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rt: A siddur has Shem Hashem. It’s as much Kedushah as any other Sifrei Kodesh. Why wouldn’t a Siddur be Tashmishei Kedushah?
And dafyomi, you are incorrect. The Tefillin boxes and straps both have a Din of D’varim Shel K’dushah (not even Tashmishei, they’re Kedushah Atzmah), not Tashmishei Mitzvah.
The Mechaber says you can’t have water before Kiddush. I don’t know why a Rav would say it’s okay. Unless, of course, you’re getting dehydrated.
mdd: You missed my point. If “searching for Kulos” means learning the entirety of these 3 Seforim, then by the time you’re done searching you’ll know enough when to be Meikel and when to be Machmir.
Yitay: That reminds me of something that I once said. You can pick one Posek out of the 3 major ones from the previous era (M”B, AH”SH, and Kitzur Shulchan Aruch) as long as you’re consistent. And if you learn the entirety of all 3 of them to search for who’s the most Meikel, that’s fine. Because by the time you’re done you probably know enough to Pasken for yourself anyway.
yeshivaguy: You don’t need electricity to make the water come out in a perfect stream like that.
Josh: I have old undershirts that are set aside for tearing K’riya. I put one on before checking out Farber’s article. And guess what? One of the tears is a Tefach longer now.
I understand where you’re coming from. It is quite disheartening to see that people with legitimate (if borderline) opinions are castigated as Apikorsim, which seems to happen all too often nowadays. That being said, Farber’s article was Apikorsus. There’s no way around that.
rf: You’re asking us to put our heads between these mountains? The Aruch Hashulchan’s style speaks to some people more. The M”B’s to others. Neither is inherently better or worse.
If you see one with a wire that’s unplugged (like my shul has) then you know you’re okay. Or ask someone who knows how the fountain is set up and if it’s a P’sik Reisha or not.
So it wouldn’t work if you unplug it? That’s so… inefficient. Why would someone do that?
pixelate: No. That is not true at all. There are many Poskim nowadays who strongly disagree with the Chazon Ish (many hold that R’ Shlomo Zalman properly refuted him) and they would not hold of this. Because there is some problem with turning on electricity based on what we know nowadays. It’s a big Machlokes exactly what, but even if you don’t hold of Boneh then it’s still Assur to turn a light on on Yom Tov. R’ Shlomo Zalman and his Talmidim don’t hold that it’s Muttar. By your logic they should.
Also, the Chazon Ish did not hold that the Boneh was because you created a new circuit. That is a massively widespread misunderstanding of the Chazon Ish. See the Tzitz Eliezer who goes out of his way to point this out numerous times, basically in any T’shuvah discussing electricity on Shabbos.
yeshivaguy: I have never heard of a water fountain where the button is electric. They’re all mechanical, as far as I’ve ever seen.
Shopping: The custom of saying “bless you” etc. after a sneeze is at least 1500 years older than that. Also, that was about the black death, which had nothing to do with sneezing. The first major (and biggest) outbreak of the bubonic plague was in the 1300s. Somewhere between 25-50% of the European population died.
Yeshivaguy: It was more than just that they smelled bad. The theory at the time was that the disease spread through smell (they weren’t so wrong, it was airborne). So they all carried fragrant perfumes (sometimes they even wore masks with duck-billed noses full of perfume) to avoid catching the disease from the smell.
If the water fountain is plugged in and it is a P’sik Reisha that drinking will turn on a motor, then it is Assur. Otherwise it’s okay. It depends on the water fountain.
In New York and other areas that have copepod issues, if the fountain is filtered, there may also be an issue of Borer. However, I have heard that R’ Schachter said there are 6 Tznifim L’hakel and not to worry about Borer in the water fountain.
pixelate: I’ll take your word that he says that (I’m not aware of it offhand), but things like that should be obvious that you can’t hold by nowadays. Many of his contemporaries said the same. They just didn’t know how electricity worked. He also says that it’s healthy to smoke and recommends doing it. Once again, many of his contemporaries agreed because they didn’t know it was bad for you.
