YU's New Tag Line

This just in:

A few friends of mine -- YU alums -- were exchanging e-mails about YU's new motto "Bring Wisdom to Life". Someone suggested e-mailing Richard Joel and one of us actually did. Here was his response, lightly edited (as you can see, he gave permission to spread it):

Wisdom, as we explain it, represents knowledge and values and that is what's distinct about YU. However, please spread throughout the blogosphere the fact that we have not replaced Torah Umadda -- it is, was, and will be the alma mater. We have not replaced the YU seal. It remains. All I have done is use additional branding elements, like other schools do, as corporate logos. The new YU flame is very popular, and, indeed, represents Torah Umadda, but doesn't replace the seal. Bring Wisdom to life is not our new "alma mater", but a tag line that we think brings a lot of value consistent with Torah Umadda. I've still not seen a satisfactory one line translation of Torah Umadda. We've used logos and tag lines for years -- "There is Only One YU", "Oldest and Largest...", etc. More has happened to advance Torah Umadda in the last few years than for several years, and will continue.

I think by "alma mater" he means motto, as in the the second definition provided by Merriam-Webster's. And I'll say again that I like the new tag line.

UPDATE: Yeshiva College's undergraduate newspaper, The Commentator, mentions this post in this article.

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Know Thyself

R. Hershel Schachter in this week's TorahWeb article:

Chava sinned with the eitz hada'as because she fooled herself into believing the words of the nochosh, that she "will become as great as G-d Himself." Many individuals are led to sin because they fool themselves into believing that they are someone other than who they really are; they join groups of people where they don’t really fit in. To fool others is a serious sin; to fool oneself is a greater sin.

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Kuntres She-Lo Ya'alu Ke-Homah III

Do Not Ascend Like A Wall

by Rabbi Shlomo Aviner

Rabbi of Beit El and Rosh Yeshiva of Ateret Cohanim, Yerushalayim

translated by Rabbi Mordechai Friedfertig

printed with permission

(continued from here)

2.C. The appearance of the Revealed End of Days is the remembrance

In the Talmud in Sanhedrin:[67] Rabbi Abba said: "You have no Revealed End [clearer] than this, as it says (Yechezkel 36:8): 'But you Mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to My people of Israel; for they will soon be coming.'" If so, the ingathering of the exiles and the Land giving of its fruit in abundance[68] by way of its agricultural settlement, this is an exceptional sign of Redemption.

And similarly the Ramban.[69] And in the Pesikta: "The Holy One, Blessed be He, does not show the sign of Redemption to Israel until they return to the thing which they loathed...The Land which our forefathers loathed.[70] And in Rashi,[71] Rabbi Meir according to the school of the grandson of the Rosh,[72] Sefer Chareidim,[73] Meharsha,[74] Rabbi Mordechai Molcho[75] in the year 5460 (1900), the author of Mishnat Chasidim[76] and Ha-Rav David Lida wrote: "That our Redemption depends on the redeeming of the Land, our subjugation depends on our subjugation to it,"[77] Rabbi Mordechai Rubin,[78] Rabbi Yehudah Chai Alkalai[79] and Ha-Rav Eliyahu Gutmacher:[80] "If Israel fulfills beginning to work the Holy Land, one hundred and thirty families in total, then the Redemption will be [at hand]." And similarly Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan wrote: "By means of the work of the Land and labor by the young, our eyes will see the raising up of the horn of our Nation,"[81] and Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal,[82] and there in the name of the book Yashan Noshan[83] that by means of the beginning of Redemption which comes slowly the wall of iron which separates us from our Father in Heaven is nullified.

And Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer wrote at length that the reason that the Redemption will come will be by means of the settled Land,[84] and similarly the Admor of Kotzk-Pilav,[85] and Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk[86] in the name of the Magid, the Ba'al Shem Tov and the Ba'al Ha-Tanya,[87] and the Vilna Gaon similarly wrote that the Redemption will come by means of the Revealed End of ascending to Zion and the building of the Land.[88]

And already approximately one hundred years earlier the great authorities of Israel announced the appearance of the Revealed End, they include, the Chafetz Chaim who stated concerning the beginning of the settlement in the Land "Behold, the matter has already begun,"[89] Rabbi Reuven of Denenburg,[90] Rabbi Akiva Yosef Schlesinger[91] in the year 5633 (1873), Ha-Rav Menachem Nachum Kahanov[92] in the year 5620 (1860), Rabbi Meir Yechiel of Ostrovtza,[93] Rabbi Yehoshua of Kotna,[94] the Admor of Kotzk-Pilav at length[95] and our master Ha-Rav Kook in many places[96] and others.[97]



2.D. The horrors of the Exile are the remembrance

1. Ha-Rav Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal[98] wrote that the entirety of the Oath is in effect when we sit in relative calm in the Exile, "when there is no sign from the Heavens that His will, may He be blessed, is that we should abandon the lands of the Exile...but it is not so in our time, since the words of the prophet (Michah 5:7), 'And the remnant of Yaacov shall be among the Nations...like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who if he goes through, treads down, and tears in pieces, and none can save.'"

2. And he brings a proof from the words of Rabbi Yonatan Eibeschitz.[99]

3. And the great authorities of Israel already wrote that it is forbidden to remain in Exile when there are also evil decrees, they include the Rambam:[100] That those who abstain from this [ascending to the Land] they are "violators and cause others to sin," the Ralbag,[101] and the Magen Avraham:[102] that furthermore are "liable to the death penalty," and this is also implied from the words of the Ramban.[103]

4. And the great authorities of Israel similarly wrote that the purpose of the suffering of the Exile is to awaken us to ascend to the Land of Israel - and this is similarly in the Midrash[104] - they include the Chatam Sofer,[105] the author of the Arba'ah Turim[106] and Ha-Rav Mordechai Eliezer Weber, that this is the explanation of the talmudic statement "The Land of Israel comes through suffering that the suffering hints to us to awaken ourselves to return to the Land of Israel,"[107] and Rabbi Meir Shapira of Lublin.[108]

