Post Yom Yerushalayim reading recommendations

With Yom Yerushalayim just behind us, and a long Yom Tov break ahead of us, I want to suggest two of my favorite Yerushalayim books. One is Forever My Jerusalem by Puah Shteiner, who was a young child during the fall of the Old City in 1948. It vividly describes Jewish life in the Old City before the 1948 war as well as the agony of the evacuation of all the Jews from the Old City. It's sad in parts, but as we celebrated last Wednesday, we know there's a happy ending to the story. The other book is O Jerusalem, by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre, which is non-fiction but reads like a thriller, with vivid writing and sharp, memorable portrayals of both major and minor players during the War of Independence. I read that about 15 years ago but I still remember many of the scenes. Enjoy!

Dual Perspectives

Reading what Rabbi Besser wrote about היינו כחלמים reminds me of an Ibn Ezra I love on the pasuk in Tehillim 122:2, עמדות היו רגלינו בשעריך ירושלים. He brings two possibilities of why the olei regel might be stopped, standing still in the gates of Yerushalayim. The first is that they were awestruck by its beauty, and were just standing still, staring at the beauty of its walls. The second possibility is because there were so many people going in and out of the gates of Yerushalayim that there was a little bit of a traffic jam, and they couldn’t move (sort of like trying to get through the halls of Ma’ayanot between classes).

Many years ago, when I was teaching this perek, I asked a girl who had never been to Israel to describe what she thought Yerushalayim was like. She described a quiet, peaceful city, with men in long beards walking around with sefarim under their arms, and a palpable feeling of kedusha in the air. Then I asked a student who had traveled to Israel many times to describe Yerushalayim. She described the hustle and bustle of the city, the noise of the traffic, the shops, and how parts of it don’t seem so different from New York City.

I think we can understand this Ibn Ezra as reflecting two types of olei regel. The idealists and those who had never seen Yerushalayim before only saw the beauty and were mesmerized by it. Others, who had “been there, done that” had a more realistic view of it, complete with crowds and long lines.

But maybe we need to incorporate both aspects when we take the leap and go to Israel. We have to be realists so that we know what to expect and that it’s not going to be easy, but we need to be dreamers, mesmerized by its spiritual and physical beauty. Then, with the combination of both perspectives we can take that little leap of faith and still land on our feet.

I Have a Dream...

Interestingly, the last two posts have been about the same chapter of Tehillim - the שיר המעלות that we say on special days before bentching.  Ms. Gordon discussed the first Passuk - "בשוב ד' את שיבת ציון היינו כחולמים".  She explained it "when G-d returns us to Israel, it will seem as if we are dreaming."  Many years ago, on the only Yom Ha'atzmaut I ever spent in Israel, I heard two other interpretations of this phrase within a couple of weeks of each other that are virtual opposites.
The first was very harsh מוסר- when Hashem was bringing us back to Zion, היינו כחולמים - we were like day-dreamers, as in the time of Ezra.  The chance to rebuild Israel was there, but most of the Jewish community was too comfortable in גלות, and just slept through the unique historical opportunity.  This packs a lot more of a punch to me now, with my home and family settled in the North Jersey capital of what some call the Center for the Jewish Past, than it did a post-high school idealist with all of life's big decisions ahead of me.  Understanding it this way, it is very appropriate that we say the line so often; to either jar us out of our complacency in גלות, or typify it, if we don't realize what we are singing.  It is all the more pointed, considering that the occasions on which we sing it - leaning back, stomachs full, around a table of family and friends after Shabbos & Yom Tov meals - capture the picture of religious comfort in the diaspora. 
The other explanation was far more uplifting.  In order to get back ציון, we need to be כחולמים - like dreamers.  Both politically on a national level, and for people on an individual one, a cost benefit analysis will rarely yield the answer that going to Israel is realistic or prudent.  In order to actually end up there, you need to dream a little - to see beyond what is real or responsible, and take a little leap of faith.  That's the way it has always been, from the first time Bnei Yisrael complained that they were thirsty, through history, particularly the last hundred years, and so it remains today.  That's why I so greatly admire those who actually take that leap.

