Korban Pesach nowadays - Halachic issues Part II

Part 1 is here

What Korbanos can we bring?

Nowadays we are all טמא so any קרבנות that we would being we would have to bring בטומאה. What קרבנות can be brought בטומאה and under what conditions?
The Mishna in Temura(14a) states:

יש בקרבנות הציבור מה שאין בקרבנות יחיד שקרבנות הציבור דוחין את השבת ואת הטומאה וקרבנות יחיד אינן דוחות לא את השבת ולא את הטומאה א"ר מאיר והלא חביתי כ"ג ופר של יוה"כ קרבנות היחיד הן ודוחין את השבת ואת הטומאה אלא שזמנו קבוע

The Mishna initially is מחלק between קרבנות הציבור and קרבנות היחיד with respect to what קרבנות can be bought בטומאה. R' Meir however, brings a number of examples that don't fit in (קרבנות יחיד that are דוחה טומאה and קרבנות הציבור that are not דוחה טומאה) and therefore states that the rule is that any קרבן that is זמנו קבוע, meaning, it must be brought at a specific time, is דוחה טומאה and any קרבן that is not זמנו קבוע is not דוחה טומאה. The Rambam in the פירוש המשניות writes that this is the real reason and no one argues on it.

Korban Pesach, while it is a קרבן יחיד is זמנו קבוע and therefore would also be דוחה טומאה.

There is a machlokes tannaim (Yoma 6b, Pesachim 77a) whether טומאה הותרה בציבור or טומאה דחויה בציבור. The Gemara in Yoma has a number of נ"מ one of them being the following. The ציץ is מרצה on korbanos brought בטומאה. The gemara says that if טומאה הותרה בציבור then the ציץ doesn't need to be מרצה on קרבנות הציבור but if טומאה דחויה בציבור then you need the ציץ to be מרצה on קרבנות ציבור as the korban is פסול because it is טמא. The Rambam and most Rishonim and Acharonim pasken that טומאה דחויה בציבור and therefore to bring any korbanos we need the ציץ to be מרצה. To do that you need a Kohen Gadol to wear the ציץ.

In addition Tosafos in Yoma 6b say that we don't completely reject the distinction between קרבנות ציבור and קרבנות יחיד. They say that the only time that there is a machlokes whether טומאה הותרה בציבור or טומאה דחויה is by קרבנות ציבור but by קרבנות יחיד everyone would agree that טומאה דחויה בציבור. What this means is that according to everyone to bring a קרבן פסח would be based on טומאה דחויה בציבור and would therefore require the ציץ.
וז"ל התוספות
כיון דהתם לענין פסח איירי איכא למימר נהי דפסח כיון דאתי בכינופיא חשיב כקרבן ציבור ודוחה את השבת ואת הטומאה מ"מ כיון דלאו כל ישראל מייתו חד פסח בשותפות מהדרינן אטהורין אפילו למ"ד טומאה היתר היא בקרבן ציבור גמור הבא בשותפות וכן משמע לקמן בסמוך (דף ז.) דאילו של אהרן אע"ג דזימנא קביעא ליה ודחי את השבת ואת הטומאה כקרבן ציבור מכל מקום כיון דקרבן יחיד הוא מהדרינן אטהורין לכולי עלמא

Who appoints the Kohen Gadol?

The Rambam (Klei Hamikdash 4:15) writes that the Sanhedrin appoints the Kohen Gadol וז"ל:
אין מעמידין כ"ג אלא ב"ד של אחד ושבעים
If so, we have no Sanhedrin nowadays so we can't appoint a Kohen Gadol. However, Tosafos in Yoma 12b argue and write that the King and the other Kohanim appoint the Kohen Gadol וז"ל:
וי"ל דכהן גדול מתמנה בפה ומסתלק בפה ובירושלמי דריש ליה מקרא ומסתברא שהדבר תלוי במלך ובאחיו הכהנים
Note: מלך here doesn't necessarily mean literally a King as there were Kohanim Gedolim before there was a King (e.g. עלי הכהן). Therefore either the King is not mandatory or the King means the leaders of the Jewish people. In either case it would be theoretically possible to appoint a kohen gadol nowadays.

