Just Say No

From this week's The Jewish Week (link):Just Say No What are we thinking when we put a 14-year-old child wearing a $1,000 gown and $400 shoes into a limousine to attend a prom?What are we thinking when put a television in a child’s bedroom? Why do we not simply put a sign up that says, “Please — do not use your imagination and do not read?” Why allow an Internet connection behind a closed door, knowing that the Internet, alongside its blessings, is a sewer of pornographic, violent, hateful and dangerous ideas and images?What are we thinking when we send children to parties where there will be drinking, drugs, and people treating their bodies as though they were disposable? Why bring a 10-year-old to a concert where the principle virtue of the performer is that she is scantily dressed and exudes...

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Happy Blogaversary

It looks like I missed the third anniversary of the first posts on this blog on March 15, 2004. We've already started into the fourth ye...

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Exodus and Time

R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Festivals of Freedom:Maimonides says that as we start the recital of Maggid over the second cup, we say, Bi-vehilu yatzanu mi-Mitzrayim, "We departed from Egypt in a hurry." Does it make much difference whether the Jews departed from Egypt slowly or in a hurry? Yet it is so important that Maimonides apparently made it the symbol of the great freedom of the exodus. (p. 42)Time is of critical importance--not years or months, but seconds and split seconds. This time-awareness and appreciation is the singular gift granted to the free man, because time belongs to him: it is his time, and he can utilize it to the utmost or waste it. A free man does not want time to pass; he wants time to slow down, because to him time is a treasure. To the slave, however, time is a curse;...

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Abortion and Tay Sachs

R. Haskel Lookstein relates a discussion between him and R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik (link):A particularly poignant exchange between us occurred after I had attended a Rabbinic Alumni convention and heard a very prominent rabbinic scholar discuss the issue of Tay-Sachs testing. That scholar advised against any kind of testing for reasons which he explained. Furthermore, he said, once a woman was pregnant there is certainly no reason to test because even if the fetus were found to have Tay-Sachs disease there is nothing that can be done about it. One may not abort. I was concerned about that approach and, as luck had it, I had been invited to have dinner that evening at the home of a member of the Rav's family at which the Rav was going to be present. He was scarcely in the door when I described...

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Sociology and Halakhah

The application of historical and sociological techniques and assumptions to halakhah is fraught with the danger of trivializing the sanctity of the halakhic tradition. It is all too easy to get caught up in the sociological framework and to forget the seriousness with which rabbis have taken their responsibilities to the chain of tradition in which they are but one generational link.However, that does not mean that there is no room for such studies. There are areas where "public policy" has a role in halakhic decision-making and where sociological methods are appropriate. A prime example of this is the realm of the collision of traditional and...

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More Legacies

More in the series of articles about the legacies of R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik:The Rav: His Impact on My Life by R. Haskel LooksteinThe Halakhic Mind of the Halakhic Man by R. Sol RothA Lifetime of Encounter with the Rav by R. Yitzchak Greenb...

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Medication on Passover

Dr. Daniel Eisenberg on the important issue of taking medication on Passover (link). Unfortunately, too many people are overly lenient regarding their health and end up suffering due to refusal to take medication. This is an important issue and this article should be forwarded around:...It is crucial to appreciate from the outset that a threat to life takes precedence over all of the laws of Passover (and all other biblical laws except for the prohibitions of murder, adultery/forbidden sexual relationships, and idolatry). No one should stop taking medications for serious or even potentially serious medical conditions during Passover (or any other time) without the express agreement of their doctor (and their Rabbi). Judaism does not look with favor on pious foolishness...If a person has or...

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Mossad HaRav Kook Catalog

Download the latest catalog of Mossad HaRav Kook (for its annual "Book Week" sale) at Lam...

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Kitniyos

A rabbi* in Israel recently ruled that Ashkenazim who live in Israel do not need to maintain the Ashkenazi custom of refraining from eating kitniyos (e.g. peanuts, string beans, rice) (link - PDF). My humble opinion on this matter is that there is nothing new in this ruling. It contains two main points:1. There are opponents to the custom of refraining from eating kitniyos. The ruling quotes the Tur (a Sephardi), the Beis Yosef (a Sephardi) and R. Yaakov Emden (an Ashkenazi who grew up in the Sephardic community where his father was the rabbi). This is nothing new. You can see it in many different popular works, such as R. Shlomo Yosef Zevin's...

