Giving Away Books Online

Fulfilling our promise with Open Access, we have posted a full book online for free download. Israel Salanter: Religious-Ethical Thinker is available for download as part of The Open Access Project. Those who enjoy the book and wish to have a copy for their private library, can buy it at their local bookstores or online.Download here.Please tell your friends and don't keep this a secr...

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Passion

Jean-Paul Sartre, Anti-Semite and Jew, pp. 21-22:A man who finds it entirely natural to denounce other men cannot have our conception of humanity; he does not see even those whom he aids in the same light as we do. His generosity, his kindness are not like our kindness, our generosity. You cannot confine passion to one sphe...

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Single Women and Shabbos Candles

In the early 1980s, the late Lubavitcher Rebbe began a campaign to encourage single women to light Shabbos candles. While there are obvious sociological benefits to this practice, there are three halakhic issues that arise with it. Here, we are talking about single women and girls who live with their parents. Should they start lighting their own candles, in addition to their mothers' candles?I. Changing CustomsThe campaign was aimed largely at Jews who are not observant of Jewish law. However, there was also encouragement given to those who are fully observant. Such women, however, have family customs and if their custom is that the single women do not light their own candles then they should certainly not deviate from their custom. Ve-al titosh toras imekha has multiple meanings in this case.However,...

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Irony of Ironies

I recently returned to Brooklyn from a meeting in Manhattan. I could not get to my office because there was a bomb threat on this mostly residential block. They evacuated some of the buildings and would not let anyone enter the perimeter. It turned out to be a hoax.The irony, though, is that this has never happened to my sister in Isra...

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Conservative Judaism on Decline II

Confirmed to be false:Steven Weiss posted a shocking news release from JTS. Some important items:As a part of our ongoing support for pluralism and forward-thinking, the Conservative Movement will begin ordaining Gay and Lesbian rabbis by 2010... The Seminary eagerly awaits the outcome of the Committee on Jewish Laws and Standards' discussion next month on the place of gays and lesbians in our movement. In anticipation of the Committee‘s decision, the Seminary commits to welcoming all students with open arms, regardless of sexual preference.In other words, JTS is bypassing the Conservative movement's Halakhah committee and unilaterally deciding to ordain homsexuals. (insert sarcastic remark here)The Conservative Movement is committed to dignity and respect for all persons, and by 2010, all...

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The Eternity of the Torah VI

R. Yosef Albo, in his Sefer Ha-Ikkarim (3:16), cites a number of midrashic statements that, at least superficially, imply a sentiment contradictory to the eternity of the Torah. On the verse in Psalms (146:7) "The Lord sets the prisoners free (matir assurim)," the midrash states that, in "the next world" (most likely a latter stage in the messianic era), God will permit prohibitions (matir issurim). Another midrash states that the pig will become kosher at some unspecified future time. There is another midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 13:3) that states that in the messianic era animals will slaughter a Leviathan with horns, an invalid method of slaughter, and the righteous will eat this seemingly unkosher meat. This same midrash states that whoever did not eat unslaughtered animals (neveilos) in this...

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Abortion III

R. Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, "Orthodoxy in the Public Square" in Tradition 38:1 (Spring 2004), p. 34:But in actual practice the Orthodox Jewish view of abortion is very different from the conservative views of the Catholic Church and from the liberal views of the [non-Orthodox] Jewish groups. It is nuanced, complex, and depends upon such a variety of factors that categorizing Orthodox Judaism as either pro-life or pro-choice is almost a caricature of our positi...

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Conversation with a BT

This is an edited version of a conversation I had tonight with someone at whose house I stopped by to drop off some tzedakah money he is collecting for a visitor in need. He's a long-time ba'al teshuvah who has struggled greatly to raise children in the yeshivah community.Him: Did you see this? I know you're selling his books. (Hands me pashkevil against R. Nosson Slifkin that was put in his father-in-law's house in Boro Park)Me: Do you know what this is all about? They are saying that believing that the world is millions of years old is kefirah.Him: But that's not a problem because you can read the Torah that way. I remember in yeshiva...Me: No, now that's kefirah.Him: What do you mean? In yeshiva they taught me...Me: No, they taught you kefirah according to those Gedolim.Him: So what am...

