Avodah Mailing List

Volume 41: Number 19

Mon, 13 Mar 2023

• 1. The Sacred Shekel (Prof. L. Levine)
• 2. Compass directions (Akiva Miller)
• 3. Re: taker but not giver (Micha Berger)
• 4. The Mourning Period of Sefirah ? What Are the Guidelines of the Aveilus Observed During the Sefirah Weeks? (Prof. L. Levine)
• 5. Re: taker but not giver (Zev Sero)
• 6. Re: Compass directions (Zev Sero)
• 7. Yayin Nesech - Definition (Prof. L. Levine)

The following is from Rav Schwab on Chumash

Everyone passing by to be counted must give this half a
shekel based on the shekel of the Holy [Sanctuary,} where a
shekel is twenty geras. Half of such a shekel must be given
as a terumah-offering to Hashem. (Shemos 30:13)

Money obtained by a person who may have worked hard for it, but in the
process used forbidden tactics such as overcharging, withholding an
employee's wages, charging interest, doing business on Shabbos or Yorn
Tov, or engaging in various forms of dishonesty, is not completely his. He may have
only earned a part of his money, and he does not truly own the complete shekel.
When one offers a gift to Hashem, the shekel that he donates must be a
shekel of holiness. He must have honestly earned all twenty geras of that shekel, or
as we say in English, there should be "one hundred cents to the dollar." Not even one
penny should be missing from that dollar due to involvement in forbidden monetary
dealings. Jewish money must be -sacred shekels.

When one wishes to donate money for tzedakah or appropriate money for objects
to be used in the performance of mitzvos, one must be certain that every penny was
acquired honestly.

A man offered Rav Schwab a large donation. The Rav recalled that
this man had several years earlier declared bankruptcy, thereby avoiding
paying his creditors.

"Didn't you declare bankruptcy a few years ago?" he asked.
"Yes," the man replied.

"Well, what happened?"

"Thank G-d, I went to bankruptcy court and received a settlement," the
man responded. "I was able to restructure my business, and today I am
even wealthier than I was originally. I therefore wish to offer the Rav this
large donation for his yeshivah."

"You must use the money you wish to donate to pay back your
creditors," the Rav responded. "According to the Shulchan Aruch, there
is no such thing as declaring bankruptcy to free yourself from debt.
When a man owes money, he is obligated to return it. Otherwise, he is
considered a thief. Money that is to be given to tzedakah must be earned
in a kosher manner. Bankruptcy is not kosher."

Professor Yitzchok Levine

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.
Many times, the Torah refers to a direction with a single word, such as
"negbah" in Shemos 40:24, or "teimanah" in Shemos 26:35. Other times, the
Torah uses two words; for example, Shemos 36:23 has the phrase "negev
teimana".

On the one hand, these two words are synonyms, meaning "south". On the
other hand, for the etymologically inclined, they are derived from
different concepts. "Negev" means "the dry area", which is south of Eretz
Yisrael. And "teiman" means "on the right side" of a map which is oriented
[pun unavoidable] with east on top.

My question is why the Torah would use an extra word, apparently for no
reason. Is there some need for emphasis in this context? I  doubt it would
be to eliminate confusion; they're building the Mishkan locally, not in the
Negev, so it obviously means "south", right?

And a related question is what distinguishes the many cases where the Torah
uses one word, from the many cases where it uses two. Is there a pattern
that I haven't noticed?

And also, when the Torah uses only one word, is there a pattern to when one
is used over the other?

Thanks!
Akiva Miller
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Just to close this conversational circle as it usually goes, since this
is the point at which it generally ends...

On Wed, Feb 08, 2023 at 01:09:08AM -0500, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
> And it's not just that you can't find a source before 1800.  It's that every
> posek from before then holds explicitly the opposite.  And no posek since
> then invokes "darkei shalom"; their rationale is eivah, which is exactly
> what you were taught as a child and that you now claim was not true.  Nobody
> was "misinterpreting Chazal's idiom".

Except that mishum eivah is an equally misinterpreted idiom. And I am
not clear if they are substansively different.

We have examples where the same idiom is used two ways. For example,
minhag oqeir halakhah refers to a different mechanism in Choshein Mishpat
than in the rest of halakhah. In CM, it means that since we can assume
that both parties expect he usual in their financial dealings, their
agreement is more bound by what is customary in their culture than the
halakhah. Andtherefore the application is far broader than elsewhere.

But we know this because the mechanisms are discussed, and we know
they differ.

Shouldn't our default be that if we see an idiom describing a principle
across halakhah, we should assume it refers to only one such principle,
and demand proof if somoene wants to claim that it actually refers to
two disparate ideas?

So, why am I to assume darkhei shalom is a survival strategy when used
in a discussion of Hilkhos Shabbos, when that can't be the usage WRT
how people contribute toward the Eruv (Eiruvin 81a) or when a wife wants
to keep maasei yadeha (Kesuvos 58b)?

