From RRW
Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Nishma-Parshah: Vo'eira
Take a look at what's on
for Parshat Vo'eira
Parsha, Vo'eira, "Koveid Leiv Par'oh"
Parsha: Vo'eira, "Y'hee l'Tanin"
Parsha: Vo'eira, "Modifying P'shat of Text Based upon a Contradiction"
for Parshat Vo'eira
Parsha, Vo'eira, "Koveid Leiv Par'oh"
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/04/parsha-voeira-koveid-leiv-paroh.html
Parsha: Vo'eira, "Y'hee l'Tanin"
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/04/parsha-voeira-yhee-ltanin.html
Parsha: Vo'eira, "Modifying P'shat of Text Based upon a Contradiction"
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/04/parsha-voeira-modifying-pshat-of-text.html
Tuesday, 12 January 2021
Monday, 11 January 2021
Eggs Left Overnight
From RRW
From Mail JewishFrom: Jonathan Grodzinski <JGrodz@...> Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2001 20:00:39 EDT Subject: Eggs left overnight without their shells I was introduced to this "issur" when a new masgiach (working for Kedassia London UK whose hashgacha we have had for over 50 years) visited our bakery and was horrified at our practice of peeling eggs immediately after boiling (and cooling) and then refrigerating overnight. He was not amused when I told him that we peel them then because the shell comes off a freshly boiled egg with ease, whereas removing the shell the following day takes much of the egg with the shell. Similarly, onions were not to have their head removed and left overnight (we were allowed to remove their bottoms instead) I am not a cynic(?), but I am still (about eighteen months later) waiting to be given the mekor (source) in Shulchan Aruch. Now, Michael Hoffman says: This gemara is not brought in the rambam or the shulchan aruch, but it is mentioned l'halacha in the acharonim, such as the Pri Chadash. Rav Moshe ztl discusses it in one of the later volumes of the Igros Moshe, as does the Minchas Yitzchok in vol. 6. Please could someone explain. 1. The gemara mentions this, but the Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch do not 2 Ergo the Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch hold that it is permissable 3. How can achronim (later authorities) forbid what the Ramabm and Shulchan Aruch have permitted? Further quote: All major "heimishe" hechsherim in Israel (such as Eidah, Sheeris, Landa etc.) are makpid on this halocho, but as far as I know, no major hashgocho outside Israel are machmir on this. As mentioned above Kedassia London are "catching up with their opposite numbers" Rachel Smith says <<Some hold that the prohibition doens't apply if the food is changed from its raw state (e.g. egg yolks or whites separated, onions or garlic used as ingredients; some consider garlic or onion powder to be sufficiently changed from the raw state to allow its use) >> We are allowed to ignore the problem if we add 2% salt , or make an egg mayonnaise mix Jonathan Grodzinski (London UK) 4th generation Master Baker
Sunday, 10 January 2021
Shemirat Halashon
My first thought in commenting on what is occurring in the world, specifically the Unites States of America, was to direct people to my article on Nishma: Policy -- The Adversarial System and the Torah Ethic of Justice (at http://nishmapolicy.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-adversarial-system-and-torah-ethic.html). As I state in that article, the goal of an individual in disagreement with another cannot be simply to win. There are usually values in all perspectives and the goal must always be to find and properly connect these divergent values into a unity which reflect the Divine values of justice, truth and loving-kindness. Basically the article contends that the Adversarial System can promote dissension especially as it becomes further and further applied outside the limiting parameters of the courtroom. As we become more and more interested in the fight -- and simply winning the fight -- the violent outcome is chaos and this is what we are seeing. I invite you to read this article and consider how you can become part of the solution rather than the problem.