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Praiseworthy Leaders

Rashi, Lev. 4:22 (link), quotes the Midrash and Gemara:Fortunate is the generation whose leader is concerned to bring an atonement for his inadvertent transgression -- all the more so that he regrets his intentional transgressions.The Maharal in Gur Aryeh explains:The generation is praiseworthy because they did not sin but have a leader who, if he sins, regrets his mistake. We can also explain that specifically here it says that the generation is praiseworthy because from that he [the leader] regrets his mistake, it is clear that he is not embarrassed to say "I sinned" and does not say "I am great and important, how can I say 'I sinned...

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The Reb Chaim Brisker Of Bible Scholars

R. Shalom Carmy's excellent eulogy for R. Mordechai Breuer (link):There are great teachers whose impact is limited to their students. Greater still are those whose students initiate students of their own. The greatest teachers, however, influence not only the direct line descending from them, but an entire climate of thinking. All of us are their talmidim. Twentieth-century Orthodox Bible study boasts two such figures. Nechama Leibowitz’s writing, teaching and broadcasting turned the exacting, microscopic study of Jewish parshanut into an exciting and popular pursuit. And Rabbi Mordechai Breuer fashioned the tools that enabled Orthodox students to confront the literary problems raised by modern biblical criticism. He entered a situation where the Orthodox approach was an apologetic one, in...

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Rabbi Zev Farber, Yeshiva Chovevei Torah and the Orthodox Community

Rabbi Zev Farber, Yeshiva Chovevei Torahand the Orthodox CommunityA Brief StatementMichael J. BroydeA number of people have asked me about the Yated Neeman article criticizing Yeshiva Chovevei Torah generally and Rabbi Zev Farber, the director of the Atlanta Torah Mitzion Kollel. The criticism of Rabbi Farber focused on a dvar torah he wrote which can be found at http://www.yctorah.org/content/view/176/56/. (For the sake of full disclosure, I note that I am among the founders of the Atlanta Torah Mitzion Kollel, and that it learns every day in the Young Israel of Toco Hills, where I am the rabbi.)I write this brief note to share my views.It is clear to me that Rabbi Farber's dvar torah is far from heretical and certainly does not make him a kofer. Even if one disagrees with the way he formulated...

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Le Marais - Kosher According to the OU

It seems that there has been some allegations against Le Marais but the OU has investigated and insists that it is kosher: link. So eat, drink and be merry there.(The allegations: li...

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Salt vs. Honey: The Spiritual Taste Test

(by R. Dovid Gottlieb)A short time after the passing of legendary film and Broadway star Hume Cronyn, family and friends gathered to memorialize his life. The most moving part of the evening occurred when the guests were surprisingly treated to a brief biographical video narrated by Cronyn himself.Speaking over images from his long career, Mr. Cronyn described his basic love of acting. “I enjoy it. Why? Because it’s a lovely escape from the Hume Cronyn I have to live with twenty four hours a day.”This is a striking statement. Click here to read moreIn addition to revealing a remarkable capacity for self-reflection, Cronyn’s observation candidly articulates a somewhat common human desire to hide from ones true self. While Mr. Cronyn was able to use the different roles that he played as a mask...

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Women in the Army

Should women serve in the army? In theory, assuming that there was an army that was entirely accomodating to the religious woman's needs, would a woman be obligated to serve in the army?Ostensibly, this would seem to be a matter of debate between the Rambam and Sefer Ha-Chinukh regarding an obligatory war, which the Rambam elsewhere defines as a war against Amalek, the seven Canaanite nations or to defend Jews. The Chinukh (603) writes that women are not obligated to remember what Amalek did to the Jewish because it is tied to fighting Amalek, which is a task for men and not women. Similarly, he writes (525) that the obligation not to fear an enemy during war is only on men, because they are the ones who do the fighting. Clearly, the Chinukh is of the view that women do not fight in wars,...

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The Stability and Flexibility of the Torah

R. Zvi Kanotopsky, Rays of Splendor (Brooklyn, 1956), pp. 22-23:What of the Oral Law itself? What should be the conception of the Orthodox Jew with regard to the nature of the Oral Tradition? We hear so much in our days of the inherent flexibility of Jewish Law! The cry of flexibility and its component clamor for change has contributed no little to the existing confusion. It is a difficult problem. But a position of some clarity should be established. Now, notice the simple teachings that our Rabbis are suggesting in their intriguing remarks ואת הארץ כי נעמה זו תורה שבעל פה. He saw the land that it was pleasant. This refers to the Oral Law [Yalkut Reubeni Vayehi]. The Oral Law, the Halacha, is symbolically compared to land, to soil. Draw this analogy to its logical conclusion and you will...