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Thank You Sir, May I Have Another Hundred Thousand II

A month and a half ago, just prior to the outbreak of the latest controversy, this blog received its 100,000th hit since June 2, 2004, the day I installed the hit counter.In just two and a half months, less than a year from when we started counting, we are reaching 200,000 hits. There is only one person responsible for this so, Rabbi Nosson Slifkin, I thank you.Please feel free to buy his books as a show of thanks. (Yes, that was a jo...

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Passover Sanity II

The OU's guide to Passov...

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Esther and the Canon

In Megillah 7a, Shmuel voices his view that scrolls of Esther do not render the hands impure because it was divinely inspired to be said but not necessarily to be written. However, throughout the tractate, Shmuel can be found expounding on verses from Esther (e.g. 11a, 13a). So, according to Shmuel himself, which is it? Was the book of Esther a sacred part of the Bible or not?See here for an answ...

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Rabbinic Comments

Rabbis Aryeh Carmell, Zev Leff and Berel Wein on the Slifkin controversy (her...

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Face Watching

Some of the looks on people's faces that I have been privileged to witness:1. The impressed look on my (then) eight year old daughter's face when I showed her a verse that explicitly states that Mordechai was Esther's cousin (uncle's daughter), not uncle.2. The look of surprised disgust on my wife's face when she tasted Lime Coke, or as we call it, Windex Coke.3. The look of colliding worlds on my Israel-born-and-raised mother when my older son, intent on showing off his newly acquired skill of reading Hebrew, started reading to his unsuspecting grandmother in yeshivish Hebrew with the "oy"s and the "ess"es.4. The look of unrestrained horror on Dr. Haym Soloveitchik's face when, in response to a query as to whether I had read a particular essay written by CS Lewis, I said "I don't read his...

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Barukh Dayan He-Emes

The funeral of the Bobover Rebbe, R. Naftali Tzvi Halberstam zt"l will take place this evening at the Bobover Beis Midrash in Boro Park, 15th Ave. between 47th & 48th Streets, at 9:30 ...

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Orthodoxy and the Public Square

It's back! Yes, the ambiguity over my denominational affiliation has returned with the most recent issue of Tradition (Spring 2004 -- they're catching up!).This issue begins with a symposium on "Orthodoxy and the Public Square." The questions addressed to the panel are as follows:1. How (or does) Orthodox thought compel our participation in the public policy debates of the broader society in which we live?2. Where in our tradition's sources do we look for "answers" to the public policy questions of the day?3. What is the role of rabbis in this process? How do we determine what is a "halakhic issue" requiring formal pesak?4. What are the parameters of operating in coalitions with other communities and organizations (including other Jewish denominations and non-Jewish religious groups) in the...

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Hazal and Biblical Characters

I saw elsewhere that the question was raised why Hazal, in a far-fetched manner, equated Memukhan and Haman (Megillah 12b). This question is very timely, and not only because Purim is this week.A few days ago, I was speaking with R. David Shapiro, the former principal of Maimonides in Boston, and mentioned to him my plans to reprint R. Zevi Hirsch (Maharatz) Chajes' Mevo Ha-Talmud in English -- The Students' Guide through the Talmud, and he immediately said what a classic it is, particularly chapter 20. Standing there at the time, I could not for the life of me remember what was in chapter 20, but the moment I returned to my office I looked it up and saw that it does, indeed, it contains a very important lesson. The book is split into two parts, the first dealing with halakhic history and...

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Slifkin in the News

NY Times on the Slifkin iss...