TLIK: I don’t know the precise Lashon of that M”B, but a Gartel just means a belt.
I know there are Poskim who advise against. However Bimchilas K’vodam (and I do say this with as much trepidation as is possible but still say it), it cannot actually be Assur. It is M’vuar from the Gemara that it is untenable to say there is something wrong with it. I have brought this Ta’ana to Poskim and Roshei Yeshivah and every single one has said that claim here is not wrong. The only possible answer someone gave was that in the time of Chazal it wasn’t a Bizui for clothes to touch the ground but in 16th-19th century Europe it was (and the Dochak in that answer is obvious).
The Aruch HaShulchan was generally followed in the Frum world until World War II. For some reason, the post-Holocaust age turned towards the Mishnah B’rurah. I have heard several theories as to how that came to be, but it is pretty clear that the war was the start of the turning point. Find a Rav. But if you can’t have a Rav (or you don’t have a Rav accessible for every Shailah), then there should be nothing wrong with following the Aruch Hashulchan, so long as you always follow him no matter what the case.
Charlie: Rabbi Helfgott is very much on the border (I’m not holding in everything he says but I don’t think he has said any actual Apikorsus; but he is very much at the fringe of non-Apikorsus) and Farber just went way past that.
That “manifesto” quoted contains K’fira in 2 of the Ikkarei Emunah (that the Torah we have today is not the same as the one given to Moshe Rabbeinu and it is K’fira B’torah SheBa’al Peh). Thank you for sharing that. You saved us from doing research for definitive proof that Farber is an Apikores.
charlie: When have you seen indigo on wool? The trunculus dye sticks better than the indigo plant because there are a few extra molecules that make the binding so much stronger.
Oomis: I don’t think the Torah ever uses the feminine voice (that I can think of). There are a few cases where Hashem is described in the feminine and the Gemara/Rishonim comment on them. But when it uses Lach instead of Lecha and things like that, those are usually grammatical syntax changes, not changes in masculine or feminine.
Charlie: There are lots of things in the Ibn Ezra that would be considered Apikorsus if theyr were said today. I’m not sure what your point is.
mz: To be fair, R’ Schachter once said something similar. He said that the different voices you see in Chumash is because HKBH took pieces from different books and traditions (from the Avos, Sefer Bilam, and things like that) and put His stamp of approval on them when He told Moshe Rabbeinu what to write from them at Sinai. But any and all of those were things that were pre-Sinai (or Arvos Moav, in the case of Bilam, I guess; that bears looking into; maybe Sefer Bilam is not the curses and such but rather only his Nevua of Acharis HaYamim that could have been written down at Sinai) and they only made it into Chumash if HKBH dictated to Moshe Rabbeinu to put them in and exactly how to write them so that we could Darshen them accordingly.
It is very clear that those defending Farber did not read this piece. Anyone who did cannot explain away what he said. Until such time as he retracts his statements, there is nothing more to say about him.
A siddur is Tashmishei Kedushah. Tzitzis is Tashmishei Mitzvah. It’s M’vuar from B’rachos 18a (give or take) that there is no Issur of having your Tzitzis drag on the ground.
This is a custom of good manners that seems prevalent in almost every tradition and society on earth. I have no idea why someone would say that you shouldn’t say it. It’s even in the Gemara.
The Halachah is that you can’t say it in a Beis Medrash though. Maybe that’s what they were thinking of?
And to claim that Chumash has 4 distinct voices is an idiocy based on solely academic reasoning. If you want to be honest, you can find up to 8 or more distinct styles in Chumash. And guess what? Chazal noticed those distinct styles and Darshaned them accordingly. HKBH put the different styles in there for myriad reasons, always to teach us something. The academics, who don’t believe that the Torah came from God, miss that boat entirely.
Toi: I understand your Tayna. Here’s my question: Will you make another thread in defense of the IDF when (if this is proven true) the commander who made them do this is put in jail/fined for his actions?
