Volume 41: Number 68
Thu, 21 Sep 2023
Subjects Discussed In This Issue:
Message: 1
From: Joseph Kaplan
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2023 18:56:27 +0000
Subject: [Avodah] Does the psak of bet din evidence the ratzon hashem?
Doesn?t the Talmudic story of the tanur of Akhnai teach us that ratzon Hashem is not particularly relevant in halachic disputes?
Joseph
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Message: 2
From: Joel Rich
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2023 17:10:13 -0400
Subject: [Avodah] Amida Length
I?ve seen pulpit rabbis who take a significantly longer time for their
amida than do their congregants and have the shatz say chazarat hashatz
(including kedusha) while the rabbi continues his personal amida. I?ve seen
others who speed up their amida and have the shatz wait for them in a
manner that a significant percentage of the minyan is done but others are
not. What do you see as the pros and cons of each approach?
Gmar Tov
Joel Rich
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Message: 3
From: Joel Rich
Date: Tue, 19 Sep 2023 17:08:11 -0400
Subject: [Avodah] Chazakot
I'm told a book by a sofer recommends not relying on the chazaka of the S?A
(or R SZA) but rather a cyclic checking of tfillin/mezuzuot (based on his
own experiences). Question- what is the algorithm to determine when a
chazaka should be reconsidered?
Gmar Tov
Joel Rich
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Message: 4
From: mco...@touchlogic.com
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2023 04:53:25 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Avodah] divorcee
here is a prohibition of not causing pain to any Jew
there is an additional prohibition of not causing pain to a widow or an orphan
it would appear that the second prohibition does not apply to divorcees.
why is a widow different/more helpless than a divorcee?
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Message: 5
From: Eli Turkel
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2023 15:04:14 +0300
Subject: [Avodah] brain implant
Good morning,
The concept of a *computer chip inside your brain* sounds like it?s
straight out of a science fiction movie. But it just became one step closer
to reality, as Neuralink, Elon Musk?s brain implant company, announced it
is recruiting participants
<https://e.email.forbes.com/c2/869:650a19efc0833fa44a0bab81:ot:5ff74765b52f2e83d75e3e88:1/4aad069e?jwtH=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9&jwtP=eyJpYXQiOjE2OTUyMTAyMTAsImNkIjoiLmVtYWlsLmZvcmJlcy5jb20iLCJjZSI6ODY0MDAsInRrIjoiZm9yYmVzLWxpdmUiLCJtdGxJRCI6IjY1MGE3MGI0YWFjNjQ2YTRjMjBjOGUwMiIsImxpbmtVcmwiOiJodHRwczpcL1wvd3d3LmZvcmJlcy5jb21cL3NpdGVzXC9tb2xseWJvaGFubm9uXC8yMDIzXC8wOVwvMTlcL2Vsb24tbXVza3MtbmV1cmFsaW5rLXdhbnRzLXZvbHVudGVlcnMtZm9yLWZpcnN0LWh1bWFuLXRyaWFsLW9mLWl0cy1icmFpbi1pbXBsYW50LWNoaXA_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPWRhaWx5ZG96ZW4mY2RsY2lkPTVmZjc0NzY1YjUyZjJlODNkNzVlM2U4OCZzZWN0aW9uPWludHJvIn0&jwtS=mvPjbbL7gSq5lChAGRbpGNA7vqAxQevzeIsoAqhmJVc>
for
its first in-human clinical trial.
The company has been working to create a fully implantable, wireless
brain-computer interface for people with paralysis. A robot will be used to
surgically place the implant?s ?ultra-fine and flexible threads? into the
brain, and the implant is supposed to ?record and transmit brain signals
wirelessly to an app that decodes movement intention,? per Neuralink.
The study will take about six years to complete, according to its brochure.
-------------------------------------------------
I am sure this raises many halakhic questions including shabbat
--
Eli Turkel
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Message: 6
From: Micha Berger
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2023 11:13:24 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] Chazakot
On Tue, Sep 19, 2023 at 05:08:11PM -0400, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> I'm told a book by a sofer recommends not relying on the chazaka of the S"A
> (or R SZA) but rather a cyclic checking of tfillin/mezuzuot (based on his
> own experiences). Question -- what is the algorithm to determine when a
> chazaka should be reconsidered?
There are (at least) two things we call chazaqah:
Chazaqah demei'iqara: the presumption that the state of something stays
the same until we see it changed.
Chazaqah diSvara: a law of nature or human nature, something we can assume
for reasons muich like rov.
When RYBS famously objected to reconsidering tav lemeisav tandu milemeisav
armelu, that is a chazaqah disvara. And while the actual words were about
not reconsidering ANY chazaqah disvara, his students (including RALichtenstein)
are not clear that was actually his intent. It could be that this chazaqah
in particular is hard to reconsider because
(1) as RYBS himself says, there is a pasuq "ve'el isheikh tehuqaseikh"
which must be true at some level regardless of what the modern woman may
think on a conscious level. Hashem said so, after all.
(2) RAL noted that the majority of RYBS's argument was not a chazaqah,
but the amount of halakhah -- most of Yevamos and half of EhE -- that
presume this particular chazaqah. If such a workaround could work, it's
a bit hard to say it was left for us to work it.
In which case, RAL would be okay with reconsidering a chazaqah disvara
when norms change. And RAL held RYBS would have as well.
