Friday, September 25, 2009
Observing yom tov sheni In Israel when you are there for the year
Since I'm (about to) spend[ing] the year in Israel, the question of whether or not I should keep 2 days of yom tov or one has come up. I probably will ask my rebbeim at Nishmat, but I was just wondering what your opinion is on this issue. - Aviva Novick
Rav Aharon Lichtenstein of Yeshivat Har Etzion always told my husband and me that the (colloquial) "day and a half" option is most correct for people who have not made aliyah, even if they will be there for the year. That means tefila of chol, but observing issur melacha and tchum Shabbat. Hence, one may get a ride within the tchum from an Israeli, or benefit from the melacha of an Israeli who is permitted to do melacha. It is an odd state of in-between, but it does allow the galut Jew to participate in some limited forms of chol hamoed activity on yom tov sheni, at the same time that one acknowledges one's status as a visitor from galut and not a permanent resident of the land of Israel. The advice of your rebbeim in the program you attend is probably a good option for you to follow. Shalom, and Gmar Chatima Tova, Rookie Billet
Rav Aharon Lichtenstein of Yeshivat Har Etzion always told my husband and me that the (colloquial) "day and a half" option is most correct for people who have not made aliyah, even if they will be there for the year. That means tefila of chol, but observing issur melacha and tchum Shabbat. Hence, one may get a ride within the tchum from an Israeli, or benefit from the melacha of an Israeli who is permitted to do melacha. It is an odd state of in-between, but it does allow the galut Jew to participate in some limited forms of chol hamoed activity on yom tov sheni, at the same time that one acknowledges one's status as a visitor from galut and not a permanent resident of the land of Israel. The advice of your rebbeim in the program you attend is probably a good option for you to follow. Shalom, and Gmar Chatima Tova, Rookie Billet
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Germany and Holocaust Denial (in light of Ahmadinejad's visit to the UN)
Thought you might find this interesting:
Germany Will Walk Out of U.N. if Ahmadinejad Denies Holocaust
Published on: Yesterday at 06:39 PM
New York - Germany's foreign ministry is sending a clear message to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead of his Wednesday speech to the United Nations — don't deny the Holocaust.
If the rogue Iranian leaders does in fact make such a statement before the General Assembly, German diplomats will walk out. And Germany wants other European Union countries to follow, the foreign ministry was quoted by Reuters.
"We will leave the hall if President Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust or makes anti-Semitic statements ... we are making efforts towards a unified European position," a spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday.
As recently as last week, Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust a lie, repeating the inflammatory statement as world powers weigh how to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Stating that the Holocaust did not occur during World War Two is a crime in Germany. Last week Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned Ahmadinejad's most recent denial and called him a disgrace to his country, Reuters reported.
News Source: Fox News
Germany Will Walk Out of U.N. if Ahmadinejad Denies Holocaust
Published on: Yesterday at 06:39 PM
New York - Germany's foreign ministry is sending a clear message to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead of his Wednesday speech to the United Nations — don't deny the Holocaust.
If the rogue Iranian leaders does in fact make such a statement before the General Assembly, German diplomats will walk out. And Germany wants other European Union countries to follow, the foreign ministry was quoted by Reuters.
"We will leave the hall if President Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust or makes anti-Semitic statements ... we are making efforts towards a unified European position," a spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday.
As recently as last week, Ahmadinejad has called the Holocaust a lie, repeating the inflammatory statement as world powers weigh how to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Stating that the Holocaust did not occur during World War Two is a crime in Germany. Last week Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier condemned Ahmadinejad's most recent denial and called him a disgrace to his country, Reuters reported.
News Source: Fox News
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Post Rosh Hashana Thoughts
A couple of thoughts on our way from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur.
- First, a recommendation. I read most of the YU produced Rosh Hashana To Go booklet, and while I enjoyed some articles more than others, the overall quality of the publication was outstanding. Many of the articles are still relevant for Yom Kippur, and there are still copies in a box outside the Student Activity Center. A specific highlight for me was a sermon by Rabbi Norman Lamm that he gave in 1962 about the three different women whose crying we discuss on Rosh Hashana. He masterfully contrasts the tears weaving top notch drash with relevant, timeless lessons and fascinating political messages about Cuba, communism and Soviet Jewry that provide an interesting window into his world nearly 50 years ago. I can't wait for the Sukkot edition which we will have available next week, highlighted by an article by our own Mrs. Knoll.
