This Blog Has Moved

After a great get-together last night, we are ready to move the blog to a new format that has more functionality and is more esthetically pleasing. Please change your browser bookmarks to this website: www.TorahMusings.com. All new posts will be there only. All old posts will remain here and there.

Note that, in the past, there have been complaints about changes. That is why I gathered a focus group to test out the new blog. I received a lot of good feedback and made changes to the format based on it. However, the response was overwhelmingly favorable. If you have suggestions, please leave them in the comments to the Welcome post on the new blog.

Comments

Comments on old posts will stay here. The Disqus comments will slowly be copied to the new blog while the Haloscan/JS-Kit comments will remain here. That way everyone will be able to access all old comments. Just please give me some time to migrate all the comments. I will begin with the most recent posts so the conversation can continue on the new blog.

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Weekly Links

Rules: link

Thursday

Drug bust at Israel airport, Hasidic Jews arrested (time for another Tehillim gathering?): link

The cost of being Jewish: link

Rabbinic group’s resolution expands women’s role: link

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Parashah Roundup: Matos-Masei 5770

by Steve Brizel

The Book of Memories

R Berel Wein suggests why the Torah records the names of the stops and encampments of the Jewish People: link

R Shlomoh Riskin explains why the Torah uses Shevatim and Matos: link

The Nesivos Shalom, as explicated by R Yitzchak Adlestein, explains why Parshas Maasei is a mission statement for every Jew: link

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Top Ten Signs You Read Hirhurim Too Much

As presented by Joel Rich

Click here to see presentation

Courtesy of R. Moshe Schapiro, Gaava"d of the Gottesman Library.

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Welcome to the Hirhurim Dinner

This slide show is going on in the background right now.

Click here to see presentation

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Get-Together: Today

Today is the day. Information here: link

Even if you have not RSVP'ed, you can just walk in.

Note that we are in the midst of a heat wave. There will be plenty of water but please dress business casual. There is no need for jackets or suits, although I will be wearing a tuxedo.

Please try to daven Mincha beforehand but if you cannot, the shul will have an 8:20 minyan.

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Is Creativity Possible in the Information Age?

We live in an age where more information is available with greater ease than ever before. This applies to Torah just as much as any other subject, perhaps even more. The ingathering of exiles that broke down (to some degree) communal barriers, the relatively low cost of publication thanks to printing technology, the electronic revolution that opens entire libraries through your computer, and the widespread wealth that allows people to take advantage of these technologies offer unprecedented amounts. But is all this information stifling?

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Shabbat Mevarchim

By: Rabbi Ari Enkin

There is an ancient custom to bless the upcoming Jewish month on the Shabbat which precedes Rosh Chodesh. These Shabbatot when the new month is blessed are referred to as “Shabbat Mevarchim”. A central feature of this prayer is the public announcement of the exact time the new moon, known as the “molad”, is set to appear.[1] The molad is the exact moment of the moon’s renewal. Recall that at the concluding moments of every lunar cycle the moon is positioned directly between the earth and the sun and is completely invisible.

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Get-Together: This Wednesday

This Wednesday July 7th is the Hirhurim get-together/dinner (link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4, link 5). All readers, commenters and friends of the blog are invited to this free event. Free mugs and trinkets will be available, while supplies last.

Please RSVP to the event using this online form: link.

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Drinking Wine During the Nine Days and the Authority of the Shulchan Aruch

Guest post by Rabbi Aryeh Leibowitz

The Shulchan Aruch records a tradition to refrain from drinking wine during the period of the nine days leading up to Tishah be-Av. In a recent lecture delivered in Teaneck, Prof. Daniel Sperber argued that the entire passage in the Shulchan Aruch is based on a faulty interpretation of a passage in the Talmud Yerushalmi (Sperber’s full analysis of this issue appears in his monumental work, Minhagei Yisrael).

