Avodah Mailing List

Volume 37: Number 6

Thu, 24 Jan 2019

• 1. Yisro (Interesting gematria) (Cantor Wolberg)
• 2. Re: Haftarah (elazar teitz)
• 3. RSRH on the Giving of the Torah (Professor L. Levine)
• 4. Re: sheasa nisim (Micha Berger)
• 5. Re: sheasa nisim (Ari Zivotofsky)
• 6. nichum aveilim (Rich, Joel)
• 7. halacha kbatrai (Rich, Joel)
• 8. Science and Halakhah - Tereifos (Micha Berger)
• 9. Re: halacha kbatrai (Micha Berger)

The g?matria of Yisro is 616. The gematria for ?HaTorah? (the Torah) is also 616. 
Yisro was the father-in-law of the most important prophet who received ?The Torah.? 
Also, Rashi informs us that Yisro had seven names - Re'uel, Yeser, Yisro, Chovev, Chever, Keini, and Putiel. 
He was called Yeser (addition) for he advised Moshe in the matter of the judicial system, 
thereby adding on to "The Torah." When he converted and fulfilled the Mitzvos the letter "Vav? 
was added to his name, hence the name Yisro.

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RAkiva Miller cited:


"Artscroll's "Mourning in Halacha" by Rabbi Chaim Binyamin Goldberg
explains that it is not the reading of the haftarah that is important, but
the saying of the brachos. In chapter 40 footnote 32 he writes, "Yalkut
David (Yoreh De'ah #376) explains that the mourner reads the Haftarah of
the Prophets, because the blessings accompanying this reading include
prayer for the Redemption of Israel and the sanctification of the name of
Hashem, Blessed be He as in Kaddish."

I was taught (by my father z"l) that the connection of haftara to the aveil
is the first post-haftara b'racha, wherein we say "shekol d'varav emes
vatzedek;" i.e, tzidduk hadin.

And that saying the b'rachos, rather than the reading of the haftara, is
the main connection is obvious from the fact that even where the custom is
for the bal korey to read the haftara, priority is still given to the aveil
for maftir.

EMT
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The following verses are from Shemos 19


10 And God said to Moshe: Go to the people and sanctify them today
and tomorrow and have them wash their garments.

11 Let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day God will descend
before the eyes of all the people upon Mount Sinai.

12 Set a boundary around the people and say to them: Be careful not to
ascend the mountain or even to touch a part of it! Whoever touches
the mountain shall be put to death.

13 Let no hand touch it! For he shall be stoned to death, or only thrown
down, whether it be beast or man, it shall not live. When the horn of
dismissal will sound a long,drawn-out blast, they may ascend the mountain again.

On these RSRH comments:

