Volume 40: Number 78
Tue, 29 Nov 2022
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Message: 1
From: Zev Sero
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2022 17:45:11 -0500
Subject: Re: [Avodah] consistency in poseik?
On 23/11/22 13:12, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> The poseik who he was asking whether he could fly back on the second day
> of yom tov would have told him, if asked, that he should observe the
> second day yom tov in Israel.? He has decided to follow?a different
> poseik and not observe the second day in Israel and is now asking the
> first poseik, given that he has decided to only observe one day, can he
> land in Ch"ul by flying from Israel on that day.
That doesn't make much sense to me. If you're following a rov who
paskened to keep one day, then you should ask any followup shailas to
that rov! Or at least to one who not only agrees with him on this topic
but who is his talmid / follower in general, and so can try to answer as
he would have.
--
Zev Sero ?Were we directed from Washington when to sow
z...@sero.name and when to reap, we should soon want bread.?
?Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.
Go to top.
Message: 2
From: Jay F. Shachter
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2022 17:39:49 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Morality Does Have an Evolutionary Advantage
There are two mechanisms that guide evolution: natural selection,
which Darwin described in The Origin Of Species, and sexual selection,
which Darwin first described in The Descent Of Man. The article that
was summarized, and then quoted at length, in Avodah v40i77, discusses
how natural selection could have brought about human social
cooperation, as if the article were written by someone who read The
Origin Of Species (and then extrapolated from it to human evolution,
since The Origin Of Species never explicitly discusses human
evolution) and never read The Descent Of Man.
I have a short ("short" as in "only one page long") essay which
suggests that God may have used sexual selection, not natural
selection, as the mechanism for bringing about human social
cooperation. I originated the idea while thinking about a puzzling
arrangement in human sexual anatomy.
I don't think I can safely present this one-page essay in this mailing
list; there are straight-laced members of this mailing list who may
feel offended, or, if not offended, then uncomfortable, if they read
it. I wrote something much less explicit in this mailing list some
years ago, and, after publishing it, the editor of this mailing list
then publicly stated, in this mailing list, that he should not have
published it. I don't want to give him an opportunity to sin in this
way again. Now, inasmuch as the editor of this mailing list has
already forfeited his share in the World to Come, one may wonder why
it matters if he forfeits it again. The answer is that the editor of
this mailing list may still repent, and regain his share in the World
to Come (it is unlikely that he will, because he has not, these many
years, and he has ignored annually e-mailed reminders to do so; but he
still might), because he has committed the sin only once. If,
however, the editor of this mailing list commits the sin twice, then
he will certainly never repent of it, and his already-lost share in
the World to Come will be irretrievable.
If you are interested in reading a one-page essay that suggests an
explanation for a puzzling arrangement in human sexual anatomy, by
attributing to it, thru sexual selection, the way human social
cooperation became widespread in the human race, you can find it on my
website at http://m5.chicago.il.us/docs/social_cooperation.pdf.
Jay F. ("Yaakov") Shachter
6424 North Whipple Street
Chicago IL 60645-4111
(1-773)7613784 landline
(1-410)9964737 GoogleVoice
j...@m5.chicago.il.us
http://m5.chicago.il.us
When Martin Buber was a schoolboy, it must have been
no fun at all playing tag with him during recess.
Go to top.
Message: 3
From: Various People to Areivim
Date: Fri, 25 Nov 2022 13:53:14 +0200
Subject: [Avodah] Moving to EY
Date: Thu, 17 Nov 2022 17:32:45 +0000
From: "Prof. L. Levine via Areivim" <arei...@lists.aishdas.org>
From
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/owning-israel-or-belonging-to-it-parshat-chaye-sara/
Just as Abraham's time in the land was tenuous, the rabbis repeatedly
remind the Jews that arrogance about their permanence in the land is risky
(Chayei Sarah)
The Ramban (Nachmanides) tells us in his first comment to the book of
Genesis that the stories of the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and
the eradication of humanity at the time of the flood, and the dispersion
of the population in the wake of the building of the Tower of Babel,
all come to warn the Jewish people (and explain to the gentiles) that
our connection to the land is contingent.
<Snip>
Over the generations, fundamental texts and great thinkers (many others
could be garnered) have called upon us to revisit the moment immediately
before the first parcel of the land of Israel passed into our control. The
sense of tenuousness that was inherent at that point in Jewish history
was to be recalled at other moments when this sense might come less
naturally but still be appropriate.
Perhaps when speaking of the Jewish people's relationship to the Land of
Israel, we should speak of Jews belonging to the land more than the land
belonging to us. It seems to me that this type of discourse reflects
a major impulse in our tradition that clashes with certain crude and
jingoistic platitudes that are becoming more prevalent in the current
political climate.
__________________________________________________________
Let me add that in Shema we say twice a day "Take care not to be lured
away to serve other gods and bow to them. For the LORD's anger will
flare up against you, and He will shut up the skies so that there will
be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce; and you will soon
perish from the good land that the LORD is assigning to you."