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Weekly Links

Rules: link

Friday

'The End of Men' ... in Judaism?: link

New issue of Jewish Review of Books: link

We can make a difference in our children’s lives: link

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Audio Roundup C

by Joel Rich

Rabbi Shmuel Marcus -Birthdays and Yahrtzeits: link

With the 100th audioroundup I thought it appropriate to lead with this shiur which contains some positive and negative opinions concerning "celebrating" birthdays and yahrtzeits – bottom line use/view as a positive opportunity for introspection and future positive impact. (Kach Mkublani mbeit avi abba zll"hh)

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Quick Takes

Does the internet make you dumber?
A few weeks ago, much was made of a new book which claims that technology makes people less able to think critically and concentrate. The hype did not impress me. What we're dealing with is an onslaught of information and people have to develop internal filters. You have to know when to turn everything off and, when it's on, how to find the good information while avoiding the bad. Even before the internet, many people procrastinated, had trouble focusing, and ignored their spouses and children. It's hard to blame that on the internet.

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Parashah Roundup: Pinchas 5770

by Steve Brizel

The Covenant of Peace

R Berel Wein explains why peace is very fragile, almost always difficult to maintain and it requires great effort to keep it together:
link

The Nesivos Shalom, as explicated by R Yitzchak Adlerstein, discussed why Pinchas is viewed as the source of the fire of Teshuvah that combats transgressions committed with zeal and alacrity: link

R Ephraim Buchwald examines the legacy of leadership transmitted by Pinchas: link

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Avrekh

Translations and commentaries have difficulty explaining exactly what Pharaoh did when he raised Yosef from imprisonment to prominence (Gen. 41:43):

He had him ride in the chariot of his second-in-command, and they cried before him, "Avrekh!" (NJPS)

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Books Received XXVII

I don't always have the chance to review each book, so I'll list the books that I receive. Some of them will be quoted or reviewed in future posts. Here are the books I've received recently:

• To Remain a Jew: The Life of Rav Yitzchak Zilber

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Back to Disqus

Based on user feedback, the comments switch seems to have been premature and I've switched back to Disqus for another week. Next week, at the get-together (RSVP here: link), I will officially unveil the new Wordpress blog at which time we will move there and switch the comments here to JS-Kit. Maybe by then we will have figured out a way to keep both JS-Kit and Disqus comments.

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The Old Comments Are Back

I've reinstalled JS-Kit/Echo (the successor to Haloscan, which no longer exists) so all the old comments are back. Just go to an old post (e.g. link) and you'll see all the old comments--the good, the bad and the ugly.

I tested it in Internet Explorer and Google Chrome without problem.

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On the Meaning of a Mysterious Line in a First-Crusade Kinah

On the Meaning of a Mysterious Line in a First-Crusade Kinah

Guest post by Dr. David Berger

In 2000, I published an observation about a difficult line in a kinah. The observation was buried in the footnote of a scholarly article dealing with a different theme, and I was berated by a friend for making sure that hardly anyone who recites kinot would ever come across it.

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Eating in Public

By: Rabbi Ari Enkin

The Talmud teaches that eating in public is inappropriate conduct and that one who does so is comparable to a dog.[1] Furthermore, eating in public is one of the activities which disqualify a person from serving as a witness in ritual matters.[2]While the Talmud seems to imply that any form of eating in public is to be shunned, it appears from other sources, however, that it is only eating *while walking* in public which is truly forbidden.[3] As such, it is permitted to eat in a restaurant or any other circumstance where eating in public is appropriate.[4] One should also avoid drinking a beverage in public whenever possible.[5]

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Get-Together: More Information

This is your weekly reminder about the July 7th Hirhurim get-together/dinner (link 1, link 2, link 3, link). All readers, commenters and friends of the blog are invited to this free event. Free mugs and trinkets will be available, while supplies last.

Please RSVP to the event using this online form: link.

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Comments Update

As many of you know, the comments on old posts have disappeared since the switch to Disqus commenting. After a great deal of effort, it is now clear that they cannot be transferred. That leaves us with few options. Here are my plans, although I am open to suggestions.

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Rav Soloveitchik on Women Rabbis

R. Aryeh Frimer has published an essay on the position of R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik regarding the ordination of women as rabbis (link). It is partially based on an essay in Shi'urei HaRav on Yoreh De'ah (available for purchase here: link), which is translated in this post (link). One reader e-mailed me that this essay is a vindication of my position:

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Emmanuel Compromise Approved; Parents Released

"A compromise proposal enabling the release of the parents of the Emmanuel students was approved Sunday by the High Court of Justice, after being presented by the parents and petitioners with the approval of the State Prosecutor’s Office. The judges ruled that the incarcerated parents would be released on Sunday.