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Quick Thoughts on Jewish Action

I received the Spring issue of Jewish Action on Friday. Two of the articles I read surprised me greatly.1. R. Yitzchok Adlerstein, in his column "Bytes & PCs", writes a glowing review of FrumTeens. I like R. Adlerstein. A lot. Nevertheless, call me irrational but I cannot bring myself to praise someone who shares -- with highly impressionable teenagers -- gems such as that Rav Soloveitchik was responsible for the majority of tumah in America and that Zionism is avodah zarah. In my opinion, people who spew hatred like that should be removed from positions of influence.2. I was offended by R. Lawrence Kelemen's satirical critique of contemporary yeshivos. Using colleges as a metaphor, R. Kelemen harshly criticizes yeshivos for failing to prepare their students for marriage, raising children...

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Post That Used To Be Here

I took down this post because:1. This is not a news blog2. See the Sema, Hoshen Mishpat 2:8I still applaud all efforts of responsible organizations to maintain standards in public and private life, and to remove potentially dangerous individuals from positions of authority.(By the way, I am disappointed in all those who could not refrain from posting comments to a post requesting that you not do so. Is it so hard to respect my wishes and e-mail me instea...

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Browser Wars

For a few months now, I've been using three browsers in parallel: Internet Explorer, Netscape and Firefox.I like Netscape the best--by far--for two reasons:1. Adware and spyware seem to work mainly on IE. When I use either Netscape or Firefox, I get almost no pop-ups at all. I hate pop-ups and the anti-pop-up software I use is never 100% successful. When I use Netscape or Firefox I have no problem but the moment I start IE the pop-ups start coming.2. Netscape has this feature where you can create tabs within the same window so you can look at different websites without opening new windows. You can then use the familiar Excel keyboard short-cuts to navigate from one tab to another. I really like that.The preceding was an unsolicited and unpaid advertisement for Netscape, my favorite internet...

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Archeology and Halakhah

R. Chaim Jachter has a series of essays on the use of archeology in determining halakhah (I, II, III, IV).His one line summary:"[A]rchaeology can possibly play a role when there is no Mesorah (tradition). It certainly cannot uproot a traditio...

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Mysterious Creatures

Good news! Yashar Books has replenished its previously sold-out stock of Mysterious Creatures. Feel free to buy it or ask for it in your local Judaica or Jewish book store. It is also available on Amazon.com.The Science of Torah remains out-of-print and its price seems to be risi...

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Passover Sanity

The following policy statement (PDF) from the Chicago Rabbinical Council confirms what I have been whispering to people for years. Even in my family, which contains a close student of a descendant (whom The Jewish Press editorial page refuses to name) of a famous rabbi, these policies are only whispered. Goodbye, Rabbi Blumenkrantz.POLICY ON MEDICINES, COSMETICS AND TOILETRIES FOR PESACHMedicinesAll pill medication (with or without chometz) that one swallows is permitted without special hashgocha.All chewable pills that have kitniyos are permitted. If the chewable pills have chometz and no substitute is available, one should call one's local Rabbi.All liquid medications that have chometz should not be used. If it is just a question of kitniyos, it is permissible. Before discontinuing liquid...

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Woops!

It seems that yesterday was this blog's birthday. But that's not really a big deal anyw...

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Reciting Korbanos

In the first chapter of Shulhan Arukh, Orah Hayim (1:4-9), the author that "it is good" to recite daily specific biblical passages about the Temple sacrifices. He explains in his Beis Yosef that the source for this practice is the following Gemara (Megillah 31b):Avraham our forefather said to God: What if Israel sins before You, will You do to them like You did to the generations of the Flood and the Dispersion? He replied: No. He said to Him: "How will I know" (Gen. 15:8)? He said to him: "Bring me a heifer three years old..." (Gen. 15:9). He said to Him: That applies to when there is a Temple standing [and sacrifices can be brought], but what will happen to them when there is no Temple standing? He said to him: I already arranged for them the order of [the passages] of sacrifices. Whenever...

