Why do Aveilim Say Kaddish, etc. ... ?

Q. What is the common denominator for Aveilim, when they are leading or reciting -

1. Kaddish?
2. Bensching?
3. Davening?
4. Birkot HaTorah during an Alliayh?

A. The Key common denominator may be found in the responses elicited.

In cases 1 and 2
Y'hei Sh'meih Rabbah and Y'hee Sheim Hashem m'vorach are equivalent forms of "Kiddush Hashem Borabbim".

Similarly, while leading Davening and during an Aliyah, the Aveil's Bar'chu elicits "Baruch Hashem Hamvorach L'olam Vo'ed, which is along the lines of the above

Thus the common goal is for the Avel to have the responders Bless Hashem or Sheim Hashem forever.

Q: Why does the Aveil do this?

A: It's similar to Boruch Dayan Ho'emet and Tzidduk Haddin. The Aveil publicly shows no bitterness towards Hashem. Aderabba, he goes out of his way to praise Him.

Best Regards,
RRW

L'Affaire Broyde

Just a quick comment. I have met several so-called "Liberals" who, while espousing the most sensitive sentiments, surprisingly express themselves as quite condescending, insulting, and abusive in private. Some of them are actually quite authoritarian in person, despite their politics.

EG It's likely that the late Ted Kennedy said all the right things on women's "issues", but his abuses to actual, factual women tell a different story.

Goldin & RCA Uphold Broyde Halachic Decisions: Avatar Shock Forces His Leave
http://design2pro.com/jlbc/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=700:goldin-a-rca-uphold-broyde-halachic-decisions-avatar-shock-forces-his-leave&catid=139:news&Itemid=549


Best Regards,
RRW

Leader of anti-Semitic party in Hungary discovers he is Jewish

Cosmic / Divine Irony

«Following weeks of Internet rumours, Szegedi acknowledged in June that his grandparents on his mother's side were Jews — making him one too under Jewish law, even though he doesn't practice the faith. His grandmother was an Auschwitz survivor and his grandfather a veteran of forced labour camps.»

Leader of anti-Semitic party in Hungary discovers he is Jewish | Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2012/08/14/leader_of_antisemitic_party_in_hungary_discovers_he_is_jewish.html


Best Regards,
RRW

On the Morning Brakhot

Excerpts from Rav Dov Fischer:

«Therefore, one initially is struck by the past tense structure of three morning brakhot:
 
1.  Who did not make me a non-Jew
2.  Who did not make me a slave
3.  Who did not make me a woman
 
Past tense.  Why are these brakhot not composed in the present tense as are the other Birkhot haShachar (Morning Blessings)?  Indeed, who composed them?
 
 
The Source of the Three "Who Did Not Make Me . . ." Brakhot. 

The Talmud in Menachot 43a discusses the mitzvah of wearing tzitzit.  In that discussion, R. Shimon states that women are exempt from the mitzvah because it is a positive commandment that is time-related.  He holds that tzitzit applies only during the day, not at night, because the Torah commands regarding the mitzvah that "you shall see it." (Bamidbar 15:39). ........
 
Against the backdrop of this discussion, the Talmud proceeds to observe that that G-d loves the Jews because He surrounded us with mitzvot: tefillin on head and arm, tzitzit fringes on the garment, and a mezuzah on each applicable doorpost.  After quoting King David the Psalmist's thanks for these mitzvot, the Talmud adds that, even when David entered a bathhouse – under halakha, mezuzot are not affixed to bathhouse doorposts – and thereupon undressed in the bathhouse, leaving him briefly without any of those mitzvot, he still contemplated his circumcision: there remained on his very person a unique mitzvah to remind him of the covenant with G-d.


... The Divrei Chamudot ad loc. proceeds to explain that variant manuscripts that couch the brakhah in the affirmative stem from publishing/printing errors, and he notes an aged manuscript that preserves the negative formulation: "Who did not make me a woman."

 

For the complete Article:
http://www.rabbidov.com/Jewish%20Laws%20and%20ethics/morningblessings.htm


Best Regards,
RRW

Shavuot: To Teach, To Learn, To Repent

R Eliyahu Safran

« For the thoughtful Jew everyday is a Yom Matan Torah and Yom Hadin. Such an attitude might also help us understand Lag B'Omer, the thirty-third day of the counting of the Omer when, according to the Talmud, the plague that caused the death of 24,000 disciples of Rabbi Akiva ended.

24,000 brilliant young scholars! Lost! Our Sages ask why so many scholars died. According to Talmudic and Midrashic sources, they died because they did not sufficiently respect one another. Their scholarship, Torah learning, and erudition were taken for granted. For them, Torah learning was pursued as if any other knowledge, without an excitement, enthusiasm, and fire resulting in new insights, renewed motivation, and novel ideas. They reveled in their Torah brilliance rather than the brilliance of Torah. »

Shavuot: To Teach, To Learn, To Repent - Judaism - Israel National News
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/13293


Best Regards,
RRW

Sefer HaHinuch, Hashkafah, Mysticism and Rationalism

The Sefer HaHinuch is imho one of the best works on Hashkafah for our day. His presentation of Torah uMitzvot balances the ideals of ritual, discipline, and symbolism, with the more Universal Ideals of Kindness and Compassion. And he seems to be one of the very few to take that approach.

Here is how he comes across:

1. His First and Foremost Taam Hammitzvah is the rational and the reasonable. This straightforward approach l'havdil, somewhat complies with Ochkham's Razor

2. However, he often expresses that Kabbalah or Sod has something to say, too.
This often comes in 2 flavours
A. The rational reason is weak and does not suffice.
B. The rational reason is "OK" but the Kabbalistic reason is more profound

Thus, he does not take the Rational at the Expense of the Mystical, nor vice versa. Both aspects are fundamental. R Bacheyei, a near contemporary of the Hinuch, is one of the few with that same approach towards Parshanut.

I would always recommend that a rabbi use this approach with Baalei Bayit; viz. Cherchez the reasonable approach, and Keep the "Sod" approach in reserve.

I do not recommended leading with the Mystical approach, because this imho tends to weaken one's Sichliyyut faculties with regard to understanding Torah.

Best Regards,
RRW

Grief, Stress, Bingeing on pie

«It is a peculiar and reductive logic about the nature of being human, this idea that grief – or stress, or binging on pie – merits medical intervention. And it is a logic that pervades the DSM revisions, which is why the manual is proving wildly controversial on the eve of its unveiling.»

When did life itself become a treatable mental disorder? - The Globe and Mail
http://theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/when-did-life-itself-become-a-treatable-mental-disorder/article11584092/


Best Regards,
RRW

Shavuot Humour

Q: Why do we eat Dairy on Shavuot?

A: So that we can have cream in our coffee when we stay up all night!


Best Regards,
RRW