What are the grounds for saying that mishum eivah ever means "because
otherwise they may come to hate us enoug to kill us"? In other contexts
it means "because it fosters hatred, and hatred is bad."


Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 "As long as the candle is still burning,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   it is still possible to accomplish and to
Author: Widen Your Tent      mend."
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF        - Anonymous shoemaker to R' Yisrael Salanter

Please see the article at

http://rabbikaganoff.com/the-mourning-period-of-sefirah-what-are-the-guidelines-of-the-aveilus-observed-during-the-sefirah-weeks/

by Rabbi Yermiyahu  Kaganoff. He outlines the various minhagim regarding Sefirah.

I have always been puzzled by the minhag that some people hold the first
days of sefirah and count Chol Moed as part of their 33 days of mourning. I
know that if someone dies during chol moed, that one waits until after Yom
Tov to sit shiva, because there is not supposed to be aveilus during chol
moed. thus, I wonder how one can count the days of chol moed as part of the
shefirah period.

For the record, the Mishna Bruer writes that the minhag in Vilna was to observe the aveilus period starting from the first day of Rosh Chodosh Iyar.

Professor Yitzchok Levine


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On 12/3/23 19:55, Micha Berger via Avodah wrote:
> So, why am I to assume darkhei shalom is a survival strategy when used
> in a discussion of Hilkhos Shabbos, when that can't be the usage WRT
> how people contribute toward the Eruv (Eiruvin 81a) or when a wife wants
> to keep maasei yadeha (Kesuvos 58b)?

You aren't asked to assume that, since "darchei shalom" is *not ever* 
used in this context.  *Nobody* invokes "darchei shalom" to justify it.


> What are the grounds for saying that mishum eivah ever means "because
> otherwise they may come to hate us enoug to kill us"? In other contexts
> it means "because it fosters hatred, and hatred is bad."

Because there is no basis for permitting chilul shabbos simply to avoid 
"hatred".  The only heter we are given is pikuach nefesh, so we have to 
be able to relate it to that.

And also because any explanation we come up with has to explain why 
before 1800 it was *completely forbidden* to do this, and all the poskim 
insisted we should *not* be concerned about eiva.  Now we can understand 
how the metzius changed with the Enlightenment. But if we want to say 
that we are now permitting something we never allowed before, simply to 
avoid harmless "hatred" we must be able to be confident that before 1800 
there was no concern about even that.  That at that time not only would 
there be no pogrom, there wouldn't even be hard feelings, but now it's 
different and there would be.

-- 
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.

On 12/3/23 16:38, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> 
> My question is why the Torah would use an extra word, apparently for no 
> reason. Is there some need for emphasis in this context? I? doubt it 
> would be to eliminate confusion; they're building the Mishkan locally, 
> not in the Negev, so it obviously means "south", right?

But they were building the Mishkan *south* of the Negev.  So if you were 
to take "negba" literally it would mean *north*.  Just as if we in 
America were to take "yama" literally as "towards the Mediterranean Sea" 
it would mean "east".  Perhaps that's why it needs to emphasize that it 
means south regardless of the Negev's actual location.  And once it's 
made that point several times, it can go back to just using "negba" and 
we will understand it, especially if it's directly contrasted with 
"tzafona", as it is in the pasuk you cited (40:24).


-- 
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.

From https://outorah.org/p/147683,  the OU Kosher Halacha Yomis.


QUESTION: What is ?yayin nesech?? Do the rules of bitul (nullification) apply to it?


ANSWER: Yayin nesech is wine that was poured as a libation in the service
of idolatry. It is forbidden to drink or derive any benefit from this wine,
and it must be destroyed (e.g., poured down a drain or flushed down a
toilet).


Since yayin nesech was used for idol worship, the rules for bitul
(nullification) are stricter than for most other non-kosher foods.
Generally, non-kosher food is batel (nullified) if diluted in sixty parts.
However, the Mishnah (Avoda Zara 5:8<https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Avodah_Zarah.5.8?lang=he-en&;utm_source=outorah.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker>)
states that yayin nesech is not batel in kosher wine, even if it is a small
percentage of the mixture. Thus, if a single drop of yayin nesech fell into
a large vat of kosher wine, the entire mixture becomes forbidden.
Similarly, Shulchan Aruch (YD 140:1<https://www.sefaria.org/Shulchan_Arukh,_Yoreh_De'ah.140.1?lang=he-en&;utm_source=outorah.org&utm_medium=sefaria_linker>)
writes that if a statuette that was worshipped became mixed with 1000 (or
more) identical statuettes and there is no way to identify the idol, all
the statuettes would be forbidden.


The above is true when yayin nesech is mixed with kosher wine. However,
yayin nesech which is mixed into water or other foods is batel if the taste
of wine is no longer discernible.

Professor Yitzchok Levine

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