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Intermarriage and Minyan

Can a man who is intermarried be counted for a minyan? The Minchas Yitzchak (3:65) quotes the Chakham Tzvi (38) who writes that there are certain sins that are so rebellious that the community would excommunicate someone who commits them. Examples he gives are openly violating Shabbos and repeatedly sleeping with non-Jewish women. Even if, the Chakham Tzvi writes, the community has not excommunicated such a person, we cannot give public honor to someone who should be excommunicated because it gives the mistaken impression to people that these sins are acceptable. Therefore, the Chakham Tzvi concludes, we should not count them for a minyan or call them to the Torah (cf. Mishneh Torah, Hilkhos Talmud Torah 7:4). This means that someone who is intermarried should not be counted for a minyan.Writing...

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Mendelssohn on Alenu

R. Alexander Altmann, Moses Mendelssohn: A Biographical Study, pp. 307-309:[There was in Prussia] a royal edict of August 28, 1703, which forbade the recital of a certain phrase, "for they bow down and prostrate themselves before what is vain and futile and pray to a god who cannot help," in the `Alenu prayer at the conclusion of each service. A Jewish convert to Christianity had testified that this particular phrase was meant as a slur against Jesus. To ensure the omission of this sentence from the prayer, the edict demanded that the text be recited aloud by the cantor and that the services be inspected by government-appointed Christian supervisors familiar with the Hebrew language...This utterly ludicrous edict had actually been observed by the Jewish communities, so as to avoid giving any...

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Thoughts on Interfaith Dialogue

R. Yitzchok Adlerstein discusses an article by R. Meir Soloveichik on interfaith dialogue: l...

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The Rambam on Sacrifices in the Future

R. Gidon Rothstein (link):Giving them some apparent (I stress the word) comfort is the view of Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim, who suggests that God instituted sacrifice because the people of the time of the Exodus were not ready for a sacrifice-free world. In weaning them from it, God restricted it to one place and only certain forms.Only by knowing a bit of Rambam can we avoid the common error of assuming that he meant to imply that sacrifice has no other importance, and would not occur in a future Temple. First, as Prof. Twersky zt”l noted (and R. Lichtenstein has quoted approvingly), that section of the Moreh is not so much devoted to giving the reason for the mitsvot, but a reason. Rambam was trying to show that mitsvot are logical, not that he had captured the absolute reason for them (as...

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Lace on the South Side

From R. Yitzchak Meir Goodman, And There Was Light, p. 284:"...on the south side, lace hangings were of fine twisted linen...." (Shemos 38:9)These "hangings" (kela'im) existed only in the Mishkan, but not in the Temple in Jerusalem. However, the puzzle is that in the chapter of Mishnah recited each morning [Eizehu Mekoman], we read of sacrifices to be eaten "inside of the hangings." But the Mishnah was written to guide us in Temple procedures.The early commentators (Beis Yosef, Orach Chaim, chapter 50) state that this chapter of Mishnah was chosen for each morning's prayers as a rare, ideal one. In the entire chapter there is no disagreement between the rabbis. Why indeed is there such a rarity?The Vilna Gaon states the reason. This chapter was rendered in its entirety, without a word changed,...

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Musings on the Proper Way to Learn Chumash

Learning Chumash (the Pentateuch) is controversial of late, so allow me to offer a few thoughts. I was taught that an important goal in learning Gemara is to try to think like earlier sages. Thus, if you asks a question that one of the rishonim (medieval commentators) asked, it means you are on the right track. And if you suggest an answer that one of the rishonim offered, then you've scored a major success. So the general measure of success is how well your mind is in tune with medieval commentators. And if you offer a new explanation, the measure of its success is in whether it seems like something a rishon would say. Sure, you can find acharonim who aren't like rishonim. So if you ask a question or offer an answer like them, you're also on a good path. But if your question or answer is...

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Web Choices 2007

Jason Maoz, Senior Editor of The Jewish Press, lists his choices of "worthwhile" websites and blogs: linkI don't think it is in order of importance but Hirhurim is in the top ten of the list.Thank y...