10?13 Precisely this mistaken confidence of Moshe himself, who thought that
the people had already attained the required level of spiritual and moral
maturity, greatly clarifies the meaning of, and necessity for, the preparations
and restrictions that now follow. For if we understand them
correctly, their purpose was to make the people realize, and to establish
for all time, the vast gulf that separated the spiritual and moral level
of the people at that time from the height to which they would ascend
and be educated, in the course of hundreds and thousands of years,
through the Torah, which they were now about to receive.
Closely related to the foregoing is a second purpose: to establish
historically for future generations that God, as it were, remained in His
place, opposite the people, and that His Word came to the people; God
was not inside them or in their midst, and His voice did not emerge
from within the people.
Jewish Law is the only system of laws that did not emanate from
the people whose constitution it was intended to be. Judaism is the only
?religion? that did not spring from the hearts of the people who find
in it the spiritual basis for their lives. It is precisely this ?objective?
quality of Jewish Law and of the Jewish ?religion? that makes them
both unique, setting them apart clearly and distinctly from all else on
earth that goes by the name of law or religion. This quality makes Jewish
Law the sole factor in human culture that can be considered the catalyst
and ultimate goal of every other manifestation of progress, whereas the
Law itself, as the given absolute ideal, remains above and beyond any
idea of progress.
All other ?religions? and codes of law originate in the human minds
of a given era; they merely express the conceptions of God, of human
destiny, and of man?s relation to God and to his fellow man, that are
held by a given society in a particular period of history. Hence, all these
man-made religions and codes, like all other aspects of human civilization
? science, art, morals and manners ? are subject to change
with the passing of time. For by their very nature and origin they are
nothing but the expressions of levels reached by civilization at various
stages in human development.
Not so the Jewish ?religion? and Jewish Law. They do not stem from
beliefs held by human beings at one period or another. They do not
contain time-bound human concepts of God and of things human and
Divine. They are God-given; through them men are told by God?s Will
what their conceptions should be, for all time, about God and things
Divine and, above all, about man and human affairs.
From the very outset, God?s Torah stood in opposition to the people
in whose midst it was to make its first appearance on earth. It was to
prove its power first of all upon this people, who opposed it because
they were an ???-??????-????? ????. . This resistance which the Torah encountered
among the people in whose midst it obtained its first home on earth is the
most convincing proof of the Torah?s Divine origin. The Torah did not
arise from within the people, but was given to the people, and only
after centuries of struggle did the Torah win the people?s hearts, so that
they became its bearers through the ages. (On the uniqueness of Judaism
and its relation to religion, see Collected Writings, vol. I, pp. 183?186;
Commentary above, 6:7.)
The purpose of all these preparations and restrictions is apparently
to emphasize and mark this contrast as clearly as possible, at the Torah?s
first entrance into the world ? a contrast that so fundamentally characterizes
the Torah?s nature and origin. The Torah is about to come to
the people. Its arrival is to be anticipated over a period of three days.
In order to be worthy of even awaiting the Torah, the people must first
sanctify their bodies and their garments; that is, they must become
worthy of receiving the Torah by becoming aware, symbolically, of the
rebirth ? the renewal of their lives, within and without ? that the
Torah is to bring about. In their present state, they are not yet ready
to receive the Torah. Only their resolve to ultimately become what they
should be will make them worthy of receiving the Torah.
The distinction between the people about to receive the Torah, and
the Source from which they are to receive it, is underscored also in
terms of physical separation. The place from which the people are to
receive the Torah is very clearly set apart from them. It is elevated into
the realm of the extraterrestrial. No man or animal may set foot upon
that place, or even touch it. Any living thing that sets foot upon it must
be put to death. Only when the Lawgiving has been completed will the
place be restored to the terrestrial sphere, and both man and beast will
be free once more to walk upon it. Until that time, the people are to
be restricted by a boundary all around, beyond which they must not
go. All this is done in order to illustrate the fact of the Torah?s superhuman,
extraterrestrial origin.






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On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 02:48:19AM +0000, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
: The S"A (O"C 2181) lists out a number of places requiring the bracha
: of sheasa nisim where miracles occurred for the Jewish people (e.g.,
: sea spitting). Did they still have a tradition in his time as to the
: actual location? If not, why record these specific places.

The Magein Avraham says (and repeated by the Ba'er Heitev) these
are specifically places where evidence of the neis was left on the
landscape. The BH contrasts this to the area around Y-m ih"q where
Sancheirev's camp fell. many of the historically significant places
in Israel.

So, it seems to bedavqa be places where you don't need a tradition.
Which leaves me wondering: Say someone was at (eg) the location where we
crossed the Yam Suf (the first item in the list) as identified by others
who saw the evidence. But they didn't personally see any indication
of the crossing for themselves, would the SA say they should not make
the berakhah?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The mind is a wonderful organ
mi...@aishdas.org        for justifying decisions
http://www.aishdas.org   the heart already reached.
Fax: (270) 514-1507

Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
>On Wed, Jan 16, 2019 at 02:48:19AM +0000, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
>: The S"A (O"C 2181) lists out a number of places requiring the bracha
>: of sheasa nisim where miracles occurred for the Jewish people...
>:                  If not, why record these specific places.

>The Magein Avraham says (and repeated by the Ba'er Heitev) these
>are specifically places where evidence of the neis was left on the
>landscape....