Yom Yerushalayim

I hope everyone had a great Yom Yerushalayim and got a chance to check out the Kotel Cam live video set up in the lobby. I thought it was really amazing to see how the Kotel plaza got more and more crowded as the day went on, finally filling up completely with everyone wearing blue and white and dancing with Israeli flags. It's really a tremendous thing to realize that today we have the opportunity to visit, daven and live in Yerushalyim, something that our ancestors could only dream about. As we say in שיר המעלות before ברבת המזון (Tehillim 126): "בשוב ה' את שיבת ציון היינו כחולמים" - when G-d returns us to Israel, it will seem as if we are dreaming. Attached are a few Yom Yerushalayim videos (one was shown this morning after Tefilah, the others are new) to help us reflect on the messages and significance of the day. You can also click here to read some first hand accounts of Israeli paratroopers liberating the Kotel in 1967. Plus, click here to hear the reflections of the 3 paratroopers in the famous picture standing at the kotel. Enjoy!

http://www.aish.com/jw/j/48970916.html (video #1)

Introducing...Nothing

One-time blog skeptic, turned All-Star Questioner, Talia Friedman asks:

Can you say the Shir Ha'Maalot before benching if you do not intend to bench? 

While you might understandably think that the two are inseparable, and that there is no reason to say the introduction if it doesn't introduce anything - thus leading to the prohibition against saying Hashem's Name in vain.  This would indeed be true in other similar contexts, like saying the ברכות קריאת שמע without saying שמע itself, or the ברכה for הלל, without saying הלל.  Shir Hama'alot is different in that it is simply a chapter of תהילים that can be recited for no reason at all.  In fact, any פסוק from תנ"ך may be said, with the Shem Hashem, as long as the complete פסוק is completed.

More on eating before davening

In response to Rebecca's follow up question "I've heard that if you say brachot then it is ok to eat...is this not true?":

The way the halacha is phrased in the S"A is that it is prohibited to eat anything before Shemona Esrai. The Be'ur Halacha says that even someone who is permitted to eat (like a sick person) should say Kriat Shema before eating so as not to violate the putting one's own importance before G-d's aspect of the prohibition. Meaning, even the sick person should say Shema so that he is מקבל עול מלכות שמים before eating.

Since, however, according to the Rambam, women fulfill their chiyuv in tefilla by just saying any praise, request and thank you to G-d, some poskim allow women to eat after they have recited birchot ha-shachar, since reciting birchot ha-shachar can, (for a woman,) be considered having fulfilled one's obligation to daven according to the Rambam (See Minchat Yitzchak 4:28-3.) It seems, however, that many of these poskim only allow women to rely on this leniency under specific circumstances. For example, R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Halichot Bat Yisrael 2:10) allowed girls who davened in school to eat breakfast at home before going to school because davening in school was part of their chinuch and therefore they would be missing out on something if they had to daven at home before they ate. He says that in addition to saying birchot ha-shachar, these girls should say kriat shema for the reason described above.

(The reason this would only apply to women is because the Rambam believes that the aforementioned in the d'orayta commandment, and the formal structure we use is the d'rabanan. Since the formal structure is a mitzvat aseh she'hazman grama, women aren't obligated in that part of it and only are obligated to do the minimal d'orayta requirement. Ashkenazi women do not pasken like this Rambam, למעשה.)

Thoughts on "TGIF"

We are all familiar with the acronym "TGIF"--thank God it's Friday. (My father recently shared with me a new one--""HITSIC"--hang in there, shabbos is coming:) Both of these express our appreciation for a break from the craziness of our week. In Letters for the Next Generation (a must read, check out chiefrabbi.org), R' Jonathan Sacks writes something really interesting that so eloquently express the amazing quality of Shabbos and the spiritual lesson that we can learn from it.