Where the two kinds of chazaqah overlap (other than both being
presumptions) is ika rei'usa. There are limits to how likely of a change
we can ignore and still say the previous halachic state applies. And so,
we go back to looking at norms, rules of thumb about nature and human
nature as a factor in determining how long one can rely on a chazaqah
demei'iqara.
We say that a mezuzah that was checked and deemed to be kosher remains
kosher -- a textbook chazaqah demei'iqara.
The beraisa (Yuma 11a; I think the SA that RJR is referring to is the
quote of this beraisa at YD 291:1) says that despite this, we should
check our mezuzos twice every seven years. (Whether that means just less
than seven years between or once every 3-1/2 years is up to your poseiq.)
It is this trying to avoid the rei'usa that RSZA reconsiders, given
our current ink-making abilities. More than that, RSZA pasqened that
checking it itself problematic; rolling and unrolling the kelaf is the
cause of more pesulim. Leshitaso, not checking is *less* of a rei'usa!
The AhS (s' 1) reports that given the damp climate where he was
(Novhardok), he checked his mezuzos annually. (But RSZA could note
that that too was before factory-made dio.)
My own LOR made a chiluq between indoors and outdoors, believing that
weather is enough of a cause of pesulim for RSZA's reasoning not to
apply. At least, given the rain patterns and annual temperature changes
of where I live. Something RSZA may not have considered when talking to
people in Yerushalayim.
But essentially, both the SA and RSZA are telling you to rely on a
chazaqa demei'iqara, which isn't about norms or situations. Just about
what halachic state was this mezuzah in when a person last determined
its halachic state. There is little to reconsider.
Whereas determining whether the odds of a problem raise to the level of
ika rei'usa is ALL metzi'us, and not the actual chazaqah. So I don't
think anyone would put that on the "don't reconsider" side of a rule.
GCT!
-Micha
--
Micha Berger If you want others to be happy,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp practice compassion.
Author: Widen Your Tent If you want to be happy,
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF practice compassion.
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Message: 7
From: Zvi Lampel
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2023 13:44:44 -0400
Subject: [Avodah] WHAT DOES KAPARAH ACCOMPLISH?
WHAT DOES KAPARAH ACCOMPLISH?
In the first perek of Hilchos Teshuvah, the Rambam teaches that different
kinds of sins carry different requirements for one to attain kaparah, and
that for different sins, the kaparah takes effect at different times.
The kinds of sins include failure to fulfill mitzvos of commission not
punishable by kares, prohibitions not punishable by execution or kares,
those that are, and chilul Hashem.
For all these sins, teshuvah is required to attain kaparah, but there are
additional requirements for some of them, such as afflictions, the
punishments by Beis Din, and death. And for some, the kaparah takes effect
immediately upon one's doing teshuva, or on Yom Kippur, or after a period
of afflictions, or (in the case of chilul Hashem) only after death.
From the fact that in the last case kaparah comes only after one's death,
we can see that the Rambam's definition of kaparah is not release from
hardships in this world, but release from punishment in the Afterlife.
(The role of hardships vis a vis kaparah, when they are required, is not to
use up the punishment one deserves in this world and thereby go on to live
a pain free life--although that is a result--but to clear one from
punishment in the Afterlife.)
So it seems to me from the Rambam's presentation.
Zvi Lampel
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Message: 8
From: Micha Berger
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2023 10:08:25 -0400
Subject: Re: [Avodah] brain implant
On Wed, Sep 20, 2023 at 03:04:14PM +0300, Eli Turkel via Avodah wrote:
> t ...s Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain implant company, announced it
> is recruiting participants ... for its first in-human clinical trial.
...
> I am sure this raises many halakhic questions including shabbat
A lot of these questions were fielded when cochlear implants came out.
GCT!
-Micha
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Message: 9
From: Zvi Lampel
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2023 14:19:57 -0400
Subject: [Avodah] THE MEANING OF ROV AS PER THE RAMBAM
In the following pesukim, the usual translation of rov or rabbah is
''many'' or "great."
(Yirmiyahu 30:14) Al rov avoneich atzmu chatosayich. Because of your many
transgressions, your sins became strong.
(Breishis 18:20) zaakas Sedom VaAmorah ki rabbah. The cry of Sedom and
Amorah, because it is great...
(Breishis 6:5) Vayyar Hashem ki rabbah ra-as ha-adam ba-aretz. And Hashem
saw that the wickedness of mankind became great/increased.
But to my surprise, even in the context of those pesukim, the Rambam in the
third perek of Hilchos Teshuva, second halacha, translates it as "attained
majority."
He writes that when one's sins (in the sense of their seriousness) attain
the majority over one's virtues, one thereby is judged a rasha. The first
posuk refers to an individual, the second to a nation, and the third to the
world.
Zvi Lampel
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Message: 10
From: Eli Turkel
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2023 17:34:00 +0300
Subject: Re: [Avodah] brain implant
This is more complicated than cochlear implants. Here the implant is
actively doing actions not just hearing which is not much different than a
hearing aid. Btw modern hearing aids have ai which might complicate the
story
On Wed, Sep 20, 2023, 5:08 PM Micha Berger <mi...@aishdas.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 20, 2023 at 03:04:14PM +0300, Eli Turkel via Avodah wrote:
> > t ...s Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain implant company, announced it
> > is recruiting participants ... for its first in-human clinical trial.
> ...
> > I am sure this raises many halakhic questions including shabbat
>
> A lot of these questions were fielded when cochlear implants came out.
>
> GCT!
> -Micha
>
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