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Happy Pi Day

Happy Pi Day. I'm proud to say that I still remember the first 14 digits of pi by heart from elementary school. But that's child's play compared to the guy who can recite 100,000 digits by hea...

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Amalek and Military Ethics

When R. Elijah Schochet, author of the biography of the Bach, sent me a copy of his 1992 book Amalek: The Enemy Within, I flipped through it, saw a lot of references to chasidic and kabbalistic commentaries, and decided that it didn't particularly interest me. For some reason, this year before Purim I was moved to take another look at the book and was very surprised by what I found. R. Schochet takes a topical survey of the various approaches to explain the concept of Amalek. He categorizes the different approaches, cognizant of the chronology of commentators but not a slave to it, and gives brief summaries of samples from each genre and approach to demonstrate the various trends, all with his characteristic eloquence and clarity. What emerges is, on the one hand, a collection of vertlakh...

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JIBs

Still early in the game but here's a plug anyway: www.jibawards....

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Enlisting in the Army II

Regarding this post, Menachem Butler correctly noted that I had forgotten the recent article by Dr. Judith Bleich in Tradition on this very subject (link - subscription required but note that you can now subscribe online). Dr. Bleich quotes a number of authorities who were opposed to enlistment and/or looked negatively on conscription. On the other side, she quotes a few authorities who looked positively on army service: R. David Tzvi Hoffmann (Melamed Le-ho'il, Orach Chaim 42-43), R. Samson Raphael Hirsch (Horeb, sec. 609) and R. Moshe Shmuel Glasner (the "Dor Revi'i" in Tel Talpiot, no. 104). She did not quote the position of Rav Herzog that I translated in the previous po...

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Enlisting in the Army

Is a Jew allowed to enlist in the army (outside of Israel)? Assuming that kosher concerns can be taken care of, there are still serious issues of Shabbos violations, among other things.In volume 4 of Bnei Banim (link), R. Yehuda Henkin published a letter from his famous grandfather, R. Yosef Eliyahu Henkin, to his son (and R. Yehuda Henkin's father) on this issue. During World War II, Dr. Avraham Hillel considered enlisting in the US army and asked his father, R. YE Henkin, for advice. R. Henkin responded as follows (pp. 93-94):In my view there is a distinction between the army rules that used to be in America and England, and the current obligations to the army. In the past, when the entire army was voluntary, and during war they would announce and call for volunteers based on their emotions...

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Abandoned by the Rabbis?

It is always wonderful when rabbis try to make Judaism more relevant to people's daily lives. In today's metropolitan areas, that means dealing with the workplace, where people -- particularly men but often women as well -- spend the vast majority of their waking hours. How does Judaism in general, and halakhah in particular, impact that significant aspect of people's lives?As I was looking recently for a Pesach guide, I came across a short book I once received in the mail titled Nine to Five: A Guide to Modest Conduct for Today's Workplace. The title sounded promising and I was hoping to find a book that deals with how to maintain modest behavior...

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Important Responsum Regarding Child Abuse

If anyone can translate this into English, please post it in the comments and I'll move it into the text of the post. Thank you.In the year 5613 it occurred in a certain city; a rumor was heard about a certain teacher, who lives there now for 8 years, and the children who learned from him in their youth, and are currently 13 years old and more, testify that in their youth (minority) when they learned from him he defiled them with homosexual intercourse, God save us. And in the past summer when the thing became known to a God-fearing man, he cried a great and bitter outcry, and the thing came before the rabbi and head of the bet din, and they did not wish to accept testimony. And this man [the accused] accepted upon himself with swear and oath that immediately after the semester he would move...

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Radiating True Splendor

(Guest post by R. Dovid Gottlieb)In describing Moshe’s descent from the mountain with the second set of luchos, the Torah famously informs us that Moshe was unaware that “keren ohr panav” – his face radiated light (34:29). The Rabbis in the Midrash (Shemos Rabbah #47) are puzzled by the origin of what they refer to as these “karnei hod” – rays of splendor. When Moshe went up to receive the Torah he did not possess this light; so the question is: where did it come from? While a number of answers are suggested – each one fascinating – I want to focus on the final answer given in the Midrash. Click here to read more“Ad she’haya kasav be’kulmus” – While writing (the Torah) with a quill, “nishtayer kimah” – some ink was left over, “ve’he’eviro al rosho – and he passed it over his head, “u’mimenu...