- My first year in Maayanot at the Yom Iyun I gave a shiur tracing the roots of Rosh Hashana as a Yom Teshuva, as we don't find it described that day. My theory was pretty involved, and went back to Mitzrayim. While I stand by the shiur, I wonder if it might trace back even further. We repeatedly refer to RH as the day that the Earth was created (which should be familiar to many of you from your 9th grade Gemara class). This is one opinion among the tana'im, but even according to this tana, it would be the the anniversary of the creation of man on day 6 - not heaven and Earth on day 1. If so, RH is also the anniversary of the first sin - the disaster of the Eitz Hada'at. The Midrash teaches that Adam did Teshuva for this sin, and was forgiven. While I don't know when he did the Teshuva, at the very least it is the anniversary of sin, which is a good reason by itself to institute it as a Yom Teshuva.
- I hope you all saw the inaugural edition of this year's Maayanei Torah, under the new leadership of Mrs. Shapiro and Talia Friedman. It was a great issue, highlighted by two consecutive essays about the connection between Purim and Yom Kippur (Yom kiPurim). Some other answers that I like are the following: Generally, Jewish holidays are split between Torah and prayer on one hand, and festive celebration, expressed by eating and drinking on the other. Purim and Yom Kippur split the two days, where we have Taanit Esther preceding Purim, and a mitzva to eat on erev Yom Kippur. My favorite approach is that just as on Purim we where masks & costumes to symbolize that our bodies are also fake coverings that mask our true selves, our souls. That is why we (not you!) drink, because the wine reveals the true individual (נכנס יין יצא סוד). So too on Yom Kippur, we dress and act like angels, but our message to Hashem is that today is not the day of charades - this is the true us. Really, at our core, we are pure (אלקי נשמה שנתת בי טהורה היא). It is the rest of the year that we masquerade as sinners due to the difficulties that we encounter revealing this true self, but our essence is the Yom Kippur version.
Welcome Back!
Welcome to the Maayanot Jewish Studies faculty blog. We were in a state of quasi-hibernation over the summer break, but if you didn't check in over the summer, I recommend taking a quick look to see what you missed. If you are new to the blog, I strongly recommend that you explore our archives.
Most of the questions submitted last year have been addressed, though some are still being worked on. If your question hasn't been answered, please resubmit it. We are clearing the queue, and are ready for a whole new bunch of questions, so put us to work.
The first semester of this experiment was a huge success - I have received amazing feedback from people outside the school, and have heard reports of other schools trying to launch similar programs. The lifeblood of the blog, and the formula for its success has been the wonderful questions that you all ask. Maayanot students are constantly thinking, questioning and thirsting to know more. This is the environment that can make this year even better, and we all look forward to even greater things this coming year - please help us make it happen.
Most of the questions submitted last year have been addressed, though some are still being worked on. If your question hasn't been answered, please resubmit it. We are clearing the queue, and are ready for a whole new bunch of questions, so put us to work.
The first semester of this experiment was a huge success - I have received amazing feedback from people outside the school, and have heard reports of other schools trying to launch similar programs. The lifeblood of the blog, and the formula for its success has been the wonderful questions that you all ask. Maayanot students are constantly thinking, questioning and thirsting to know more. This is the environment that can make this year even better, and we all look forward to even greater things this coming year - please help us make it happen.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
The Cleansing Waters of the מבול
Water, while being a symbol of sustenance, is also a symbol of cleansing. When looking at the flood in the times of Noach, it seems like it is G-d cleansing the world. Is it safe to say, then, that G-d made a mistake with how He created the world the first time, so He had to cleanse it and start all over again? - (anonymous)
I think that you are right in your description of water, in that is both a symbol of sustenance and a symbol of cleansing. And I agree that when looking at the מבול, it does seem that ה' was symbolically cleansing the world as He destroyed it. But I think that instead of viewing the מבול as a result of ה'’s mistake, we should view it as resulting from the mistakes of mankind.