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Open Access Poster Contest

WANTEDYour ideas for the first Open Access Project Poster Contest!Help get others involved in the Open Access Learn-Ware Project. Enter our poster contest. Create a poster that could go up on a library, computer room, student center or dorm room wall. See the sample poster (here - PDF) for the information to include. (Stick to the same text, or come up with something better!) Remember to keep it respectable (this is a Torah project!) but the more catchy and fun the better. Yes, that seems to be contradictory, but paradoxes are something Torah scholars learn to live with.Rules:1. Create your poster in a downloadable standard letter size (8.5"x11"), but sharp enough to blow up.2. Do NOT use any copyrighted text or graphics or photos of people in your poster. (You and we don't need tzuris.)3....

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Citation of Non-Orthodox Scholars V

Addendum B:The Gemara in Megillah 23a, in discussing the number of people called to the Torah on various days, relates the following:Ya'akov Mina'ah said to Rav Yehudah: The six [called to the Torah] on Yom Kippur are based on what? He replied: The six who stood to the right of Ezra and the six who stood to his left, as it say "The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand..." (Nehemiah 8:4).Tosafos (s.v. Ya'akov) struggle with how the Gemara could have quoted Ya'akov Mina'ah - Ya'akov the Apostate. After all, does it not say in Proverbs (10:7) "The name of the wicked will rot"? Tosafos conclude that this man's real name was Ya'akov Metza'ah, and Mina'ah was a scribal...

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Conservative Judaism on Decline

From Associated Press:The branch of American Judaism that occupies the middle ground between those who buck tradition and those who fully embrace it have been confronting the dwindling appeal of their movement in a meeting this week in Houston.Members of the Conservative Rabbinical Assembly, at their annual convention, say their seminaries and day schools have been educating more and more Jews, only to see them flee to other Jewish movements.Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the leading Conservative school, said the exodus of young Conservative Jews with strong religious educations is a key reason the movement is floundering. "I deem that to be the most critical loss," he said, in a phone interview from the meeting, titled "Reinventing Conservative Judaism."Schorsch...

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Judaism, Amalek and Racism

This coming Shabbos is "Parashas Zakhor," in which we read the passage about remembering Amalek's attack on us in the desert and how we want God to destroy that nation. One of the 613 commandments is to destroy the nation of Amalek. The question raised in today's social climate is whether that is a racist command. Is the Torah racist in demanding that we kill people who are genetically, through no fault of their own, Amalekites?R. Ari Kahn addressed this is an essay in his weekly column, later published in his book Emanations. He makes a number of important points:1. An Amalekite is not destined for doom by his ancestry. If an Amalekite formally accepts upon himself the seven Noahide commandments then he loses his status as an Amalekite and no longer falls under the commandment to destroy...

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Purim Shtik II

Someone in the comments asked if I ever smile, implying that I lack a sense of humor. Someone else asked if I ever wrote Purim shtik. I'll relate the following story, which will probably indicate different things to different people.In R. Nosson Kamenetsky's recent speech in YU, he mentioned that his father-in-law, R. David Lifschitz, used to make sure that a sign was hung in the YU beis midrash every year during Adar that said something like: "When Adar enters we increase our happiness" "There is no happiness like Torah" Therefore, one should strengthen and increase one's learning during Adar.It's been a few years and I don't remember the exact language, but it was something like that. One year, I copied the very distinct writing in those signs and wrote different signs about how a man...

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Purim Shtik

If you've never read R. Eli Clark's Purim shtik before, now is the time to start.http://the-eisens.com/jat....

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Metzitzah IV

I came across the following book at SeforimLiquidators.com for less than half price. I have not read it, though, so I cannot offer an opinion on its contents. But it definitely looks interesting.Sanctity and Science - Metziza B'pehRabbi Yonason Binyomin Goldberger Translated by Rabbi Avrohom MarmorsteinTranslated from the original in Hebrew, Sanctity and Science offers the reader a glimpse of the illuminating and fascinating Torah teachings about the mitzvah of B'rit Milah. The author describes the ceremony and its role as the beginning of a child's spiritual life. Contains a review of the latest scientific research demonstrating the safety and...

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Next Time...