"The decision followed a compromise deal struck on Sunday morning between Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and the Slonim Rabbi, religious leader of the Ashkenazi families who had refused to send their daughters to the mixed-ethnicity school."

More here: link.

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Weekly Links

Rules: link
Friday

They spilled our blood, you kept quiet: link

Interview with R. Yaakov Yosef about Emanuel situation (Hebrew): link

London Charedim hard hit by budget cuts: link

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Audio Roundup IC

by Joel Rich

Question: Should a shul's educational program (e.g. Rabbi's shiur, guest magidei shiur…) be primarily focused on a few areas needing reinforcement or be a smorgasbord so as to attract more people (but perhaps with diluted impact)?

Question:Why did the gemara come up with klalei horaah (rules for psak) rather than deciding each disagreement on its own merits?(e.g. was Rav always right in cases of issurin?)

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Listening to Your Parents

As a parent, I believe that all children must listen to their parents. As a child, though, I believe that children must follow their own paths even if it bothers their parents. What does halakhah have to say about this?

In 1984, R. Basil Herring published a fabulous book, Jewish Ethics and Halakhah For Our Time: Sources and Commentary, recently republished. R. Herring proposes a number of complex ethical dilemmas and then proceeds to analyze them.

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Parashah Roundup: Balak 5770

by Steve Brizel

The Mission and Message of Bilaam

R Yitzchak Etshalom explores how Bilaam became Bilaam HaRasha: link

R Zvi Sobolofsky explains why Bilaam, who listened to HaShem, is described as Bilaam HaRasha: link

R Avraham Gordimer discusses the fear of Balak: link

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A Case Study in Contemporary Halakhic Rhetoric

A Case Study in Contemporary Halakhic Rhetoric—Rav Asher Weiss on Dina DeMalkhuta

Guest post by Prof. Chaim Saiman

Last week’s dispatch from Rav Asher Weiss (Parshat Chukat, 5770: June 18, 2010 - link), disagrees with nearly all the rishonim, most achronim, and significantly challenges the haredi consensus concerning the relationship between halakha and the State of Israel.

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Praying on the Subway

I often see women praying from a siddur on the subway, during the commute to work in the morning. There are many reasons why I think this is a bad practice but we also have to keep in mind that some women are juggling so many responsibilities that this is the only opportunity they have to pray. Let's just address one halakhic aspect of this issue.

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Kiddush Levana & Toothaches

By: Rabbi Ari Enkin

One who suffers from a toothache and other oral woes might find their remedy in the recitation of Kiddush Levana. The increasingly mystical Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky teaches[1] that for a toothache, it is a “segula m'kadmonim", a segula from early generations, to add several words to the Kiddush Levana at a specific point in the prayer for relief from toothaches. After one has recited the passage of “kach lo yuchlu kol oyvai lingoa bi lera'a", so too, may my enemies not be able to harm me, one should immediately add “velo yehiye li ke’ev shinayim", and I should no longer have a toothache.

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Get-Together: More Stuff

This is your weekly reminder about the July 7th Hirhurim get-together/dinner (link 1, link 2, link 3). All readers, commenters and friends of the blog are invited to this free event.

That picture you see on the right is of two more trinkets that we will be giving out for free at the get-together: keychains and refrigerator magnets. Limited quantities of each so get there early -- while supplies last.

Please RSVP to the event using this online form: link. Thank you.

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The Emanuel Beis Yaakov Controversy

Not far from Atlanta is a theme park called Stone Mountain, at the base of a large mountain that has a massive carving the three Confederate leaders: Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. When, on visiting, I mentioned to a friend my amazement that there would still be a celebratory tribute to people who fought for slavery, he responded that the Civil War was really about states' rights. I responded, "Yes, states' rights to allow slavery." This came to my mind when thinking about the drama surrounding a court case over a girls' school in Emanuel.