I have since also felt that while it is still was important to direct people to the above article, there was another important Torah value which necessarily further had to be be enunciated and that is the importance of our speech. The distinguishing mark of the human being is deemed to be the koach hadibbur, the power of speech and because this is so important within our very definition of being ovdei Hashem [servants of God] and reflecting the Tzelem Elokim [the Image of God] how we express ourselves in speech is most important. The call is to be most careful in what we say. From Torah we further learn that it is not enough to just be careful about what we say -- which is obviously extremely important -- but to also to be most careful in considering how we are possibly being heard and understood. Torah demands of us to be careful of our language. What we are now practically seeing is how important this actually is.
Shemirat Halashon, Watching What We Say, must be our commitment and our message.
Rabbi Ben Hecht
Saturday, 9 January 2021
Mussar: Emotions Distort Perceptions
From RRW
"Just as love blindfolds you and you see no faults,so hate blindfolds you and you see no virtues. "
~ Moshe Ben Ezra
Friday, 8 January 2021
Thursday, 7 January 2021
Exodus and Statesmanship
From RRW
A Message from Rabbi Meir Soloveichik
Dear Friends,
As Jews around the world begin the book of Exodus, and as we at Tikvah prepare to launch our lecture series on Jewish statesmanship, I thought I would share a few related lectures that show how the Exodus story impacted some of the greatest non-Jewish statesman in the history of the West.
On July 4th, 1776, a committee of Adams, Jefferson, and Franklin was formed with the goal of selecting a seal for the nascent United States. Two of these founding fathers chose images from the Exodus story as embodiments of America. I discuss the implications of Franklin's and Jefferson's suggestions in the second lecture, titled "America’s Passover: Franklin, Jefferson, and the Seal of the United States," of my Tikvah online course on Jewish Ideas and the American Founding.
A century and a half after the Founders looked to Exodus for inspiration, Winston Churchill wrote a remarkable and little-known essay titled "Moses: The Leader of the People." In retrospect, this interpretation of the Moses story is instructive considering the legacy of Churchill himself, the greatest statesman of the twentieth century. I consider what Moses taught Churchill in the third of my lectures on the Hebrew Bible, available here.
Several years ago, at a public event at Yeshiva University, I discussed with the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, and with Senator Joseph Lieberman, the impact that the Exodus story had on America and England in the past, and how we as Jews should utilize its tale as Jews in largely non-Jewish polities today. The full conversation can be seen here.
A reminder to please register for my upcoming Jewish statesmanship series, which will begin in two weeks, on Monday, January 18, at 8 PM. I am excited to take this journey through Jewish political history together. You can register for it here.
Looking forward,
Meir Soloveichik
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Wednesday, 6 January 2021
Nishma-Parshah: Shemot
Take a look at what's on
for Parshat Shemot
Parsha: Sh'mot, "The Risks of Political Partisanship"
Parsha: Sh'mot, "The Risks of Political Partisanship"
http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2016/04/parsha-shmot-risks-of-political.html
Parsha: Shemot, The Zohar Decries Abortion http://nishma-parshah.blogspot.ca/2015/12/parsha-shemot-zohar-decries-abortion.html
Tuesday, 5 January 2021
Ted Cruz Calls for Rejection of Electoral College Results
From RRW
https://www. nationalreview. com/corner/cruz-letter-calls-f or-rejection-of-electoral-coll ege-results/ "At that quadrennial joint session, there is long precedent of Democratic Members of Congress raising objections to presidential election results, as they did in 1969, 2001, 2005, and 2017. And, in both 1969 and 2005, a Democratic Senator joined with a Democratic House Member in forcing votes in both houses..."