5. The great authorities of Israel wrote that the horrors of the Exile come upon us when we do not ascend to the Land of Israel, they include Ha-Rav Yaacov Tzvi Emden,[109] Ha-Rav Yehudah Alkalai[110] and similarly the Rokeach.[111]

6. The Shelah wrote that the goal of the fiery furnace is to clarify that this is a mitzvah to ascend to the Land of Israel.[112]

7. The great authorities already warned, that if we do not ascend on our own to the Land of Israel, the matter will come through horrors and destruction, they include Rabbi Simchah Bunem of Pshischa[113] that it is incumbent upon us to ascend to the Land of Israel on our own and not wait to be struck by a rod, and Rabbi Meir Simchah of Dvinsk[114] similarly wrote that Hashem will clarify by a blow of fury that Berlin is not Jerusalem. And the Netziv[115] and the Gra wrote that it is incumbent upon us to choose the path of the of the Revealed End of returning to Zion and then there would not have been a need for our Sages to warn us regarding a king whose decrees would be worse than Haman,[116] "and almost every day our Rabbi spoke to us in trembling and emotion that in Zion and Jerusalem there will be a refuge, do not delay the appointed time. Who can recount and who can describe the magnitude of concern of our Rabbi in his relating to us these types of matters in his holy spirit and tears in his eyes."[117] In the year 5693 (1933), ten years before the destruction of Europe, when the oppressors of the Jews, may their name be blotted out, rose to power, the Chafetz Chaim said that the remaining refugee camp would be in the Land of Israel.[118]

Our master Ha-Rav Kook wrote: "Come to the Land of Israel, pleasant brothers, come to the Land of Israel, save your souls, the soul of your generations, the soul of our entire Nation..."[119]

8. And our Rabbi Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah wrote that the Holocaust is the divorce document with the Exile which appears together with our Redemption.[120]


2.E. The appearance of the Gra

Ha-Rav Shraga Feivel Frank[121] wrote that even according to one who holds that it is necessary to wait until "the day of My remembrance,"[122] the appearance of the Gra is the remembrance since the Gra was a spark of the Mosiach ben Yosef [Messiah the son of Yosef - see Sukkah 52a],[123] and thus it was revealed to him in an exalted vision.[124] And the command of the Gra to engage in the ingathering of the exiles and in the building of the Land is like the command of Ezra and Nechemiah.

(b"n more to come)

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67. 98a, and also Megillah 17b. And see Ketubot 113b.

68. Rashi ibid. And see below footnote 81 that the beginning of Redemption of "slowly, slowly" nullifies the wall of iron.

69. "That He will command to raise up the yielding of fruit when the End of Israel draws near..." (Sefer Ha-Geulah pg. 270. And see Ramban on Vayikra 26:32. And similarly Rabbenu Bachya Bereshit 17:8).

70. Brought in the book Yosef Chen, pg. 88b. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pg. 105.

71. "Any time that Zion is destroyed, the Redeemer still has not come" (Yeshayahu chapter 59. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 223). And similarly in the Talmud: "The son of David only comes in a generation which is completely meritorious as it says (Tehillim 37:29), 'The righteous will inherit the earth,'" and Rashi explains: "'Will inherit the earth' - which is Redemption" (Sanhedrin 98a).

72. "That ascending to the Land will draw the Redemption near" (Shevilei Emunah).

73. "With the redemption of the Land the Redemption will quickly be, as it says (Tehillim 102:14), "'For Your servants hold her stones dear...'" (Negative Mitzvot which are dependent on the Land of Israel, and it is possible to fulfill them at this time, chapter 2).

74. On the verse (Yirmiyahu 33:11), "For I will cause the captivity of the Land to return, as at the beginning": "Which is the maintenance and settlement of the Land of Israel" (Meharsha Berachot 6b) "Which means there that if they maintain and settle the Land of Israel then Hashem stated that He will cause the return of the captivity of the Land as at the beginning" (Berachot 6b. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 198).

And similarly on that which is in the Talmud: "Rava said: For a general remembrance" (Megillah 12a), he wrote "That the remembrance is 'that a few of Israel had since settled in the Land of Israel,' until here. Since any settlement of Israel in the Land of Israel is a remembrance of Redemption. And then at that time only a few thousand settled" (Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 2), and see below footnote 134.

75. "The exceptional sign of Redemption, is when we see that Jerusalem has repair and dwelling in it," (Likutim. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pg. 35). The Shelah similarly wrote that the settlement of Jerusalem is a sign of Redemption (Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pg. 35).

76. "Day in and day out they build them, and I say, that this is a sign of the coming of the Redeemer speedily in our days" (Hon Ashir end of chapter 9 of Sotah. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pp. 42, 128, 130, 197).

77. Ir Miklat , Parashat Emor pg. 35. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 195. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pg. 105.

78. Shemen Ha-Mor Yoreh De'ah #22.

79. Goral La-Shem 7.

80. Letter which is printed at the beginning of the book Nefesh Chayah by Ha-Rav Chaim Eliezer Wax of Kalisch. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pg. 160.

81. Shivat Tzion vol. 2, 4.

82. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 129.

83. On Seder Moed. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 108.

84. Derishat Tzion, Rishon Le-Tzion 54, 58. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pg. 158.

85. Kuntres Shalom Yerushalayim. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pp. 181, 497. And see footnote 93, and the Avnei Nezer agreed with it. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pg. 196.

86. In his letters to the Gabba'im of Eretz Ha-Kodesh in Russia in the name of the Magid of Mezeritch and the Ba'al Shem Tov regarding the holy obligation of settling and building the Land as a preparation for the Redemption. The book Mosad Ha-Yesod pg. 288. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pg. 550.

87. That the beginning of the Redemption will be by means of an ingathering of the exiles and the Revealed End. Mosad Ha-Yesod 13, 19, 287, Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pp. 434, 435, 436.

88. Kol Ha-Tur chapter 1 #9, chapter 3 #7, chapter 5 #3. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pp. 155-156.

