Avodah Mailing List

Volume 31: Number 123

Tue, 09 Jul 2013

• 1. Re: announcing plan for first head transplant in man (T613K@aol.com)
• 2. Knobbelach (martin brody)
• 3. Re: Knobbelach (Zev Sero)
• 4. Re: Knobbelach (Micha Berger)
• 5. Re: announcing plan for first head transplant in man (Lisa Liel)
• 6. Common Kiddush Questions (Prof. Levine)
• 7. Kabdehu v'Chashdehu (Henry Topas)
• 8. B-W-S (saul newman)
• 9. A Guten Chodesh (cantorwolb...@cox.net)
• 10. on hairless chickens (saul newman)
• 11. VOWS (cantorwolb...@cox.net)
• 12. Famous Yahrzeit (cantorwolb...@cox.net)
• 13. minhagei EY vs chul (Eli Turkel)
• 14. A D'var During The Nine Days (cantorwolb...@cox.net)
• 15. Re: A Guten Chodesh (Micha Berger)
• 16. Re: VOWS (Micha Berger)
• 17. Ahavat Chinam (Eli Turkel)

 
From: Marty Bluke  <marty.bl...@gmail.com>
"

http://www.pressbox.co.uk/detailed/Science/announcing_plan_for_fir
st_head_tr
ansplant_in_man_1205861.html

The  Halachic implications of this fascinating. Halachically how would we
identify  this person? Do we follow the head, the body, or neither? What is
the status  of his wife? etc.

 
 
>>>>
 
 
It seems to me that the halachic status of a man without a head is "dead"  
-- psik reisha.  The status of the wife would be "almanah" -- both  wives, 
of both men.  Maybe after the head transplant the person is alive  again but 
I really doubt that will ever be possible.
 
This does raise another question though.  What will happen after  techias 
hameisim, when those who were formerly dead become alive again?   What 
happens to their wives -- who may have remarried after they were  widowed?  Will 
old family relationships be re-established or will everyone  start fresh as 
autonomous, family-less people?
 
--Toby Katz
=============




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"checking the wheat, which refers to some sort of fungal growth as
"knobblach",
i.e. "garlics", presumably because its shape is somehow reminiscent of
garlic.
If one has to remove "knobblach" from the wheat to make matzah, then it
makes
sense that this would develop into a minhag not to eat actual knobble.
zev sero"

Sorry, but no, it doesn't make any sense.

Martin Brody
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On 4/07/2013 6:24 PM, martin brody wrote:
> "checking the wheat, which refers to some sort of fungal growth as "knobblach",
> i.e. "garlics", presumably because its shape is somehow reminiscent of garlic.
> If one has to remove "knobblach" from the wheat to make matzah, then it makes
> sense that this would develop into a minhag not to eat actual knobble.
> zev sero"
>
> Sorry, but no, it doesn't make any sense.

Sure it does.  On Pesach people avoid any association with chametz.  People
even avoid saying "bread" on Pesach, substituting "chometz" instead.  And I
understand that there are many Sefardim who don't eat chickpeas on Pesach
because "chummus" sounds too much like "chametz:.   So it makes sense that
if garlic's name is associated in people's minds with chometz, they would
avoid it.   It makes more sense than any other explanation I've heard for
the minhag.


-- 
Zev Sero               A citizen may not be required to offer a 'good and
z...@sero.name          substantial reason' why he should be permitted to
                        exercise his rights. The right's existence is all
                        the reason he needs.
                            - Judge Benson E. Legg, Woollard v. Sheridan

On Thu, Jul 04, 2013 at 3:24pm PDT, Martin Brody replied to Zev:
:> checking the wheat, which refers to some sort of fungal growth as
:> "knobblach", i.e. "garlics", presumably because its shape is somehow
:> reminiscent of garlic.

:> If one has to remove "knobblach" from the wheat to make matzah, then it makes
:> sense that this would develop into a minhag not to eat actual knobble.

: Sorry, but no, it doesn't make any sense.

I think in general it pays to trust mesorah enough to ask "What kind
of sense could it make?" rather than just assuming that a minhag that
survived centuries of "peer review" by a large community and its rabbis
doesn't make any. In that spirit...

As we heard last Shabbos, Yirmiyahu prophecied in word-play. "Maqel
shaqqeid ani ro'eah" -- "ki shoqeid Ani al devari la'asoso." (1:11,12)
"Sir nafuach" -- "tipasach hara'ah" (1:13,14)

When Yirmiyahu's mind wrapped a metaphor around the message he received
from the RBSO, word association played a role.

Words shape how we think about the world. This kind of association might
be an irrational part of the human psyche, but it is real. And given
that our minds do indeed make such associations, minhagim prohibiting
things that make us think about chameitz have their own sense.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Between stimulus & response, there is a space.
mi...@aishdas.org        In that space is our power to choose our
http://www.aishdas.org   response. In our response lies our growth
Fax: (270) 514-1507      and our freedom. - Victor Frankl, (MSfM)

I don't see how or why this would be different than any other 
transplant.  It's a misnomer to label it a head transplant.  On the 
contrary, it is a full body transplant.  If a person who receives a 
transplanted heart is still the same person, a person who receives a 
transplanted torso, limbs, organs, etc, should be no less so.