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Some Torah Links

The OU has a new website for Pesach: http://www.OUPassover.orgThe RCA has published the first online issue of its 50-year old Torah journal HaDarom. It includes a few articles by R. Chaim Jachter and an article by R. Eliezer Ben Porat about issues of halakhah and the internet, the largest section being about internet commerce on Shabbos and holidays (he permits it): http://www.rabbis.org/hadarom.cfmMore Commentator articles about the legacies of Rav Soloveitchik:Dr. Alvin Schiff - Personal Glimpses into the Persona of the RavR. Shalom Carmy - A Teacher Not A SpokesmanR. Azarya Berzon - The Rav as a Mela...

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In Defense of YCT II

A response by R. Zev Farber, a YCT alumnus: http://indefenseofyct.blogspot.com/Again, not posted on this blog because I have no connection to YCT and do not support the institution. If you are going to leave a comment, please keep it to the issues and not the people.See also this letter to Yated that I posted in the comments: l...

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Losing Faith: How Scholarship Affects Scholars

Very interesting set of interviews at Biblical Archeological Review (link). Hershel Shanks, the editor, interviewed four scholars about how scholarship impacted their faith: two lost faith and two did not. Among the four is (Orthodox Jew) Prof. Lawrence Schiffman:[T]he more I’ve done in scholarship, the more it has strengthened my faith, even though it has refined it in certain ways. There’s a non-literalist tradition that I’m coming from. And for this reason a lot of these issues aren’t challenges to my faith.Sounds like ban-worthy views, if you know what I mean.(hat t...

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Waging War on Shabbos

The book of Maccabees (1:2:31-41) tells the story of how the Hasmoneans originally refused to wage war on Shabbos and were slaughtered. After that, Matisyahu ruled that they must fight back on Shabbos. This account is repeated by Josephus (Antiquities 12:276). Prof. Louis Feldman (Jew & Gentile in the Ancient World, pp. 160-161) lists other ancient attestations to this refusal to fight on Shabbos, such as Strabo (16:2:40:763) and Dio Cassius (37:16). The question is why they refused. Isn't it piku'ach nefesh?R. Shlomo Goren (Meshiv Milchamah 1:2) addresses this question. He suggests that the Greeks knew how important Shabbos was to Jews and wished to force them to fight on that day. Thus, there was a shmad-gezerah specifically to fight on Shabbos and, therefore, the Hasmonean beis din...

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Forgotten Traditions

The Rambam, in his introduction to the Mishnah (link), writes that there were never debates in the Talmud regarding oral traditions from Sinai, that one part forgot or was mistaken about and the other correct. This has led many to conclude that the Rambam is of the view that oral traditions could not be forgotten and no one could make a mistake regarding them, at least in the Talmudic era. This is a very difficult claim to accept.R. Tzvi Hirsch Chajes (Toras Nevi'im, Ma'amar Torah She-Be-Al Peh in Kol Sifrei Maharatz Chajes, vol. 1 pp. 114-115) explains that the Rambam intended something different. He meant that if there was a debate between two talmudic scholars and one claimed that his view was based on an oral tradition, then the other would immediately capitulate. Therefore, there were...

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The Clothing Make The Man

R. Berel Wein on last week's parashah (link):Thus, to a great extent, clothing made the person. As such, I feel that it is quite understandable that Jews always placed a great stress upon what clothing they wore and how they dressed. Naturally, the type and style of “Jewish clothing” varied in different ages and locations. The Jews of Persia and Iraq did not wear Polish fur trimmed hats nor did Polish Jews wear head scarves or turbans. The Jews of Amsterdam in the seventeenth and eighteenth century wore triangular cockaded hats and the Lithuanian rabbis of the nineteenth century wore gentlemanly tall silk top hats. But the common denominator to all of this is that, from the time of Moshe onwards, Jews attempted to dress distinctively, albeit always within the confines and influences of the...

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Stalin and Purim

According to the story I've heard, Joseph Stalin (may his name be blotted) died on Purim day 1953 (5713). From what I can see, that is not precise but has a kernel of truth.Stalin died on March 5, 1953 from what seems to have been a plot to poison him (link). However, Purim in that year was on March 1, 1953 (link, link). Which, for those who can do the math, means that he did not die on Purim. However, on March 1 he collapsed and eventually died four days later. So there is some truth to his being defeated on Pur...

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U-V'nei Yisrael Yotzim Be-Yad Rema

There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get drunk on Purim. There is no mitzvah to get...

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