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Sephardim Switch to 'Ashkenazi' Surnames to Ensure Their Children's Admission to Charedi Schools

An article from nine months ago (link):

(Septamber 9, 2009) Jerusalem - As the public and legal struggle to curb discrimination within haredi educational institutions continues, many still face difficulties in enrolling their children to desirable ultra-Orthodox schools, and some parents of Sephardic descent have resorted to changing their last names just to fit in.

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A Mature Freedom

The modern era, with its attendant rise of personal freedom and decline of communal authority, is often seen as the enemy of religious tradition. In pre-modern religious communities, the vast majority of people observed religious practices because they had no choice. They could be fined, imprisoned or exiled from town with no place to go. They had no options and no ability to choose their own lives. While it was not as idyllic as some like to think, it was still a much more religious environment than the modern world.

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Acronyms

Here is a link containing most of Steve Brizel's commenting acronyms: link

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Weekly Links

Rules: link
Friday

The Jewish Agency’s new strategic vision: link

The Patriarchal Age: Myth or History?: link

YU aims to help singles connect: link

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Announcements #158: Ask OU 10 Summer Programs

Ask OU 10 Summer Programs (1 Week & 3 Weeks)

ASK OU - KASHRUS TRAINING PROGRAM «1 WEEK
If you are a congregational rabbi, semicha student, chaver hakollel or a member of a Vaad Hakashrus
MONDAY, AUGUST 2 to FRIDAY, AUGUST 6

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Koren Mesorat HaRav Kinot

OU Press (where I work) and Koren Publishers Jerusalem just published a new edition of Tisha B'Av kinos (link), really a full Tisha B'Av guide, that has many incredible attributes (press release). This is the kind of tool that will transform your Tisha B'Av. Kinos will never be the same:

• A commentary distilled from Rav Soloveitchik's own words. Rav Soloveitchik used to sit for hours on Tisha B'Av and explain the kinos. Recordings are available from a number of years.

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Audio Roundup XCVIII

by Joel Rich

Yes- I do appreciate posters who can identify song references!

Last week R’Gil wrote a post on halacha anthology books – Discuss:

1) Resolved: Authors of halachic anthology books will write in such a away as to favor type I errors (reader won’t understand and do something permitted) vs. type II errors (reader won’t understand and do something forbidden). Result – convergence to stricter positions.

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Solving Some of the Agunah Problems

The Beth Din of America has launched a new website to encourage and enable use of their prenuptial agreement: www.thePrenup.org. What follows below is a proposal by R. Michael J. Broyde for a more complex prenuptial agreement. It is just a proposal and he "remain[s] a deep supporter of the standard prenuptial agreement drafted by Rabbi Mordechai Willig, endorsed by countless poskim, and distributed under the letterhead of the Beth Din of America."

This article is reprinted with permission from Jewish Law Association Studies XX: The Manchester Conference Volume. Download PDF here: link. Scribd format after the jump.

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Parsha Roundup: Chukas 5770

by Steve Brizel

Chukim and the Parah Adamah

Rav Soloveitchik ZL, discusses the Halachic and Hashkafic aspects of Parah Adumah and assesses the future of American Jewry: link

R Michael Rosensweig illustrates the role of Chukim in Torah study and commitment, and Kiddush HaShem as a component of national leadership: link 1, link 2

R Hershel Schachter explores the roles of ego and humility in the study of Torah: link

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Footnoting Tradition

The decision of where in the flow of an essay to place detailed citations and tangential comments entails a number of considerations. Footnotes allow for easy reference by the reader, easily going back and forth between text and note. However, lengthy footnotes clutter the page and make reading cumbersome. Even brief footnotes can be a little distracting.

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Charity Today

The latest Orthodox Forum book was published: Toward a Renewed Ethic of Jewish Philanthropy (YU Press, 2010), Yossi Prager ed.: link. I was at this Orthodox Forum and remember some good arguments. Here is the table of contents:

Part 1: Sociology and History
• Philanthropic Behavior of Orthodox Households by Jacob B. Ukeles
• For the Poor and the Stranger: Fundraisers' Perspectives on Orthodox Philanthropy by Margy-Ruth Davis and Perry Davis
• American Jewish Philanthropy, Direct Giving, and the Unity of the Jewish Community by Chaim I. Waxman

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Air Pollution

By: Rabbi Ari Enkin

The issue of air pollution, as we struggle with it today, is not directly discussed in the Talmud. There are, however, a number of Talmudic precedents and parallels which teach us that we are to show consideration for property, environment, and quality of life. These principles are especially applicable with regards to unjustifiable air pollution, especially if it affects others. Below are some examples.