He writes:
There was one moment in the Torah when the people
started worshipping gold. They made a Golden Calf. The
interesting thing is that if you read the Torah carefully you’ll
see that immediately before and after the Golden Calf,Moses
gave the people a command, the command of Shabbat.Why
that command, then?
Shabbat is the antidote to the Golden Calf because it’s
the day when we stop thinking about the price of things and
focus instead on the value of things. On Shabbat we can’t
sell or buy. We can’t work or pay others to work for us.
Instead we spend the day with family and friends around the
Shabbat table. In shul, we renew our contacts with the
community. We listen to Torah, reminding ourselves of our
people’s story.We pray, giving thanks for all the blessings God
has given us.

The Center for the Jewish Past

This Shabbat we had a friend from Israel for lunch. We started discussing the topic of aliyah, and he turned to us and said, "Do you really want to stay in America, the Center for the Jewish Past?" After first laughing at this witty remark, I started to think more about it. He was presenting the approach the the future of Judaism lies in Israel, not outside of Israel. What do you think? Agree or disagree?

Not eating before Davening

Rebecca Peyser asks:

I was wondering, what's the deal with not eating before you daven, specifically on Shabbat? I know that you can't eat before kiddush, but I thought that that only kicks in after you daven. So where does not eating before you daven come from?

You are correct about not eating before kiddush, but there is also an additional prohibition to eat before davening shacharit, any day of the week. That comes from the gemara in Brachot 10b where the gemara explains the pasuk of "לא תאכלו על הדם" as meaning "לא תאכלו קודם שתתפלו על דמכם" meaning that one should not eat before he davens for his wellbeing. The gemara continues and says that one who eats or drinks and then davens is guilty of putting his own "pride" or importance before Hashem's. The Shulchan Aruch brings this down l'halacha in Orach Chayim 89:3 and says that one should not eat or drink before davening shemona esrai (referring to shemona esrai of shacharit.) The Shulchan Aruch gives the exceptions of cold water and food and drinks for the purpose of refuah (healing.)

So, the basic principle is not to eat before davening. Acharonim discuss various exceptions to this rule, and some allow tea or coffee with certain conditions (See Mishna Brura Orach Chayim 89:22.)

This is where the issue of kiddush comes in. If one is going to drink water before davening on shabbos morning, kiddush is not required before the water, because kiddush only kicks in after davening. Once a person has davened and his kiddush obligation kicked in, however, even water, wouldn't be allowed before kiddush. (See Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 289:1.)

Searching for a כלל גדול בתורה

Talia Friedman asks:

I was wondering,

How could HaShem have killed off 24,000 people if that was the last generation to have semicha? I understand that he was punishing them for sinas chinam yet why was he punishing the future of as yisrael? (my Rabbi just gave a speech saying how after the 24,000 students were killed R'Akiva gave 1 more smicha and was in the process of giving 5 more people semicha when he was killed. Then the Romans killed the one to whom he gave semicha, and that is why we have no more semicha.)

The Romans killed/tortured 12 Jews from then, Hashem killed 24,000. If any one of the 24,000 had survived we might still have real smicha. How could HaShem have destroyed real semicha?

These are hard questions.  I would defer to the Jewish Philosophy department, but I'm not sure they have answers either.  Why did Hashem allow His home to be destroyed?  How could he allow the עשרה הרוגי מלכות, including Rabbi Akiva himself to be so brutally murdered?  The gemara says that the angels asked Hashem this very question (זו תורה וזו שכרה?).  And that is all before we get to the unanswerable questions of the last century.  Imagine what life would be like with the בית המקדש.  Think how much Torah is missing because of these inexplicable tragedies through the generations.  If everyone from איוב to contemporary scholars have fallen short of comprehending Hashem's ways when it comes to these issues, at some point you study all you can, and then admit the imperfection of humanity's ability to understand the 'דרך ד, and move on.

I did see an interesting theory from Rabbi Ari Enkin (see the comments) that the 24,000 students who were killed were Rabbi Akiva's students who were pressed into military service (the first hesder yeshiva) in the Bar Kochva rebellion, and that they died in battle.  Presumably, the reason of שלא נהגו  כבוד זה בזה, is some variation of the שנאת חנם that destroyed the 2nd בית המקדש, which they were trying to rebuild under the Melech Hamashiach who they thought was Bar Kochva.  This would imply that he could have been Mashiach, but the flaws in the nation that led to the destruction of the בית המקדש were not repaired.  So Jewish History teachers - is it plausible?