89. Brought in Le-Netivot Yisrael pg. [202] 274 and pg. [205] 278. And see Letters of the Chafetz Chaim pg. 44. And in the book Toldot Chafetz Chaim pg. 43: "For these days are the days of the footsteps of the Messiah, and when Hashem remembered His Nation, and it is possible that it is the beginning of the ingathering of the exiles.

90. Shivat Tzion vol. 2, 4.

91. Kolel Ha-Avarim pg. 19.

92. Sha'alu Shalom Yerushalayim pg. 9.

93. "For in truth this is it" (Le-Netivot Yisrael pp. [202] 275, [204] 278).

94. Yeshu'ot Malko Yoreh De'ah #66. And see above section 2.B. And #5 footnote 52.

95. In Kuntres Sha'alu Shalom Yerushalayim. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pg. 181. And see footnote 85.

96. Igrot Re'eiyah vol. 1 - 236, 244, 344. Vol. 2 - 35, 37, 164, 210.

97. See in the book Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah (pp. 374, 231) that he brings a broadside with two hundred signatures of the great authorities of Israel on it, almost all of the Rabbis of the Land, including the great Rabbis of the generation, that the establishment of the State of Israel is the beginning of the Redemption.

98. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 162.

99. For he writes in Ahavat Yonatan: "That in the future when the time of love arrives, the kingdom will make decrees against Israel, and they will dedicate their hearts to go and dwell in the Land of Israel, and that time there will be a time of distress for Yaacov and Hashem will hear their cries and will have mercy on them (Parashat Ekev. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pp. 164, 302). And even though he wrote in Parashat Va-etchanan that we should not ascend to the Land of Israel even with the permission of the Nations (see above footnote 6), when there is distress on Israel it is different, as Rabbi Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal wrote: "And I am sure, that if our Rabbi, the author of 'Ahavat Yonatan,' had lived with us now in the Exile, and saw our position today in the bitter Exile that has passed over us, he himself would also say to us: Our brothers, the Children of Israel, the time has arrived for us to ascend to Zion and to the Land of our forefathers..." (Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pp. 162-163, 329-330).

100. At the end of Iggeret Kiddush Hashem (Edition of Mossad Ha-Rav Kook pg. 66) that it is forbidden to remain in the land there in which there are decrees, "But those who deceive themselves and say that they should stay in their place until the King Messiah comes to the Land of the West [and then they will] leave and go to Jerusalem - I do not know how this persecution will be nullified for them. Rather they are violators and cause others to sin."

101. That after there was a famine in the Land, our forefather Avraham decided on his own that this is the will of The Holy One, Blessed be He, that he should descend to Egypt even though the Divine command was to settle in the Land (To'aliyot Ha-Ralbag, Parashat Lech Lecha, Bereshit 12:10). And all the more so to abandon the Exile and to ascend to the Land (Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pp. 160-161).

102. "That if there are harsh decrees in the Land of Israel one should sacrifice his life for settling the Land which is not the case of one who dwells outside of the Land in a place of decrees, he is liable to the death penalty if he does not go to another country" (Zait Ra'anan on Yalkut Shemoni Yitro 292. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pp. 106-107).

103. Who wrote that The Holy One, Blessed be He, promised us that we would sit in tranquility and with ample livelihood in the Exile (Parashat Ki Tavo, Devarim 28:38), and if so, when the non-Jews take all of the benefits of life from us, it is as if The Holy One, Blessed be He, is saying: "I pulled my hand away from you from further promising your settlement in the Exile, but you should arise and come to your mother's chest" (Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pp. 160, 239).

104. For The Holy One, Blessed be He, brought distress upon Machlon and Kilyon for approximately ten years in order to warn them to return to the Land of Israel (Tanchuma Behar #3. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 159).

105. For the force of the distress is to bring us to the Land of Israel (Derashah for Parashat Parah. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 86).

106. "Any time that the sounds, cries and screams of the harsh decrees are heard, God forbid, every person's heart should burn to build the Holy City" (Shemot 9:33. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 228).

107. The introduction of the book "Erech Dal" on Arachin. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pp. 161, 231. And ibid., that the purpose of this bitter Exile is to awaken us for the Land of Israel (pp. 245-246).

108. "Now I know why you are against ascending and building the Land, since any time that you eat 'lichtiga fish' ['fish of light' which Chasidim eat at Seudah Shelishit while it is still day] the Land of Israel is not an imperative for you. But on account of our great sins, the great majority of Israel only eats 'finsatara fish' ['fish of darkness' - which Chasidim eat at Seudah Shelishit when it becomes night]" (related in Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 225). And he wrote similarly that the actions of the fathers are a sign for the children for Yaacov swore at a time of distress "And I will return in peace to my father's house." It is written in the Midrash that The Holy One, Blessed be He, takes the words of the fathers and makes them a key for the redemption of the children, a hint of the footsteps of the Messiah (Sefer Divrei Emet Parashat Va-yetze. Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 31).

109. "Do not consider remaining rooted outside the Land...this was the sin of our forefathers...and it is what kept us in our bitter Exile because not only one person arose upon us to destroy us but in each and every generation...and we were persecuted ruthlessly...as it seems to us when we were in tranquility outside of Israel that we found the Land of Israel [on] a different level, therefore all of the tragedies come upon us when Israel was dwelling in the Land of Spain and other lands..." (Siddur Beit Yaacov, introduction, 13). "And if only this sin had been in our hands...in my view it is the closest reason, revealed, powerful and strong, for all of the horrible, great and unprecedented persecutions, which astonishes the mind, which we have experienced in Exile" (ibid.). And see below footnote 178.

110. "Since Israel was not awakened to return to our Land and the inheritance of our forefathers, the decrees began, the expulsion and persecutions, because the matter is dependent on repentance - that they return to the Land of Israel" (Kol Korei from the year 5608 [1848]).

111. For the persecutions of Warsaw came because they thought they lived in the little Jerusalem. See below in the end of footnote 156.