Lisa


On 7/3/2013 7:00 AM, Marty Bluke wrote:
> Whether they have successfully done it with monkeys is irrelevant. If 
> ti doesn't happen next year it will happen in 10 years or 20 or 30. 
> The fact is that medical science is advancing rapidly and halacha has 
> to be ready to deal with the issues that will come up.
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 From http://tinyurl.com/mmrh7xh

One of the most common halachic realms where we actively see 
different minhagim manifested is that of making Kiddush on Shabbos. 
One family stands when making Kiddush, another sits, while a third 
does some sort of combination[1]. Additionally, another's "minhag" 
preference might just depend on how tired or hungry one is. However, 
aside from the proper posturical preferences on how to make Kiddush, 
there are actual variations inherent in the words and actions of the 
Kiddush itself.

See the above URL for more. YL
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The expression Kabdehu v'Chashdehu is used often in Israeli politics.  I
have been looking for the makor of this phrase and all I have found is the
notion that it is learned out from an incident recorded in Masechet Derech
Eretz Rabbah (4) about Rabbi Yehoshua (Ben Levi).

Is there another source or a more recent source which would actually show the phrase as indicated rather than the need to use a drush?

Shabbat Shalom,

Henry Topas
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http://parsha.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-problem-with-dr-betechs-book.html
r waxman's  dialogue with dr betech about his contra-slifkin work....
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In a very meaningful and worthwhile video presented by Rabbi Steven Weil, Executive Vice-President
of the O.U., last year on Tisha b'Av, he points out that it is an absolute miracle that our mesorah has 
survived despite the attack and destruction of our mesorah. 
I have a question, not at all intended to be contentious or na?ve, and certainly not original. We are 
assured over and over in Tanach that we will survive all odds. Therefore, for a believer, why would
it be an absolute miracle, when we already know and have been promised by the Almighty, Himself? 





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http://havolim.blogspot.com/2013/07/featherless-chickens.html
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The Torah states regarding the taking of a vow, ?If a man takes a vow to Hashem or swears an oath to establish a prohibition upon himself, 
he shall not desecrate his word,?    The Gemara in Tractate Shavuos states, ?For the sin of vows, one?s wife and children die (when the children are minors).? 
I would be interested to know what I am missing?
In other words, Avraham pleads for saving wicked people for the sake of a righteous minority.
I can understand the above statement in the gemara if the wife is a rasha and the children are reincarnated from previous wicked lives.
But if not, what is going on here??
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Today, Tammuz 29, is the Yahrzeit of Rashi.
Rashi passed away 908 years ago in the year 
1105 (Hebrew date 4865).

I viisited Vienna over the weekend and observed many things diffrent in
Vienna (and the US) from Israel

These are based on my limited observations and habe no statistics

1) Early minyan on shabbat
In EY this is arranged so mincha is before plag and kabbalt shabbat is
after plag.
In In Vienna (and Teaneck among others) it is a fixed time frequently 7pm
independent of plag

BTW walking back after shul and walking along the Danube I remarked to
someone about the famous psak of the Maharil of walking with the kahal
along the Danube and coming home while the sun was still out. Somone said
the remarkable thing was not that the Maharil davened early but that he
went for a stroll (tiyul) with the congegation. Today no rabbi in Vienna
would go for a stroll with the kehilla

2) Between mincha and maarive during the week - in Chil frequently a 2
minute break while in Israel a 20-25 minute break

3) A fast is over in Teaneck at the time of motzei shabbat. In EY we
usually daven maariv 20-25 minutes after shekia and the fast is over some
15 minutes before the time of motzei shabat

-- 
Eli Turkel
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I once read an article entitled "The Amalek Within Us" by Rabbi Benzion C. Kaganoff z"l,
who was Rabbi for 47 years of Congregation Ezras Israel in Chicago, as well as past
president of Chicago Rabbinical Council and Chicago Board of Rabbis. He pointed out
that Amalek is not seen as an external foe but as our enemy within, for there is an 
Amalek within each one of us that we must blot out. 

Rashi (quoting the Midrash) gives several interpretations of the expression asher korcho
which is used to describe the dastardly act of Amalek (he chanced upon you?he made
you unclean?he cooled you). Rashi's third interpretation particularly spells out the sin
of Amalekism: It is an indifference to ideals, an apathy to great aims and a cooling off
of enthusiasm for the important things in life. I can personally attest to how true this can
be. Very often in life we must beware of the forces that will cool our enthusiasm, that will 
inject hesitation and doubt in our goals and purpose in life. The Kabbalists have pointed 
out that the Hebrew Amalek is numerically equivalent to safek, doubt. Both equal 240. 