Next time you are in your local seforim or Judaica store, look to see if they have any books from Yashar. If they don't, please ask them to stock them and give them our website www.YasharBooks.c...

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ATID In The News

ATID scored a nice write-up in this week's New Jersey Jewish News.(Lam...

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Avodah Zarah Wigs IX

The report from the ground here in Brooklyn is that a large portion of the community has long stopped caring about the source of wigs. The unofficial pesak from R. Yisrael Belsky, who has very convincingly spoken on this subject before a number of groups of rabbanim, is that there is no problem with wigs whose hair originated in India. He, and his colleagues, have even convinced R. Elyashiv that they have the right to investigate this matter on their own and reach their own conclusions. The matter, I've been told for months, will be publicly settled shortly when an official "American" beis din convenes to rule on this matter. The only questions that remain are who will be on this beis din and where it will convene. I don't know why this is taking so long. But it is largely irrelevant because...

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Reb Nosson and Torah U-Madda

When I was a student in YU, the saintly figure of the elderly R. David Lifschitz graced the beis midrash every day. On rare occasions, his sons-in-law would visit for Shabbos. One son-in-law, R. Nosson Kamenetsky, would spend Shabbos in Yeshiva when he was visiting from Israel. His he'aros (always only after davening) to the ba'al koreh in the beis midrash, the grammatically aware R. David Komet, were everything one would expect from a son of Reb Ya'akov Kamenetsky. It was a learning experience just to hear afterwards what comments and corrections he had offered.One time, it was either Shavu'os or a Shabbos in June (after college had concluded), R. Kamenetsky ate with us students in the cafeteria and gave a devar Torah to the crowd. His Torah-only message was clearly not an endorsement of...

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The Hazon Ish and Understanding Aggadah Literally

I saw the following story posted on a website:[The CHazon Ish said] "anybody who says that there is in CHazal even one thing that is "laav davka"("not exactly true") , is "mekatzetz b'netiyos" . . . he would even refrain from eating chicen that was slaughtered by an expert and skilled shochet if he was one of those people ...The CHazon Ish used to say, that someone who has warped hashkofos, is worse than someone who violates shabbos, regarding making his wine into yayin nesech. Rav S. Greimenam ZTL testified thusly in the name of the CHazon Ish, and added an incident that happened when the Chazon Ish was in Vilna. There was in those days a young man, an outstanding lamdan, that would stay by the Chazon Ish. Every Firday, he would bring the CHazon Ish a bottle of wine. He used speak a lot with...

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Interfaith Dialogue V

The Commentator published an essay by the late R. Dr. Walter Wurzburger about interfaith dialogue (here). Here are some interesting excerpts:While the belief in the Trinity - classified by the Halakhah as Shituph - may not be regarded as downright prohibited to the non-Jew, we still cannot recommend it as the ideal way in which the non-Jew should relate himself to God.We should point out that we regard belief in the Trinity as such an aberration that we would rather have a Jew remain an agnostic or atheist than accept these doctrines which for a Jew would involve apostasy or idolatry...Matters of religious faith do not lend themselves to negotiation where in order to arrive at a mutually agreeable settlement both sides are ready to make concessions. Christians, especially after Auschwitz,...

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Calling Women to the Torah

Biur Chametz (I, II & III) reports on a recent discussion at Jerusalem's Kehillat Yedidyah synagogue between R. Dr. Daniel Sperber and R. Yehuda Herzl Henkin over whether women can be called up to the Torah as part of the synagogue service. It seems to me that the cards were stacked in favor of one position based on the scholars invited to speak. Granted, a Haredi rabbi would have been out of place. However, there are Modern Orthodox rabbis who are opposed to this practice (see below no. 7). R. Henkin is "in between" on this subject, against it in practice but only due to one or two secondary issues, and R. Sperber is in favor. There was no one there entirely opposed to the practice.Regardless, there was much of interest reported by Biur Chametz about this discussion. I have no other source...