112. Shelah volume 3, chelek Torah Shebichtav, 11:2 (Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 330).

113. For there are two ways to acquire an animal: call it and it follows after him, or strike a stick and it runs before him. And thus we have to ascend to the Land of Israel of our own accord, and not to wait until Hashem strikes us by means of a stick (Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 88).

114. "...and the Jew...will think that Berlin is Jerusalem...then a stormy and rushing wind will come, it will uproot us from its trunk..." (Meshech Chochmah Bechukotai pg. 192). "A stormy wind will arise, and spread out its many waves, and destroy, lay waste, ruin, wash away without mercy" (pg. 191).

115. For during the three days of darkness all those who did not want to leave Egypt died, "And all of this is incumbent upon us to remember that also at this time that many of Israel refuse the future Redemption [occurring] quickly in our days, but The Holy One, Blessed be He, will rule over us with a strong hand" (Haggadah of Pesach on the verse "And Hashem brought us out...with a strong hand").

116. Kol Ha-Tur chapter 4 #3.

117. Kol Ha-Tur end of chapter 5. And similarly "And there will be a refugee in Zion and Jerusalem and for the remnants, and that is sufficient wisdom. And our Rabbi was extremely worried regarding this" (ibid. Chapter 1 #10). And Rabbi Moshe bar Hillel of Shaklov: "The matter of this prophecy, in Zion and Jerusalem will be a refugee, caused extreme worry to our Rabbi, the Gra, that according to this the footsteps of the Messiah were coming that the ingathering of the Exile would come by way of the refugee, which means out of the necessity of distress and decrees, and only the remnant of the survivors would arrive to Zion and Jerusalem" (Magid Doresh Tzion vol. 2 pg. 71. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pg. 446). And Rabbi Sa'adia of Mohliv, a student of the Gra, reported that when the Gra spoke about this, tears flowed from his eyes, and he said "We must hope that the ingathering of the Exiles will be by our own will and not by means of distress of a refugee" (ibid. footnote 33. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah ibid.).

118. As it is written (Ovadiah 1:17) "And there will be a refugee on Mt. Zion and it will be holy" - and therefore it was ensured that our Land of Holiness will rescue (Chafetz Chaim pg. 73. Ha-Tekufah Ha-Gedolah pg. 198).

119. "Keriyot Gedolot - Le-Eretz Yisrael." And Ha-Rav of Onsdorf said [in Yiddish]: Woe, I see that God forbid the Jews can not remain here, in these countries, and they will be forced to flee. There will be nowhere to flee. Why do they not see to build the settlement in the Land of Israel?" (Em Ha-Banim Semeichah pg. 25).

120. "Hashem's hand extends over us, from the midst of bloodshed, fiery furnaces, agony of suffering, kindling of fires, sacrificing of souls, which with the taking of land of the Exile and the removal of the Divine Presence from it, also brings us by our forelock, and places us in the heights of our theater of operations" (Le-Netivot Yisrael pg. [61] 81). "And the extension of Hashem's hand over us in a pouring out of His anger, to remove us from the impurities of the lands of the Nations and the dispersions of our Exiles in the midst of their darkness...in the annihilation of a third of our body and its choice part" (ibid. pg. [94] 123). "The dreadful chapter of the Divine dissection in the body of the Nation with the annihilation of our six million, an important part, in a way of lifting us to our place" (ibid. pg. [110] 147). "The departure from the desert of the Nations...with the inconceivable horrible and dreadful dissection-severance of hundred of thousands, may the remembrance of the holy ones be a blessing, may Hashem revenge their blood, and cause to enter for the settlement of the Land" (ibid. pg. [134] 179). "The ingathering of our exiles and entrance of our scattered to the Place of our Life, with their horrible uprooting of the dispersions and the scattering" (ibid. pg. [182] 247). "With the completion of the collapse of the land of the Exile from under our feet...with the fulfillment of the word of Hashem that 'Among these Nations we will not find tranquility and our feet will not find rest'..." (ibid. pg. [52] 69). "The storm of severance of the body of the Entirety of Israel from the deserts of the Nations" (ibid. pg. [80] 105). "The complete actual arising, of the announcement that 'Among these Nations we will not find tranquility,' came with taking the portion of the land from our presence there" (ibid. pg. [61] 80). "In the essence of the full collapse, the complete uprooting, the final severance, for all of the Community of Israel's agony of upheaval from its reality among the Nations and their lands, of its bodies and its souls, of its adults and its youths, of its possession and its culture, of its physical and its spiritual, of its holy and its profane - it is the appearance of the light of life and the revival of the Nation of Holiness and the splendor of its eternity" (ibid. pg. [102-103] 135).

121. Toldot Zev, Kuntres Mitzvat Yishuv Ha-Aretz, pg. 64 #18.

122. He also wrote that Rabbi Zeira ascended only after he saw barley in his dream as in explained in Berachot 57a, after his rabbi, Rabbi Yehudah, said to wait until "the day of My remembrance," since this dream was his personal remembrance (Toldot Zev, #19). And see further regarding this issue in the book Kuntres Mitzvat Yeshivat Eretz Yisrael of Ha-Rav Blumberg pg. 20.

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Blogs and Lashon Ha-Ra II

Following up on this post, I exchanged some e-mails with Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir. In the meantime, he wrote two columns on the subject -- one available online here, the other to be released perhaps next week.

The following is what I gather from our correspondence, in my own words. Read it carefully, because there are all sorts of caveats. And keep in mind that Rabbi Dr. Meir has not approved this, so don't hold him responsible for it. I'm pretty sure that on one point, we both consulted with the same third party. This is intended to clarify the issues he raised in his two published columns on this subject (I, II).

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1. One is allowed to discuss a neutral or positive story of public interest about any public figure by name (talmid hakham or not) without regard for potential denigrating comments. This is not the case for private citizens who probably do not want to be discussed in public.

2. One may discuss negative stories about general public leaders provided that one is certain that the stories are true (or adds appropriately worded caveats), one has no ulterior motives and one is not causing any harm to the individuals.

3. One must judge a talmid hakham generously and go out of one's way to give him the benefit of the doubt. Therefore, one must be extremely cautious in discussing negative stories (or stories that appear negative) about talmidei hakhamim.