Interesting Quotation

“Small minds discuss people. Average minds discuss events. Great minds discuss ideas.”
- Unknown

Agree? Disagree? Comments?

Video message from Gilad Shalit's father

A guest post from current senior, Rebecca Schenker:


Hi . My mom sent me this video today of Gilad Shalit's father, Noam Shalit, that was made on Yom Ha'atzmaut. Apparently one of the local shuls sent out an e-mail with it saying that it only got 200 views on youtube. I just watched it and it had almost 24,000. I wanted to share it with all of you because I think it is a very worthwhile video to watch.

- Rebecca Schenker

Ma'ayanot Did a Mitzvah

Just in time for our blood drive last week, the Jerusalem Post published this article by Rabbi Shlomo Brody about donating blood and bone marrow.  This is an interesting halachik issue that we address in our junior Gemara class; we saw many of the sources that he cites inside. For those not inclined to read the whole thing (though I recommend it), here's a key paragraph:

While bone marrow naturally regenerates, donors do undergo general anesthesia and get hospitalized for a couple of days. While Rabbi Moshe Shternbuch does not obligate donation, even as he deems it extremely meritorious (Teshuvot Vehanhagot 5:387), Rabbi Shlomo Auerbach believes that a potential donor should be cajoled into donating, especially if he does not fear the surgery (Nishmat Avraham EH 80). Yet rabbis Mordechai Willig and J. David Bleich obligate one to donate since the dangers represent common and minimal risks regularly performed for less pressing needs.

 He says that he will address kidney and liver transplants, as well as the question of commercializing (buying and selling) organs in his next column.  We'll keep you posted.

Yom Iyun on Talmud & Tanach Tommorrow (Sunday) at YU!!

Go to kollelyomrishon.org for more info.

Not Your Classic Chavaya

Hi Ma'ayanoters!

I wanted to share with you all an amazing experience I had yesterday, and because it's Torah related I thought the blog would be a good place to send it. Normally Pesach Sheni isn't a big deal, but this year, our Pesach Sheni happened to fall out on the day the Shomronim (Samaritans) have as their Pesach. Basic Shomronim info - they claim to be the true Jews descended from Efrayim and Menashe while the other claim is that they are originally non-Jews who Sancheirev put in the Shomron after Galut Aseret Hashevatim. They have almost the exact same Chamisha Chumshei Torah as us except they think that Har Gerizim is the most holy place, and they had a mikdash there. Now there are 700 Shomronim in the world, half living in Cholon and half in a town on top of Har Gerizim (right near Shechem). They speak Arabic, Hebrew and ancient Hebrew (which is very different than ours).

Anyway, the coolest thing about them is that they actually bring a Korban Pesach and they let people come watch! I went in a tour group with my family, and I expected that we would be up on a mountain watching primitive people, but actually they have a square in the middle of their village with fire pits and hooks and that's where they bring the korban. All the men wore white jumpsuits and white baseball caps or red circular hats (those might have ben the Kohanim) and the girls wore bathrobes over their regular clothes. The actual Korban area was gated off, but after the actual shechitah the guards let some people in and my family got to go extremely close. I mean, I almost touched dead sheep. We watched them skin the sheep, take out the insides which they burn on a mizbeach type thing (and even salt it!) and then put the sheep on stakes so they can cook them. It was very hot and smoky and smelly but an incredible experience.

We also talked to their Kohen Gadol (he wears green) and he told us that they have a mesorah but not our Torah Shebaal Peh, so they're sort of like Tzedukim or Karaites. They don't use any electricity on Shabbos and they count sefirah starting from a Sunday. He said he personally checked all the sheep for mumim and had to make one pasul because it had a cut on its ear.

I'm attaching some pictures which hopefully can be posted on the blog because without seeing it you can't possibly understand how incredible this was.

Also I miss all you guys and I hope you're all doing well.