If he heads their Geirus board I retract my previous statement. But I thought that YCT doesn’t do their own Geirus to avoid problems with the RCA? I guess they do.
And I am not holding in R’ Uziel’s P’sak on this, but if he did Pasken that way then he is still a Da’as Yachid Min HaYechidim and that doesn’t mean he can be relied upon.
PBA: To be fair, while the article is stupid and an obvious attempt to open people up to possibilities of Apikorsus (and the author is clearly a Meisis Um’diach), it is not fair to attack YCT with this. There are plenty of reasons to attack YCT. But every institution, no matter how Frum, has bad Musmachim. Even the Tannaim had Talmidim go off. Attack YCT on its own merits; not on what their Musmachim do wrong.
I was very much not a fan of this. I mean, they did a good job of making the “Chumros” seem so ridiculous that no one would think they are making fun of actual Ma’asim Tovim, but this felt a lot more like mocking Chassidim and extreme Halachah than anything else.
Ben: I won’t post it here (in case it’s not actually on the internet already) but I’m sure you could come up with it by searching online or a search of the phrase Vihi K’na’an Eved Lamo in the Seforim from that time.
mz: The word “relatively” is the key word there. We can’t know how we stack up relatively because we don’t know their potential and out potential. We just trust HKBH to take care of those Cheshbonos. The point is that even if we can’t match up in absolute terms, maybe in relative terms we surpass them all. There’s no way to know that.
HaLeiVi: No one, not even the most reactionary ultra-rationalist (I invented the term, but it makes complete sense for it to happen when you see some of the extreme mysticism in some circles) of people who claims to be Frum says Torah Min HaShamayim was an allegory. They say Ad’raba. That’s why it’s an Ikkar Emunah. Because it was one of the few times in human history (L’shitaschem) that there was an openly revealed Neis for many to see.
Even if you have the standard, broad-sweeping definition of Yeridas HaDoros (that even the average person in each Dor is less), it’s irrelevant. HKBH isn’t unfair or stupid. He doesn’t expect of us what He expected of them because He knows what we’re capable of and what we’re not. He’ll judge us by our own capabilities and if we have achieved what He wanted us to.
HaLeiVi: Tevi isn’t a Ra’aya for anything. He was one-of-a-kind. And are we sure that Amsa D’beis Rebbe was an Eved K’na’ani?
That aside, though, extraordinary people aren’t proof for how the average person treated and was expected to treat his Avadim.
To the people saying “Lifnei Iveir”, I just want to point out that R’ Moshe doesn’t agree. He says (it’s the last paragraph of CM 2:11 or 2:12, I think) that they only thing a woman dressed untzniusly is doing wrong is an Issur Asei of being Tznius. So I have no idea why there is no Lifnei Iveir, but apparently there isn’t.
Chacham: Because someone did research and found that indigo dye is easily removed from a material that it has been set into, even with the solvents that were available in the time of the Gemara. The Gemara there says that K’la Ilan is difficult to remove. That makes it strange to say that K’la Ilan is indigo.
HaLeiVi: Come on. That’s not what the Gemara in Gittin says. The Gemara is only attempting to figure out what he wants most so that we can know the technical details of “Zachin L’adam Shelo B’fanav”. Also, you misrepresent it when you say “care-free”. The Gemara means that an Eved K’na’ani of a Yisrael would rather not be freed so that he doesn’t get the Ol Mitzvos (specifically that he’d be Assur to live with a Shifcha). It tells us nothing of the rights or desired of an Eved K’na’ani of a Goy. All we know is that a Goy can’t kill his Eved. Nothing more.