4. One may respectfully disagree with a talmid hakham, even if others might take this as an opportunity to insult the talmid hakham.

5. One may review an article or book negatively. However, one should not be unfairly negative and should make sure to emphasize the positive aspects as well.

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Learning Torah on Subways II

In a comment to this post, Rabbanit Chana Henkin offered readers a copy of R. Yehuda Henkin's article "Contemporary Tzeni'ut" from Tradition 37:3 (Fall 2003). I had forgotten that he addresses this issue in that article. Here is a relevant excerpt (pp. 5-6):

Shema is paradigmatic of all prayers and blessings: none may be recited in the presence of uncovered erva [nakedness] of even rabbinical nature. Is studying Torah permitted in such circumstances? Sefer Yere'im forbids it, and for that reason relies on "et la'asot la-Shem" [emergency negation of the law] for a dispensation to permit Torah study within earshot of the songs of gentile women; he is cited by a number of Rishonim. All the more so, this would apply to tefah [a handbreadth of uncovered nakedness].

However, others disagree. Me'iri writes in Berakhot 24a:

Seeing a tefah in his wife anywhere that is normally not exposed, prohibits Keri'at Shema but does not prohibit divrei Torah, since seeing causes hirhur.

This is also the opinion of sefer ha-Hashlama...

This is important support for permitting men to lecture on Torah and mussar to audiences that include women who are improperly dressed.

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Banned Books Week

No, "Banned Books Week" is not the theme of the Jewish blogosphere. Nor is it this blog's topic of the week. As I just discovered this afternoon, the American Library Association has declared this week (Sep. 24-Oct. 1) to be "Banned Books Week" (link).

How's that for Divine Providence? The "Improved Edition" of Making of a Godol and a cover story in Moment Magazine about Rabbi Nosson Slifkin, both unknowingly just in time for the ALA's Banned Books Week.

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The Real Kind of Kugel

The Town Crier directs us to a NY Times article about kugel. After my maternal grandfather's passing when I was a young teen, I inherited many of his books. Among them, I found some obscure and even extreme Hasidic texts (plus, a two-volume, very bizarre autobiography of my grandfather's rabbi). When I asked a distant cousin from out-of-town, who had spent many Shabbosim with my grandfather while attending a NY yeshiva, about this, he was surprised and thought my grandfather must have gotten them free from someone. Anyway, I remember going through one book that was dedicated to enjoying (oneg) Shabbos. When I got to the part about the mystical significance of kugel, I knew it was time to put the book away and never look at it again. Sure, the idea that kugel, with its layers of skin on top and on bottom, is similar to the manna in the desert is fairly mainstream. But we all know that it is just a clever, barely existent connection with no real significance. We all know this, right? I guess not.

As to the variety of kugels now available, this might be my distant Polish heritage speaking but in my book there is only one kind of kugel -- potato. Everything else is a poor imitation. And my wife's homemade, hand-grated potato kugel is better than anything you can buy.

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Making of a Mountain out of a Molehill

As already announced on this blog, the new -- "Improved" -- edition of R. Nosson Kamenetsky's Making of a Godol is now available. A helpful reader of this blog was kind enough to ensure that I obtained a copy. This new edition has, among its many changes, a 3-page foreword to the new edition and an index of all the changes to the book.

I was going to write a long post detailing the changes in the book, but someone already beat me to it. See these posts (I & II) for a discussion of the some of the changes in the book. And see here for an interesting interview by Steven Weiss with R. Kamenetsky.

Let me just add a few more changes to those listed in the two posts mentioned above:

1. Whereas the previous edition related a story about how R. Aharon Kotler, in the heat of an excited study, told his father-in-law R. Isser Zalman Meltzer that he (R. Aharon) could learn better than him (R. Isser Zalman), and R. Isser Zalman replied that it isn't much anyway; the new edition attributes the original source of this story as R. Ya'akov Yitzhak Ruderman (p. 1097).

2. The new edition revises the story of R. Barukh Ber Leibowitz offending R. Elazar Mayer Preil's family when the latter's daughters started singing zemiros on Shabbos and R. Barukh Ber ran out of the room. According to the Preil-Teitz family, it was not R. Barukh Ber but his student, R. Reuven Grozovsky, and he only wanted to run out but R. Barukh Ber would not let him. There is also one report that the girls were singing bentching (pp. xxii, xliii-xliv). The author makes it clear that there is otherwise a "seeming normative halakhic imperative to leave the room."

3. After describing the protagonist's broad-mindedness, in praising the large attendance at R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik's yahrtzeit shi'urim and of having gone to hear a Zionist orator as a youth, the author adds in this new edition that his father saw the world in figurative shades of gray (p. 1187). Evidently, this made it clear that the protagonist was not a full supporter of R. Soloveitchik or the Zionist orator.

The new edition is full of corrections and additions. My favorite correction is that the word shai'ur (the way my wife pronounces it) is now spelled shi'ur (the way I pronounce it). It is not possible for one blog post to detail all of the improvements and elaborations that can now be found in the book. But I think the most important information garnered from this new edition is not found on any specific page.

What is so shocking about this "Improved Edition" is how minor the changes are. If we are to take R. Kamenetsky at his word and believe that he revised all of the "offending" passages, then we now have a complete record of the issues that led to his ban and most public humiliation. One would hope that in order to be called cruel and sadistic, to be accused of intentionally trying to cast doubts on the fundamental principles of faith, to be called a Rasha Aritz (a wicked tyrant), etc. (quotes are from pp. 152, 160 of Anatomy of a Ban and were not stated by Gedolim but by interested parties) one's offense would have to be exceedingly egregious. But such is not the case. The "Improved Edition" of Making of a Godol only demonstrates how minor the author's indiscretions were, if they can even be termed indiscretions. The public humiliation, the name-calling, the black-listing, the financial damage and the betrayals are entirely incommensurate with the perceived offense.