(Most of what I’m about to say was first taught to me by Rabbi Haber in MMY, and was subsequently expanded upon by a variety of other sources:)
When ה' created the world, His purpose was for all of mankind to serve Him (not just Jews, as most people assume—Jews didn’t exist yet!). When He created אדם וחוה, He commanded them to multiply: “פרו ורבו ומלאו את הארץ.” But they were not only supposed to have children, they were also supposed to pass on the מסורה of עבודת ה' to their children, who were then supposed to pass it on to their children, etc., so that every generation throughout the history of the world would be serving ה'.
But we know that not everyone in the world today serves ה'—what happened?
It all started with קין, who was so disappointed with his rejected קרבן that he murdered his younger brother. The eldest son of אדם וחוה, who should have embraced the avodat עבודת ה' taught to him by his parents, instead committed one of the gravest sins! He therefore cast himself away from the מסורה of עבודת ה', and with הבל dead, the only son of אדם וחוה able to continue the מסורה was שת.
שת then had a son named named אנוש, about whom it says (בראשית ד:כו): "אז הוחל לקרא בשם ה'". According to חז"ל (as quoted by רש"י), “הוחל” comes from לשון חילול, signifying the beginning of עבודה זרה, since in his time the people began to disgrace the name of ה' and began worshipping people and objects (to understand how people could possibly go from עבודת ה' to עבודה זרה so quickly, see הלכות עבודת כוכבים פרק א in רמב"ם’s משנה תורה). After אנוש’s time things got progressively worse, to the point that by דור המבול mankind had strayed so far from what ה' had originally intended for them, that He decided to start over with the one man who was doing things right: נח.
In summary, ה' didn’t cleanse the world from His own mistake, but from mankind’s mistakes. And in His רחמים, ה' decided to recreate it to give mankind a second chance. However, even after the מבול, not all mankind worshipped ה': of בני נח, only שם did; of בני שם only אברהם did; of בני אברהם only יצחק did; of בני יצחק only יעקב did. And then, finally, all of בני יעקב (= ישראל) worshipped ה', which is why He decided to make בני ישראל His chosen nation.
I think that you are right in your description of water, in that is both a symbol of sustenance and a symbol of cleansing. And I agree that when looking at the מבול, it does seem that ה' was symbolically cleansing the world as He destroyed it. But I think that instead of viewing the מבול as a result of ה'’s mistake, we should view it as resulting from the mistakes of mankind.
(Most of what I’m about to say was first taught to me by Rabbi Haber in MMY, and was subsequently expanded upon by a variety of other sources:)
When ה' created the world, His purpose was for all of mankind to serve Him (not just Jews, as most people assume—Jews didn’t exist yet!). When He created אדם וחוה, He commanded them to multiply: “פרו ורבו ומלאו את הארץ.” But they were not only supposed to have children, they were also supposed to pass on the מסורה of עבודת ה' to their children, who were then supposed to pass it on to their children, etc., so that every generation throughout the history of the world would be serving ה'.
But we know that not everyone in the world today serves ה'—what happened?
It all started with קין, who was so disappointed with his rejected קרבן that he murdered his younger brother. The eldest son of אדם וחוה, who should have embraced the avodat עבודת ה' taught to him by his parents, instead committed one of the gravest sins! He therefore cast himself away from the מסורה of עבודת ה', and with הבל dead, the only son of אדם וחוה able to continue the מסורה was שת.
שת then had a son named named אנוש, about whom it says (בראשית ד:כו): "אז הוחל לקרא בשם ה'". According to חז"ל (as quoted by רש"י), “הוחל” comes from לשון חילול, signifying the beginning of עבודה זרה, since in his time the people began to disgrace the name of ה' and began worshipping people and objects (to understand how people could possibly go from עבודת ה' to עבודה זרה so quickly, see הלכות עבודת כוכבים פרק א in רמב"ם’s משנה תורה). After אנוש’s time things got progressively worse, to the point that by דור המבול mankind had strayed so far from what ה' had originally intended for them, that He decided to start over with the one man who was doing things right: נח.
In summary, ה' didn’t cleanse the world from His own mistake, but from mankind’s mistakes. And in His רחמים, ה' decided to recreate it to give mankind a second chance. However, even after the מבול, not all mankind worshipped ה': of בני נח, only שם did; of בני שם only אברהם did; of בני אברהם only יצחק did; of בני יצחק only יעקב did. And then, finally, all of בני יעקב (= ישראל) worshipped ה', which is why He decided to make בני ישראל His chosen nation.
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