Monday, 4 January 2021
The passing of Rabbi Irving Jacobs in London UK
From RRW
Guest Blogger: Rabbi Ian Shaffer
Within the select group of anglo Jewish scholars who have recently passed away, mos tof the focus was directed to the tragic passing of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks just over a month ago.However the passing of another great British scholar around the same time almost went unnoticed, that of Rabbi Irving Jacobs from London UK. He was the principal of Jews College during the period when I studied there, and it was due to his major efforts that the college managed to survive the turbulent part of its recent history,before it became transformed into the London School of Jewish Studies.Rabbi IrvingJacobs ( not to be confused with Rabbi Louis Jacobs, who became the first Masorti/Conservative rabbi in the UK) was a towering figure in the life of the college both in terms of having been connected to the previous generation of famous scholars who are known through their work on the Soncino Talmud and Bible translations (Isidore Epstein, Eli Cashden and many others) and also in terms of his own scholarship, especially in the area of Midrash, which he lectured on extensively in the College degree programs.His teaching partner during these ‘golden’ years of great teachers was Rabbi Sidney Leperer, probably the most learned and unassuming scholar I have ever met, whose areas of expertise were in Jewish history, both ancient and modern. The college also had many other notable teachers who I was fortunate to connect with, such as Rabbi Isaac Bernstein , who I learned Talmud with for 2 years,and of course Rabbi Sacks, who taught comparative Ethics courses. I think what made R’ Irving unique was the majestic manner of his presentation and his menschlichkeit,which was evident all the time. He taught me Tehillim as well as Siddur and Midrash,and I always felt challenged and inspired by his style and presentation. Every lesson was a chavaya (experience) as it was when I had studied with Nechama Liebowitz in Israel a few years earlier. Both R’Irving and Nechama would never take anything for granted and they forced you out of your ‘comfort zone’ to be prepared to tackle issues and concepts with a keen and fresh approach.On a personal basis, as I moved to the US in 1998 and visited my family in the UK at least twice a year for the next 16 years, until my father passed away in 2014, this afforded me the constant opportunity to contact and share observations about communal situations, when I spoke to him in London. His keen wit and irrepressible sense of humor were infectious, and I always enjoyed hearing his perspective on current Anglo Jewish events. He was very forthright in his comments and was not afraid to ‘call a spade a spade’ when necessary, and I suspect this may have cost him dearly in the very small world of Anglo Jewish leaders who did not share his point of view. His efforts for the College cost him dearly and he retired early at the age of 55 and had relatively poor health for the remainder of his life. However he never lost the ‘joie’ of learning and he continued to give lectures to many communities and also to the Montefiore College students who were studying for semicha. Some of these lectures are available online and you can hear the wonderful tones of his voice and subtle nuances that he made in every shiur that he gave.I think the reason I really connected to him was because we were kindred spirits, both having ‘tasted’ the joys of communal Rabbinate and then moving into academia, which divorced one from the constant pressures and challenges which the Rabbinate afforded.The satisfaction of sharing an insight or a new approach to a text was his constant joy,and his shiurim on the Hagada were some of the most memorable he ever gave. The last time I saw him in person was when he came to be menachem avel when my father died in 2014, and he told me only recently that he had been living ‘on borrowed time’since then,as his doctors had diagnosed his health as being seriously compromised. I was so appreciative that he came to be with me, and it was the same R’ Irving as he always had been, although clearly older and not as hale and hearty as he had been in the old days. He had told me once that the College was like a finishing school for those who had attended formal yeshivot (I had studied in Gateshead and in Israel) and were now about to enter the Rabbinate or the world of chinuch. He added immeasurably to this process , helping me in my own teaching style and I will be forever grateful to him for his kindness and personal interest. As my father (who knew Rabbi Jacobs in the context of my father’s work as the ‘deli’ man in the local Kosher store) told me once when discussing R’ Irving: ‘they don't make them like that any more’. A true loss forAnglo Jewry and for Klal Yisrael. May his memory be for a blessing.
What Raphael Warnock Believes About Israel - WSJ
From RRW
https:
//www. wsj. com/articles/what-raphael-warn ock-believes-about-israel-1160 8146102 "...most Democrats, don’t accept the premise that the Jewish state’s security policies are racist in origin and immoral in practice. Most American voters are grown-ups who can appreciate the gravity of the challenge posed to Israel by a Palestinian minority in the grip of Jew-hatred. Mr. Warnock sounds as though he can’t. ..."
Sunday, 3 January 2021
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