Love,

Rachel Weber

The big picture on Kashrut

From Talia Friedman:
I learned all the halachot, but I'm still not sure how to explain to a Reform Jew what kashrut is and why it is kept.

Before addressing the kashrut issue itself, I'd like to comment on the fact that you asked this question at all. One of the pitfalls that Jewish day school educators have to watch out for is the focus on details while ignoring the fundamentals. It's important to leave a class in kashrut and know all the terms - bitul, nat bar nat, ben yomo, and know how to analyze cases, but it's also important - equally if not more so - to take a step back and think about why we're doing what we're doing. This applies not only to kashrut, but to Shabbat, davening, Torah learning and all the behaviors and beliefs that make up the life of an Orthodox Jew.

About kashrut specifically - one can say, briefly, that the Torah restricts certain foods based either on what kind of food it is (types of animals, for example) or the way the food is prepared (e.g., must be slaughtered properly, meat and dairy cannot be mixed).

As for the why - many rishonim consider kashrut in the category of chukkim - mitzvot for which there is not necessarily a satisfactory rational explanation, but which are performed as part of our service to Hashem. However, many explanations have also been offered, and here I think there is license to accept whichever one speaks to you the most. Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim III:48) famously gives a health explanation for kashrut (although he might have reconsidered had he visited World of Goodies). Ramban, based on the pesukim that describe certain foods as causing "timtum ha-lev," dulling of the heart, says that the nature of certain predatory and carnivorous animal species can be absorbed by us when we eat them. The Torah mandates avoiding the consumption of these aggressive animals so that our own natures will remain gentle. Another explanation is: kashrut is a mark of distinction of the Jewish people, so that one who must eat foods different from his gentile collegues will constantly remain aware of his or her religious identity. Finally, one can view kashrut as taking one of life's most mundane and physical activities, eating, and elevating it with the discipline of being conscious of Hashem's commands every time we put food in our mouths.

Hail to the Chief

Last night I had the opportunity to attend a dinner at which the (Ashkenazi) Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Yonah Metzger spoke.  He shared the following idea that he quoted from the Baal Shem Tov.  Instead of reading the פסוק as ואהבת לרעך כמוך - love your neighbor as yourself, an interpretation he finds impossible; how can you possibly love another as you love yourself.  We love ourselves a lot!  He says to break up the פסוק differently;  - ואהבת לרעך - love your friend.  כמוך אני ד - as you are, I am Hashem.  In other words, the way that HAshem deal with us will mirror the way that we treat each other.

He also opened with what I thought was a pretty good joke.  Much has been made of him being the first Israeli Chief Rabbi who was born in Israel.  So once, at a conference in England during a Q & A session, someone asked him "What ברכה should I make upon seeing the Chief Rabbi for the first time?".  He thought a moment, and then responded, "ברוך אתה ד' אלוקינו מלך העולם... בורא פרי האדמה".  (Think about the literal translation for the punchline).

Chag Kasher V'Sameach?

Today is Pesach Sheini.  In a nutshell, in the time of the בית המקדש, those who were unable to bring the Korban Pesach on time, were given a "make-up" date a month later.  This morning we had Matzah available, in accordance with the minhag.  Interestingly, the above greeting would be inappropriate, as for Pesach Sheini, although you still ate the Korban with matzah and marror, you were allowed to eat chametz at the same time.

Chag sameach.

Lag B'Omer Bonfire Bonanza!

Join your friends and faculty for a blazing hot Lag (Lad?) B'Omer celebration, including: live music, inspiring words of Torah, soulful singing, stories, BBQ, fun, games and more...!

WHEN:

             Lag B'Omer

             Sunday, May 2

             8:00-10:00 PM

            

WHERE:

            The Home of Yael Herzog

            750 Mildred Street
            Teaneck

COST:
            Priceless!

Attention Alumni, Juniors & Seniors!!!

Daf Yomi today is Sanhedrin Daf עב, which is the beginning of the בא במחתרת Gemara that we learn in 11th grade.  There are plenty of on line resources, both text and audio that can assist anyone interested in learning Daf Yomi, either for a few days to review, or to start, and keep it up as long as you can.  Good luck.