The "Improved Edition" of Making of a Godol is supposed to be a commentary on the pre-War yeshiva world, but it is really a commentary -- no, a biting indictment -- of the contemporary Orthodox community.

UPDATE: Steven I. Weiss reports on this in The Forward.

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The Heresy of Nosson Slifkin

Moment Magazine's current issue has a cover story about R. Nosson Slifkin (here). It's probably the best article I've seen so far on the subject.

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Learning Torah on the Subway

Can a man learn Torah on the subway or bus when there are immodestly dressed women there?

[AS ALWAYS, ASK YOUR RABBI ABOUT PRACTICAL ISSUES]

I. The Problem

One Sunday this past summer, I drove with my family up to "the country" to visit our neighbors (of eruv fame) in the delightful Riversite Bungalow Colony, near South Fallsburg, NY. While there, we discussed -- particularly with R. Dr. Chaim Neuhoff -- whether a man may sit by the swimming pool during men's swimming time and learn Gemara. The issue is twofold. First, one may not learn Torah in a place where people are immodestly dressed (Shabbos 150a). Second, one may not learn Torah in a bathhouse even when everyone there is dressed, because the bathhouse is designated as a place where people are normally undressed.

In my opinion, neither of these issues should prevent a man from learning Torah poolside. First, since all of the men and boys were wearing bathing suits, they were all modestly dressed. To my knowledge, there is no rule regarding men that when body areas that are normally covered are uncovered, this is considered immodest dress. Second, a bathhouse is one that is humid and stuffy (see Magen Avraham 85:2). This was an outdoor swimming pool that would not qualify as a bathhouse. Even though women frequent the swimming pool in what is technically immodest dress, the area is still not considered a bathhouse because it is outdoors and airy.

However, I believe that there is a further consideration that makes the above irrelevant.

On the subway and on city busses, there are invariably women immodestly dressed during the summer. Technically, then, one should not be allowed to learn Torah within eyesight of these women. According to the majority of Ashkenazic posekim, as recorded in Mishnah Berurah (75:1,129), even closing one's eyes is insufficient. One must (discreetly) turn one's back before learning Torah. On the subway or bus, this is frequently impossible. Are we then prohibited from learning Torah in those frequent situations?

II. Types of Learning

The Gemara cited above contains a dispute over whether hirhur (thinking) is like dibbur (speaking). In the course of that debate, the prohibition against learning Torah in the presence of nakedness is raised. Rashi (sv. ha-hi) explains the Gemara as saying that only reciting Torah is prohibited in the presence of nakedness. Dibbur is prohibited but hirhur, thinking about Torah, is permitted. The Hiddushei Ha-Ran also explains the Gemara this way. One could conclude, then, that while one may not learn Torah out loud in the presence of an immodestly dressed woman, one may learn in one's head -- or read from a book without saying the words. The Magen Avraham (ibid.) raises that possibility, and it is confirmed by the Mahatzis Ha-Shekel (ad loc.). The Arukh Ha-Shulhan (Orah Hayim 74:2, 85:2) also explicitly permits hirhur of Torah in front of an immodestly dressed woman.

[As an aside, note how hirhur -- or hirhurim -- is used positively in this context.]

Thus, according to this line of reasoning, a man would be allowed to learn silently on the subway or bus, and certainly at the poolside.

Dr. Neuhoff suggested (if I recall correctly; I should probably just call him and ask) that R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach discusses this in Halikhos Shlomo but I could not find it. If anyone can find it, I'd appreciate being informed exactly where it is.

III. The Surprising Leniency

The Hazon Ish (to whom R. Daniel Sperber attributes a large share in the alleged contemporary paralysis in halakhah -- Tradition 36:3, Fall 2002) has a surprising leniency on this matter. The Hazon Ish (Orah Hayim 16:7 sv. u-le-inyan tefah) writes that when dealing with immodest dress and not actual nudity, one need not turn one's back but may merely avert one's glance. Thus, someone on the subway can simply look into his book and learn without worry.

R. Eliezer Waldenberg (Tzitz Eliezer 15:11) supports this leniency and cites other authorities who ruled similarly. R. Yosef Hayim Sonnenfeld (Salmas Hayim 1:26-27) was asked whether one may preach Torah in the street when there is invariably an immodestly dressed woman. He replied that one may, and should simply not look at such women.

Therefore, R. Waldenberg concludes, one may learn Torah -- even audibly -- in the presence of immodestly dressed women if one takes care not to look at them.

This leniency is not one on which I would normally rely because it contradicts the understanding of this law as I learned it from my teachers, as well as (from what I can tell) the majority of aharonim. However, this ruling is also tied to that of the Mordekhai regarding hearing the singing voices of women while learning. The Mordekhai ruled if non-Jewish women sing near a study hall and there is nothing that the students can do to avoid hearing them, they should continue learning and not pay attention because they have no other option. Similarly, men who take the subway or bus every day have no other option and would otherwise lose some of their preciously small time available for learning. Because of this "emergency," it seems that if one should reject the reasoning in the previous section about hirhur, there is still room to rely on this leniency.

IV. Conclusion

For what little it is worth, it is my opinion that one may learn Torah quietly on the subway and bus even if there are immodestly dressed women in one's eyesight (my rabbi agrees). It might be advisable, though, to refrain from "speaking in learning" if possible. Ask your rabbi.

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Just in Time for the Holidays

Maalox is now certified as kosher by the OU.

http://oukosher.org/index.php/articles/single/5315/

Novartis Consumer Health, Inc. and the Orthodox Union have jointly announced the first kosher certification of a mainstream adult over-the-counter (OTC) medication, Maalox®, the popular heartburn remedy. Today’s announcement is the second time Novartis has received a kosher certification on one of its OTC products.

With last year’s announcement of the kosher-certification of Triaminic®, a children’s cough, cold and allergy product, Novartis became the first major OTC company to receive OU certification.

Maalox® will begin carrying the kosher certification symbol in early October. However, formulations of Maalox® that are currently on the shelves already are kosher compliant. This includes all chewable and most of the liquid formulations. The only product that is not kosher-certified is Maalox® Total Stomach Relief.