These Nine Days tend to accentuate doubts of the past but offers hopes for the future.
May the Almighty comfort us amongst the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.
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On Sun, Jul 07, 2013 at 09:15:09AM -0400, cantorwolb...@cox.net wrote:
: I have a question, not at all intended to be contentious or naive,
: and certainly not original. We are
: assured over and over in Tanach that we will survive all
: odds. Therefore, for a believer, why would
: it be an absolute miracle, when we already know and have been promised
: by the Almighty, Himself?

Someone replied, but unfortunately the email got lost en route to my
editor. In the future, don't put personal information like your phone
number in an email headed for the web! You just introduce delays or a
chance for me to mess up.

Anyway, whomever it was pointed out that there is no neis greater than
seeing Hashem's promise fulfilled.

To which I would add: The miraculous is when we see the world as a
good place, as obeying the higher laws of morality, even if it requires
violating the more mundane laws, those of physics. The difference
would make it a neis nigleh rather than a neis nistar.

The Maharal (2nd introduction to Gevuros Hashem) makes this idea a
centerpiece of how he understands miracles. Miracles are not a change
from the Divine Plan as though nature were imperfect. Nor are they ad
hoc. Rather, a person who elevates themselves to a plane where they
deserve miracles sees the world from that perspective and those laws
apply to him. Even as other things -- perhaps contradictory things --
are experienced by others! Shemesh beGiv'on dom -- only in Giv'on,
everywhere else the sun continued moving.

REED ties this to the concept of 4 olamos, and identifies the "higher
plane" with being on a level that ethical/moral law is more absolute
imposes his perception on his reality.

http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2006/02/rav-dessler-on-reality-and-pe
rception.shtml
w/ an erratum at:
http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2006/02/rav-dessler-on-reality-and
-perception_22.shtml

But back to where we started... Miracles are davaqa when we can see how
G-d's plan is fulfilled -- even WRT details He let us in on.

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Zion will be redeemed through justice,
mi...@aishdas.org        and her returnees, through righteousness.
http://www.aishdas.org
Fax: (270) 514-1507

On Sun, Jul 07, 2013 at 06:46:36PM -0400, cantorwolb...@cox.net wrote:
: The Torah states regarding the taking of a vow, ?If a man takes a vow to Hashem or swears an oath to establish a prohibition upon himself, 
: he shall not desecrate his word,?    The Gemara in Tractate Shavuos
: states, ?For the sin of vows, one?s wife and children die (when the
: children are minors).? 
: I would be interested to know what I am missing?

You have asked varients of this question before.

Everything that happens must be appropriate for everyone involved.
Answering why something happened in one person's life has nothing to
do with understaind the role of the event in someone else's.

-Micha

Heard a program on a charedi radio station today on the importance of
Ahavat Chinam.
The speaker pointed out that in much of Europe and other places it is
dangerous for a religious person to walk the streets. In Israel not only is
it safe but in many places when a rabbi walks down the street many chilonim
come over asking for a bracha.

See *Bein Adam Le-chavero:** Ethics of Interpersonal Conduct*

*By Rav Binyamin Zimmerman*

*Shiur #19: Ahavat Chinnam ? A Communal Outlook*

www.vbm-torah.org/archive/chavero2/19chavero.htm****


In fact, even in instances in which it is permitted to hate another, there
may be a level of love that must always remain, as we discussed in lesson
#16. A necessary outgrowth of loving God is caring for His creations, and
it is an expression of the character of a Jew who walks in the footsteps of
Avraham. As the Netziv explains (see Year 1, Lesson 19), even though he
hated Sedom, Avraham still cared about its citizens? welfare and prayed for
them.

** In truth, the concept of *ahavat chinnam* as expressed here is actually
found earlier, in the works of Rav Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Kohen Kook (*Orot
Ha-kodesh* 3:323-324):

** **

If we were destroyed, and the world destroyed along with us, by *sinat
chinnam*, then we may return and be rebuilt, and the world rebuilt along
with us, by *ahavat chinnam*.****

** **

His son, Rav Tzvi Yehuda (*Li-ntivot Yisrael* 2, 222), explains the
intention of the term *ahavat chinnam*. It is not meant to be ?baseless
love? in the negative sense, but love without any ulterior motives ? a love
emanating from a basic understanding of the Jewish people:****

** **

This *ahava* is not dependent on anything. It is like God's love for the
Jewish people, which is an eternal covenant. *Ahavat chinnam* is not about
the aspiration to attain an added level of divine service or to do a good
deed. *Ahavat chinnam* comes when there are no personal advancements to be
won. This *ahava* exists regardless of any shortcomings in the beloved and
without any conditions that have to be met. Even with all of the
deficiencies and imperfections in people, *ahava* for them must be total,
as the verse (*Zekharya* 8:17) states: "And let none of you devise evil in
your hearts against his fellow." There may be great differences among
personalities; there may be great disagreements in study; there may be
great debates over the right thing to do. Nevertheless, true *ahava* transcends
all of this and surrounds all of the children of Israel. This is the
eternal love of God for His people.


see article for more details and connections to tochecha
-- 
Eli Turkel
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