>Which leaves me wondering: Say someone was at (eg) the location where we
>crossed the Yam Suf (the first item in the list) as identified by others
>who saw the evidence. But they didn't personally see any indication
>of the crossing for themselves, would the SA say they should not make
>the berakhah?

you might find this article of interest:
http://www.hakirah.org/Vol19Zivotofsky.pdf

[All of the above is discussed, as well as a section subtitled "Is an
Artifact Necessary for a Berachah to Be Recited?" which addresses my
question. I am not waiting to read it, though, before passing this email
through to the list. -micha]

When one is physically distant from a friend who is sitting shiva, as a
general rule, is it better to (pick one) call, text, or email during the
shiva period? Or, is it better to wait until you actually see the person
again?
KT
Joel Rich


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The Maharik (84) posits that we only apply halacha k'batrai (the law
follows the latter decisors) after the time of Abaye and Rava because
before that time everyone only learned their teachers' traditions whereas
in their time they would learn all the traditions. My simple question-what
factor(s) caused the change? (But it does answer where "Havayot d'Abaye
V'Rava came from).
KT
Joel Rich


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Today's daf yomi (do not deduce from this I learn DY), Chullin 57b,
R Huna says "siman letereifah 12 chodesh". And then the gemara quotes a
bereisah with diffeent simanimanim, asking because none of them are R
Huna's.
- Siman letereifah kol she'einah yoledes.
- R' Shimon b Gamliel: if the health improves onward (meshabekhes veholekhes)
beyadua it's kosher, if it gets weaker onward, beyadua it's tereifah.
- Rebbe: siman letereifah kol 30 yom.

The stam beraisa asks about Rebbe's position: of 30 days, "But don't
many survive 2 or 3 years?"

Norice that no one is giving a defnition. Most of these opinions are
about differing simanim.

RSbG doesn't give a siman, but really he only discusses two extremes
-- the animal that gets progressively healthier and the one that gets
progressively sicker. Nothing about the one that is unchanged or has
its ups and downs.

So, if the gemara is giving indicators, not definitions of tereifah...

Even if R Huna were wrong about the lifespan of animals on the known
list of tereifos, this wouldn't be a reason to question their inclusion
on the list. Nishtaneh hateva or whatnot wouldn't be cause to rethink
the list even without reasoning like the Chazon Ish's about the nature
of pesaq. It would only be cause to rethink the siman.

Does anyone use this argument?

(Other than the similar argument made by RGS in 2001,
http://www.aishdas.org/avodah/vol08/v08n062.shtml#02 )

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Nearly all men can stand adversity,
mi...@aishdas.org        but if you want to test a man's character,
http://www.aishdas.org   give him power.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                      -Abraham Lincoln

On Wed, Jan 23, 2019 at 02:39:43AM +0000, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
: The Maharik (84) posits that we only apply halacha k'batrai (the law
: follows the latter decisors) after the time of Abaye and Rava because
: before that time everyone only learned their teachers' traditions
: whereas in their time they would learn all the traditions...

C.f.
- Rif BB15a; Shavu'os 29b
- Chidushei haRamban Gittin 20a, 50a
- Pisqei haRosh Eruvin 2:4; Qiddushin 2:8

There is even a machloqes rishonim about which side of the line Avayei
veRava themselves are on. E.g.
- Rif BQ 8b
- Milchamos H' leRamban Sukkah Rif 2a
- Nimuqei Yoseif BQ Rif 8b
- Ritva Nedarim 26b

(H/T Hebrew Wiki, confirmed only by a quick skim. Don't blame me!)


Academics talk about appx 308-appx 351 or 352 CE being the period in
which Abayei veRava compiled a proto-Talmud. To explain the dates:

The death of Diocletian (308) brought a political mess to EY, and by
308, there were no rashei yeshiva there. This would explain why there
was suddenly a desire to formalize and structure more of TSBP.

Rav was niftar in 351 or 352.

Then this grew into our actual shas:

Rav Ashi's Sanhedrin closes in 391 or '2. Rav Ashi passes in 422.
Ravina bar Huna (the probable Ravina meant when R' Ashi is named first,
as in "Rav Ashi veRavina sof hora'ah") was niftar in 474 or '5.

But what the 

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Imagine waking up tomorrow
mi...@aishdas.org        with only the things
http://www.aishdas.org   we thanked Hashem for today!
Fax: (270) 514-1507


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