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Survival Tips in Corporate America

And now for something completely different...* Based on my many years in corporate America, or rather corporate New York City, I present my accumulated wisdom in the form of:

Survival Tips in Corporate America

1. Always carry a calculator with you to meetings. People respect your opinion more if you have a calculator and you'd be surprised how often it comes in handy.
2. Take your first few vacation days as personal days. Personal days do not carry over into the next year.
3. When taking the NYC subway, take either the first or last cars (in that order) because they are the emptiest.
4. Be quick to take the blame for everything. People respect that and eventually stop believing that it's your fault.
5. Be flexible about work schedules when you can because of the times when you cannot. Offer to work on legal holidays.
6. Always complain about how much work you have.
7. When you don't have much work, don't be obvious about it. People intellectually know that people do not have constant workflows, but they don't like seeing it.
8. Hoard medium-sized binder clips. There are few more precious commodities in the corporate world.
9. Memorize important numbers. You can be the biggest moron, but if you're the only one in the room who knows the company's revenue for the past five years or how much money the top five clients paid to the firm last year, you will be respected.
10. At the end of the year, when you realize how many sick days you are about to lose, call in sick at the smallest sign of illness. But don't fake being sick because that is probably theft of a day's pay.

---

* If I may borrow from a commenter, if you understood that reference then you have violated 20 biblical prohibitions, 16 positive biblical commandments and 13 rabbinic prohibitions.

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Faith in the Sages

The Baraisa Kinyan Torah (AKA Avos ch. 6), par. 5 lists 48 characteristics needed to fully acquire Torah. One of the traits in this list is emunas hakhamim (faith in the sages). What exactly is this extent of this faith? What topics does it include?

The Midrash Shmuel writes:

That one believes that all that the sages say is as if it was given to Moses at Sinai. On this it is written, "You shall not turn aside to the right or to the left from the sentence which they pronounce upon you" (Deut. 17:11). If you do not believe in even one thing, the secrets of Torah will not be revealed to you. In the end, you will become a Saducee because one sin leads to another.

The clear implication is that the sages retain authority on all matters. One must believe everything they say on any topic. I hesitate to call it a concept of complete infallibility, and prefer to refer to it as universal authority. Any idea the sages pronounce is to be accepted as authoritative, regardless of the topic.

The Mahazor Vitry has a much more limited explanation of emunas hakhamim. It records simply and briefly: "That one believes their words, unlike Saducees and Boethusians." The Saducees and Boethusians disputed the sages on matters of oral law. The implication from the Mahazor Vitry is that emunas hakhamim requires us to have faith in the chain of the tradition of the oral law. Pronouncements from sages about the oral Torah are considered authoritative and binding. However, there is no indication that emunas hakhamim goes beyond the chain of tradition of the oral law.

R. Avraham Farissol (cited in the Me'orei Or commentary in the Masekhes Avos Im Peirush Ha-Gra Ha-Mevu'ar) explains similarly:

That they believe in the explanations of the sages who explain the laws, and they believe in their decree for the needs of the time and place. Even though one can question slightly the matter or the decree, it is proper to believe in it.

He also understands emunas hakhamim to be referring to the area of halakhah. There is no indication that it would include philosophy, theology or science.

More recently, the Tiferes Yisrael writes of emunas hakhamim:

That one does not believe everything that one hears, for this is the trait of the fool who believes everything. Rather, one believes the words of the sages about the wisdom of the Torah, even if one's intellect does not comprehend them.

According to these last three commentators, emunas hakhamim is limited to accepting the authority of the sages regarding the transmission and integrity of the Torah. Rather than giving the sages universal authority on all matters, it confers on them legal authority, meaning authority on matters regarding the law.

It seems to me that this second approach is connected to that of those authorities (Ramban, R. Avraham ben Ha-Rambam, etc.) who sanction occasionally rejecting an aggadic text but would never allow such leeway in regard to an halakhic passage. This is not too say, though, that great scholars may be summarily rejected. A wise man does not lose his wisdom when the topic of conversation shifts. Rather, his level of expertise on a particular subject might be less than complete, perhaps even without his knowledge, and this should be taken into account. Recent rabbinic pronouncements about science come to mind. On this subject, it is worth reviewing R. Aharon Lichtenstein's words (here).

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The Sanctity of the Synagogue

Micha Berger hits a home run with this post. That is how we are supposed to react to tragedies, rather than blaming some third party.

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Television, Videos and Internet II

OK, I've gone through the book quickly. I'm desparately trying to overcome my desire to mock the book because the author, who I was told this morning is a fine individual and not at all extreme, is essentially correct. In the introduction, the author points out that the internet is useful and can be filtered. He recommends carefully looking into filtering and discussing the matter with a rabbi. The book is generally arguing against television, albeit pointing out that much of the material applies equally to videos and the internet.

90% of the book is easily dismissable but the other 10% is absolutely unassailable. That the author prohibits reading newspapers (p. 84), all Hol Ha-Mo'ed trips (pp. 114-116), listening to sports on the radio (p. 6) and essentially all recreational activities does not change the simple fact that television is full of scantily clad women and not-subtle-at-all allusions to matters that should be kept private. So even if you don't wait for a commercial to go to the bathroom, thereby possibly violating the prohibition of bal teshaktzu (i.e. "holding it in" that is potentially damaging to the body), and you don't refuse a request for assistance from a parent while watching TV, thereby neglecting their biblically ordained respect, you still face the insurmountable barrier of choosing to look at immodestly dressed women. That's just not allowed. (Please don't argue that you see them anyway on the street or at work. You have to walk on the street and go to work. You don't have to watch them on TV.)

My dilemma in writing this post was that some (most) readers will simply ignore this and continue watching TV. My hope, though, is that in the spirit of the upcoming Yom Kippur season readers will actively reduce their television watching. I don't expect anyone to change years-old habits from one quick blog post. But try cutting down. Think about it. It's easy, fairly painless, and can only yield positive results.