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Get-Together: They've Arrived

This is your weekly reminder about the July 7th Hirhurim get-together/dinner (link 1, link 2). All readers, commenters and friends of the blog are invited to this free event.

That picture you see on the above right is the graphic I submitted to be put on the mugs. The mugs have arrived and below is a picture of one. It's a little blurry but that happens when you use a Blackberry to take pictures. These mugs will be a collector's item. You don't want to miss your opportunity to pick one up for free (along with another trinket).

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Announcements #157: YCT 2010 Yemei Iyun on Bible and Jewish Thought

Only Three Days Left for Early Bird Registration Discount for the 8th Annual YCT rabbinical School Yemei Iyun on Bible and Jewish Thought to be held Sunday, June 27-June 28, 2010 at the Maayanot Yeshiva High School in Teaneck, NJ

Register today and don't miss out on hearing leading educators and scholars of Bible and Jewish Thought such as R. Hayyim Angel and Rabbi Shalom Carmy on Sefer Yeshayahu, Rabbi Menachem Leibtag on The Structure and Themes of Sefer Devarim and Sefer Shoftim, Rabbi David Silber on Sefer Shmuel, Rabbi Dr. Gil Perl and Rabbi Francis Nataf on the Thought of the Netziv, Mrs. Rachel Friedman on the Sin of the Golden Calf, R. Moshe Kahn, Dr. Michelle Friedman and Rabbi Dov Linzer on Issues of Sexuality and Intimacy in the Jewish Tradition, and many many more.

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Books Received XXVI

I don't always have the chance to review each book, so I'll list the books that I receive. Some of them will be quoted or reviewed in future posts. Here are the books I've received recently:

• Jewish Ethics and Halachah For Our Time (new edition) by R. Basil Herring
• Halachically Speaking volume 2 by R. Moshe Dovid Lebovits

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Working Women

Contrary to common belief, things are not so different from how they used to be. The ideal world of the past was not as perfect or different as many think.

Prof. Shaul Stampfer, "How Jewish Society Adapted to Change in Male/Female Relationships in 19th/early 20th Century Eastern Europe" in Rivka Blau ed., Gender Relationships In Marriage and Out, pp. 67, 69-70:

The most important fact is that a very significant percentage of Jewish women, perhaps a majority, worked in order to make ends meet.[4]

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New Periodical: Tradition 43:1

There is a new issue of Tradition 43:1 (Spring 2010). This is a blockbuster issue in which every article is fascinating and important.

• Editor's Note: A Peshat in the Dark: Reflections on the Age of Cary Grant by R. Shalom Carmy - Very important critique of undisciplined peshat and dismissal of tradition.

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Announcements #156: Pepsi Challenge

Put down your check book. Raise your ability to lend your support by sending
off an e-mail.

The Lancaster Yeshiva Center has submitted a grant proposal accepted by THE
PEPSI REFRESH PROGRAM. We are now seeking online votes to satisfy
requirements to be awarded the $50,000 grant. The grant will help our
Vocational Training Program renovate uninhabitable city homes while training
vocational students.

Use the following link and cast your vote!
www.refresheverything.com/LancasterYeshivaCenter

Really want to help: TELL A FRIEND!

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Weekly Links

Rules: link
Friday

Once we were young (by Joseph Kaplan): link

Free online edition of the YIVO encyclopedia: link

Conservative movement struggles over intermarrieds in cemetery: link

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Audio Roundup XCVII

by Joel Rich
Question: The general rules of “inheritance” of positions (e.g. Rabbi’s son has first rights to father’s position) – AIUI community can “hire” for positions with condition that this preference not apply. Is including such a condition (to paraphrase R’Asher Weiss) against the torah’s will or is the torah indifferent?

Question: According to many, the mitzvah of appointing a king for the first time was linked to “when you want one”.

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