HaKatan: The day after Tishah B’av and you seemed to not have learned some history yesterday. When they city of Speyer (I think it was Speyer) was threatened, the Jews took up arms and actually managed to defend themselves well. And while the community was eventually ruined, there was not the total annihilation that there otherwise was. There clearly is an important Kiyum in militarily defending any area with lots of Jews. We need to do our Hishtadlus. If there are not enough non-Chareidim to properly defend the country from the worst-case scenario, then Chareidim should be obligated to join as well. Unfortunately, as with everything in this overly-politicized debate, no one can even agree to the facts on the ground, so I honestly have no idea whether the army is currently large enough for the worst-case scenario. Let’s be clear, though, defending Jews is a Mitzvah so there should not be any Issur Mitzad Bittul Torah for someone voluntarily joining the army. If you want to debate other reasons, fine.
Oh, and let’s call a spade a spade. No fake Kavod here so that people won’t jump on you. If you really think that Rav Schachter practices Zionism and not Judaism (as you strongly implied in your last post) just say so. Or will you admit that (L’shitashcha) you are willingly Over on the Issur Chanifah in order to not have people be upset at you?
Health: So why don’t you just call the police?
I once heard a very wise man say that it doesn’t matter what you feel on Yom Kippur. Everyone can be a Tzaddik Gamur on Yud Tishrei. The real judge of a person is what they do on Yud Aleph. The same principle should apply here.
PBA: I once heard someone making fun of high school girls learning. I asked him what he thought was wrong with a woman opening up a Gemara if she has nothing better do to with her time. He says to me, “Do you really think the Torah will be Miskayeim B’yisrael by Rebbetzin Kanievsky opening up a Gemara or by making sure that her husband was his tea when he wakes up to learn at 4 am?” So I responded to him, “Do you really think the Torah will be Miskayeim B’yisrael by you learning? Of course not. But we don’t leave learning only up to the G’dolei HaDor. Everyone, even if they won’t make a fundamental change in learning for generations, is still M’chuyav to learn. So what’s wrong with a girl learning if she has nothing better to do with her time?” I’m curious, Popa, what do you think of that interaction?
I’ll let you know when I have an opportunity where it’s Muttar to listen to music. 🙂
I will not say who or where, but there was a major Gadol in the 1860s who, in response to a Shaila about fighting in the Union army in the Civil War, said it was Assur because “Vihi K’na’an Eved Lamo” and that you couldn’t free the American slaves. I’m not saying anyone agreed with him; I just want to point out that it’s not Pashut that an Eved K’na’ani doesn’t match up well with American slavery.
Toi: Look at the Taz (quoted in the Beur Halachah) that says that Pirsumei Nisa is D’oraisa (I think it’s towards the beginning of Hilchos Channukah but I’m not positive). I think it explains the Rashi better. There’s a Rashi somewhere in Shas on the phrase Hanach Lahem… B’nei N’vi’im Heim that I think explains Minhag Yisrael Torah well (I’m either remembering a Rashi or a P’nei Moshe in Peah on the line about if you’re not positive about the Halachah then check out the Minhag).
HaKatan: Take a look at the Netziv (I think it’s somewhere in Devarim in the HaEimek Davar) who explains what Sinas Chinam was Bizman HaBayis. It was people who thought they were allowed to hate others (because they assumed everyone they saw doing the tiniest thing wrong was an Apikores and that they should kill them) but really were mistaken.
rob: Give up on this. Yes, there are cases when we Pasken L’kulo. Yes, when all else is equal and both Shittos have completely equal validity, we say Koach D’heteira Adif. So while you may have proven your point in a perfect theoretical case, you are 100% inaccurate in your attempted application of it to today’s Halachic issues.
PBA: You have to add 41. If not the Kinnah itself then Artscroll’s introduction.
1 of the 4 was at a Chavrusa’s Siyum on Shas. He saved Perek Eilu M’galchim so he could learn it on Tishah B’av. Then he felt it was inappropriate to finish Shas after the fast, so we learned the Perek then broke our fast at 2 am. I’d say that deserved Basar.
yeshiva: I might be crazy, but I don’t think I’ve celebrated Tishah B’av Bimos Hamashiach 4 times yet. 🙂
moi aussi: 4 times in my life I have been Zoche to break my fast on meat. None of them were at a Bris.
Toi: Your anecdotal evidence is, well, anecdotal.