Is it not true that living in Israel is contingent upon Torah observance?
Are not the non-religious Jews living there today weakening our right
to live in the land?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Marty Bluke via Areivim <arei...@lists.aishdas.org>
Living in Israel is a Mitzva min hatorah according to many rishonim and if
not is a Mitzva drabbanan. You pick up on one aggadta and based on that
don't want to be mekayem a Mitzva? A person is supposed to have kavana in
tefila. The assumption in the poskim is that today we lack in kavana (
therefore for example we don't daven a tefilas nedava). Yet we still daven
3 times a day.
Intentions/kavanos are very nice for holy people, however for us regular
people all we have is the 4 cubits of Halacha which says that there is a
Mitzva to live in Israel.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Marty Bluke via Areivim <arei...@lists.aishdas.org>
Before making derogatory remarks about Eretz Yisrael please read the
following gemara in Kesubos 122b:
R. Abba used to kiss the cliffs of Akko.R. Hanina used to repair its roads.R.
Ammi and R. Assi used to rise [from their seats to move] from the sun to
the shade and from the shade to the sun. R. Hiyya b. Gamda rolled himself
in its dust, for it is said in Scripture, For Thy servants take pleasure in
her stones, and love her dust.
Rashi explains the reason they did this is so that no one would have a
reason to say a bad thing about Eretz Yisrael/
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Marty Bluke via Areivim <arei...@lists.aishdas.org>
Here is another example. There were/are certain chasidishe Rebbes who spend
hours preparing to daven and therefore daven after the zman tefila. Why?
Because they feel they can't daven without the proper preparations which
overrides the zman. Do they advocate this for everyone? Of course not, the
regular person needs to follow the Halacha. The same applies here. Are we
on the level of Rav Zera to make these kinds of calculations as to whether
to be makeyem a Mitzva? Absolutely not.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Marty Bluke via Areivim <arei...@lists.aishdas.org>
Last point. Is the aggadic statement of Rav Zera quoted by ANYONE lhakacha?
Not that I know of. It doesnt appear in the Rambam, Rif, Rosh shulchan
Aruch. Since when do we pasken anything based on a single aggadic statement?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Prof. L. Levine via Areivim" <arei...@lists.aishdas.org>
R. Joseph Kaplan wrote:
> Prof. Levine tells us about Rav Zeris (" He (Rav or Rabi Zeira I)
> did not leave for the Land of Israel until he had a favorable dream
> that showed him that any possible sins of his were already forgiven;
> therefore, he was worthy of living in the Holy Land.") and then asks:
>> I have never heard of anyone considering making Aliyah have Ravi Zeira's
>> approach in mind. Have you? I wonder why
I don't know (I'm pretty sure no one actually knows), but my guess is
that Rav Zeira's approach is not followed, at least today, is that very
few people base important life decisions on dreams.
WADR,I think you have completely missed the point of this story, and
why I posted it.. The point is that before moving to EY Rav Zeira I was
concerned that he might not be on the proper spiritual level to live
there. EY has Kedusha and, as Rav Dovid Kronglass told me many years ago,
"You do not just go to EY. You must be on the proper spiritual level to
live there."
It is the fact that people do not take this consideration inro account
when considering moving to EY that I wondered about. The fact that one
today would not expect this consideration to be settled by a dream is
irrelevant. Still, one should determine if she or he is on the proper
spiritual level to move to EY. I would think that a thorough and deep
cheshbon ha nefesh (perhaps in consultation with a gadol) is required.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Prof. L. Levine via Areivim" <arei...@lists.aishdas.org>
The following is from pages 114-115 of Vision and Valor by Rabbi Berel
Wein. "He (Rav or Rabi Zeira I) did not leave for the Land of Israel
until he had a favorable dream that showed him that any possible sins
of his were already forgiven; therefore, he was worthy of living in the
Holy Land."
I have never heard of anyone considering making Aliyah have Ravi Zeira's
approach in mind. Have you? I wonder why.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
From: menucha via Areivim <arei...@lists.aishdas.org>
Instead of engaging in a discussion based on a quote from a book written
by Rabbi Berel Wein, I suggest that we examine the primary source for
this statement: Brachot 57a
And one who sees barley [se'orim] in a dream has received a sign that
his iniquities are taken away, as it is stated: "And your iniquity
is taken away [vesar avonekh], and your sin expiated" (Isaiah 6:7);
se'orim is an acronym for sar avon. Rabbi Zeira said: I did not
ascend from Babylonia to Eretz Yisrael until I saw barley in my dream
This statement is a cryptic one, and Rabbi Wein's interpretation is by no
means the only one. For example, Tzitz Eliezer (11 Hadran for Ketubot);
Rabbi Zeira sees this as a Heavenly sign that he -- and not Rabbi Yehuda
-- is correct in the machloket about moving to Eretz Yisrael. Not only
that it is not a sin but that he will receive s'char mitzva for moving
to EY Shabbat shalom.
Menucha
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