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Television, Videos and Internet

The other night, at parent's orientation in my sons' yeshiva, they were selling the brand new book Kuntres Davar Be-Ito by R. David Rosenbaum about the prohibited nature of television, videos and the internet.

The book lists 20 biblical prohibitions, 16 positive biblical commandments and 13 rabbinic prohibitions involved in watching/using television, videos and the internet. Yes, some are far stretches--such as yihud, being along with a woman. His example is if you get caught up in a TV show and everyone leaves the house, with you remaining alone with a woman. But others are not stretches at all.

(My thanks to the reader who lent me his copy of the book)

(You can click on the image above to see it larger)

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Mixed Seating at Weddings

In a letter to The Jewish Press, R. Levi (Lawrence) Reisman offers the following perspective on R. Moshe Feinstein's view of mixed seating at weddings:

From what I was told, two of the four weddings Reb Moshe made had completely separate seating. At Reb Reuven's wedding, there were some mixed tables to accommodate those from his wife's side who wouldn't sit any other way. Reb Reuven has acknowledged making the same accommodation for mechutonim at several of his children's weddings. At Rav Tendler's wedding, I was told, the Feinstein side sat separately while the Tendler side sat mixed.

It would appear that Reb Moshe preferred separate seating, but was ready to accommodate those who felt otherwise. I know of one leader from the chassidic tradition who is sympathetic to this position. Although he will not allow mixed seating at his own simchas, he will (unlike the Satmar Rebbe, zt"l, and others) attend a wedding meal with mixed seating, as long as where he sits is not mixed.

Separate seating at weddings has a long history, supported by many sources in halacha and hashkafa. The Sefer Chassidim states that one cannot recite "shehasimcha bemeono" in Birchat Hamazon where men and women sit together because there is no real rejoicing. The Maharshal strongly endorses this position, as does the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch and the Chofetz Chaim in Geder Olam.

I know that the Levush writes that it is not necessary to be so careful with this anymore. However, the Levush can be read as stating this is the case where there is no mechitza between men and women. The original Sefer Chassidim writes of where men sit among the women; the Levush writes of where men can see the women.

I am aware that any number of rabbanim, especially in Germany but also in Lithuania, made weddings with mixed seating. I can and will admit that "mixed seating can be Orthodox"... However, separate seating has far more halachic support, and the advocates of mixed seating should keep that in mind.

See also this post about R. Yehudah Henkin's position on the subject.

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The Holocaust and Theodicy

I have not looked through this blog carefully, but this one particular post at Literati is excellent (link). It is a summary of the essay "The Holocaust and the Problem of Theodicy: An Evangelical Perspective" (in this volume) by John J. Davis. The essay covers various Jewish proposals to theologically explain the Holocaust, ranging from a total rejection of God's place in the Holocaust to the attribution of the destruction to the sufferer's sins. Literati then summarizes Davis' approach.

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When Did R. Dosa Ben Hyrkanus Live?

The Rambam writes in the introduction to his commentary on the Mishnah (Kafah edition, p. 28) that R. Dosa ben Hyrkanus lived at the time of Shimon Ha-Tzadik and had such a long life that he lived into the time of R. Akiva. In other words, R. Dosa ben Hyrkanus lived for over 400 years. Unsurprisingly, the Rambam's student R. Yosef Ibn Aknin writes similarly in his Mevo Ha-Talmud 10:1. R. Yitzhak Abrabanel (introduction to Nahalas Avos) also follows this understanding.

The Rambam's source seems to be the Yerushalmi Yevamos (end of ch. 1) that R. Dosa ben Hyrkanus said that R. Elazar ben Azariah looks like his ancestor Shimon Ha-Tzadik. Alternately, his source might be Yevamos 16a that R. Dosa ben Hyrkanus testified that the prophets Hagai, Zechariah and Malachi had sat on a certain stool. Both passages imply that R. Dosa ben Hyrkanus was alive at the time of Shimon Ha-Tzadik and the last prophets, and the time of R. Elazar ben Azariah.

However, that anyone would live for over four hundred years seems quite amazing.

The Meiri (introduction to Avos, published as Seder Ha-Kabbalah pp. 50-51) explicitly argues on the Rambam and suggests that R. Dosa ben Hyrkanus merely had traditions about the ancients and was not an actual witness to their lives. I saw that R. Sherira Gaon is also quoted as implicitly disagreeing with the Rambam (I believe from Sha'arei Teshuvah no. 187). The Rashbatz, in Magen Avos 1:1 (sv. u-nevi'im), says that R. Dosa ben Hyrkanus lived after the destruction of the Second Temple and that Hagai must have lived very long if R. Dosa ben Hyrkanus saw him.

R. Aharon Hyman (Toledos Tanna'im Va-Amora'im, pp. 322-323) suggests that because R. Dosa ben Hyrkanus was rich, as we know, he might have owned an antique with Ezra's image, perhaps also a stool on which prophets had sat.

The Seder Ha-Doros asks on the Rambam from Gittin 81a that Beis Shammai was doros ha-rishonim (the earlier generations) and R. Dosa ben Hyrkanus was doros ha-aharonim (the later generations). This certainly implies that R. Dosa ben Hyrkanus was not from the very first generation of the Second Commonwealth. The Hida, in his Pesah Enayim (ad loc.), answers that perhaps R. Dosa ben Hyrkanus was not ordained until late in his life and is therefore called doros ha-aharonim.

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Admissions Tests

The NY Daily News reports:

Drew University, a small liberal arts school, on Tuesday said that applicants no longer need to submit scores from the SAT or ACT...

Drew joins five other four-year schools with campuses in New Jersey that do not require the SAT or ACT, according to FairTest: Berkeley College, in West Paterson; Thomas Edison College, in Trenton; and three religious institutions, Beth Medrash Govoha, in Lakewood; Rabbinical College of America, in Morristown; and Talmudical Academy of New Jersey, in Adelphia.

No kidding. Imagine if Kingsboro College in Brooklyn decided not to require SATs. It would join the ranks of Torah Vodaas, Mir, Chaim Berlin,...

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