy of life.

    He therefore toldme something personal:

    On Simchas Torah, Nazis came to his town [Seret] in Romania, gathered
    the Jews, and put them on trins. It was already at an advanced stage
    of the war. In a cattle car, which had room for maybe 30 people,
    the Nazis crammed in 80 Jews. The suffocation was difficult, it was
    impossible to move, and ...

    "We knew exactly where they were taking us" said the Rebbe zt"l.
    "We already knew, it was not like the beginning of the war, when
    the Jews did not know. The train began to travel to Auschwitz,
    when we were packed inside without food or water, we decided that,
    since it is a day of Simchat Torah - we'll be happy! We knew where
    we were going and what awaits us, and we decided to rejoice.

    "One of the Jews found in his pocket a small siddur, raised it high,
    and we acted as though this siddur was a sefer Torah.

    "We sang and we did hakafos, danced in the train (!!!) and we were
    happy. We were truly happy."

    The Rebbe did not tell me what the take-away lesson was. I understood
    myself.

    In any state, a Jew can be happy!!! It's a matter of ... decision.

From http://interestingengineering.com/skarp-kickstarter/

    Skarp raises $2 million on Kickstarter in less than 10 days
    October 2, 2015
    Alan Adamu

    Skarp is redefining something that we all use, a razor. While it looks
    like a conventional razor, it works in a completely different way.
    Instead of using the old fashioned blade, Skarp razor uses lasers
    to cut your hair, and that is what makes this design very interesting.
    ...
    The laser is designed to cut through the hair at a very close shave,
    making it feel smoother than ever. Another interesting aspect of
    this design is that it is claimed to leave no scratches, razor burns,
    infections, itches, accidental cuts and irritations...

                      .... After over a decade of research, Morgan
    [Gustavsson MBBS] discovered a chromophore in human hair that gets cut
    when it comes in contact with a certain wavelength of light. These
    so-called chromophores are particles within the human hair that
    have the ability to absorb certain wavelengths of light. What is
    interesting about this discovery is the fact that this chromophore is
    present in every single human being, meaning that this laser could be
    used to cut the hair of any person, irrespective of gender or race.
    ...
    Copyright 2015 Interesting Engineering All Rights Reserved

Insert obvious halachic question here.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Life is a stage and we are the actors,
mi...@aishdas.org        but only some of us have the script.
http://www.aishdas.org               - Rav Menachem Nissel
Fax: (270) 514-1507


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