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R. Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the Alter of Slabodka

In my biased and unscientific opinion, the man who proved to be the figure most (posthumously) influential in the post-war Yeshiva world was R. Nosson Tzvi Finkel, the famed Alter of Slabodka. His disciples created and influenced a large number of yeshivos, proving to be the moving forces behind many of the institutions that rebuilt the yeshiva world to its current glory after the devastation of the Holocaust.An anonymous blogger has taken on the task of rekindling interest in this great figure: http://deralter.blogspot....

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Abortion II

In a comment to this post, someone suggested that since, within the Jewish worldview, gentiles are subject to an absolute prohibition against abortion, the nuanced permissions to Jews are irrelevant. We must oppose abortion because the overwhelming number of abortions in America are prohibited gentile abortions. Whether this is good policy, i.e. favoring a stance that, if adopted, will disallow abortions that are halakhically permitted and maybe even obligatory, is questionable. However, even more questionable is the claim that the prohibition of abortion for gentiles, i.e. Noahides, is absolute.R. Immanuel Jakobovits, Jewish Medical Ethics, p. 187:According to the Talmud and MAIMONIDES, as we have mentioned, the Noachidic dispensation regards the killing of an embryo as murder. Consequently,...

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Metzitzah III

The theme this Shabbos was metzitzah be-feh. My rabbi spoke about it and someone came for se'udah shelishis who said that R. Feivel Cohen spoke about it at length in his shul. It seem the R. Elyashiv asked R. Feivel Cohen to investigate exactly what happened with the baby that died and whether there is a danger in doing metzitzah be-feh. R. Cohen looked into the matter and spoke with a number of doctors. His conclusion is that the medical consensus is that there is no danger in doing metzitzah be-feh although there are some doctors who think there is. R. Cohen also reviewed the halakhic matters and concluded that there is no reason to require metzitzah be-feh. He pointed out that R. Aharon Kotler opposed the practice after a baby died in Lakewood. R. Hayim Soloveitchik also would not allow...

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Secular Dates

My post from yesterday raised the issue of using secular dates. It is worth noting that the Rema in responsum 51 says that he is writing in December 1546 "le-misparam." The Havos Ya'ir (184) quotes a book published in 1428 "le-misparam." The Hasam Sofer in a responsum (Even Ha-Ezer 43) discusses a case about a soldier whose death was ascertained from various sources as being on either 29 October 1810 "le-misparam" or 13 October 1809 "le-misparam."In Iggeros Soferim, in the letters of R. Moshe Sofer between pages 104 and 105, there is a copy of a letter written by the Hasam Sofer in German that is dated 8 November 1821. I am sure that the book has other examples of this.(I should note that while I verified and corrected these citations, they were taken from R. Matis Blum's Torah La-Da'as, vol....

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Abortion

R. Barry Freundel, Contemporary Orthodox Judaism's Response to Modernity, pp. 257, 260-262[F]rom our earliest discussion of the subject, Judaism has never taken what one might describe as either a pro-choice or a pro-life position... A contemporary discussion that incorporates and illustrates many of the elements just detailed is the debate between Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg and Rabbi Moses Feinstein on aborting a fetus that tested positive for Tay-Sachs disease... Bearing such a child and watching it whither and pass away is, to say the least, emotionally difficult for the parents. But is that sufficient to allow abortion? Rabbi Waldenberg permits such an abortion until the seventh month of pregnancy. Rabbi Feinstein... does not.It is here that the extent of the range of opinions on abortion...

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The Eternity of the Torah V

Months of the YearI. Changing MonthsR. Yosef Albo, in his Sefer Ha-Ikkarim (3:16) poses a number of challenges to the principle of the eternity of the Torah. Let us examine one of these questions.He notes that the Torah (Ex. 12:2) commands: "This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you." In other words, the month that we now call Nissan must be the first month of the year and we must count the months of the year beginning from it. Nissan must be the first month and, after it, the second month and then the third month, etc. And that is how the Bible consistently refers to the months - the first, the second,... This is all to remind us that God redeemed us from Egypt. Our counting dates from the time of the Exodus is meant...

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