The bottom line is that to bring a קרבן פסח today we need a כהן גדול.

חינוך המזבח

The Mishna in Menachos (49b) has a halacha that before you can use the מזבח you need to be מחנך it. How are you מחנך it? The Mishna says by bringing the קרבן תמיד של שחר.

What comes out from the Mishna is that we can't just bring a קרבן פסח, first we have to bring the קרבן תמיד to be מחנך the מזבח.

However, there is a problem to bring the קרבן תמיד to be מחנך the מזבח. Both the בנין ציון and the נצי"ב claim that we can't bring most korbanos today based on the following. In the תוכחה it says והשימותי את מקדשיכם ולא אריח בריח ניחוחם. They ask, if the Beis Hamikdash is destroyed so what korbanos are we bringing that Hashem won't be מריח בריח ניחוחם? It must be they say that even though technically speaking מקריבים אע"פ שאין בית, we can't bring any korban that is supposed to be לריח ניחוח which is every korban except קרבן פסח. What this means is that according to them we can't bring the קרבן תמיד to be מחנך the מזבח because it needs to be לריח ניחוח and therefore we can't bring the קרבן פסח either.
There are 3 answers for this:
1. Both the Aruch Hashulchan and the Brisker Rav hold that חינוך המזבח is not מעכב
2. We don't hold like the the בנין ציון and the נצי"ב. This idea that they came up with is not found in the Gemara or Rishonim. In fact, the Rambam writes that מקריבים אע"פ שאין בית and therefore you can bring all korbanos.
3. Maybe the קרבן פסח can be מחנך the מזבח. The whole idea of חינוך המזבח is that you have to start the Seder Hakorbanos from the beginning. The seder hakorbanos starts with the קרבן תמיד של שחר and ends with the קרבן תמיד של בין הערבים. the one exception is קרבן פסח which comes after the קרבן תמיד של בין הערבים. In other words the קרבן פסח is not in the normal seder hakorbanos and can be thought of as it's own seder. if so, maybe it can be מחנך the מזבח as it is the first (and only) קרבן of it's seder.

Part 3 is here

Korban Pesach nowadays - Halachic issues Part I

Since the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash the idea of bringing the Korban Pesach has come up at various times. It came up during the times of the בעלי התוספות and came up again in the 1800's when Jews started to come back to Israel. This series of posts will explore some of the halachic issues involved.

I. Can we bring Korbanos nowadays?

The Gemara in a number of places (Megilla 10a, Zevachim 107b) brings down the opinion of ר' יהושע that we can bring korbanos nowadays because the מקום המקדש still has kedusha וז"ל (Megila):

א"ר יהושע שמעתי שמקריבין אע"פ שאין בית אוכלין קדשי קדשים אע"פ שאין קלעים קדשים קלים ומעשר שני אע"פ שאין חומה מפני שקדושה ראשונה קידשה לשעתה וקידשה לעתיד לבוא

This opinion of R' Yehoshua is a מחלוקת Amoraim ר'יוחנן and ריש לקיש in Zevachim 107b as well (עיי"ש). The Rambam (בית הבחירה 6:14,15) paskens like ר יהושע that we can bring korbanos nowadays because קדושה ראשונה קידשה לשעתה וקידשה לעתיד לבוא. Here is the לשון of the Rambam:

במה נתקדשה בקדושה ראשונה שקדשה שלמה שהוא קידש העזרה וירושלים לשעתן וקידשן לעתיד לבא לפיכך מקריבין הקרבנות כולן אע"פ שאין שם בית בנוי. ואוכלין קדשי קדשים בכל העזרה אע"פ שהיא חריבה ואינה מוקפת במחיצה ואוכלין קדשים קלים ומעשר שני בכל ירושלים אף על פי שאין שם חומות שהקדושה ראשונה קדשה לשעתה וקדשה לעתיד לבא

The ראב"ד there argues and seems to hold that the מקום המקדש has no קדושה nowadays וז"ל:

א"א סברת עצמו היא זו ולא ידעתי מאין לו ובכמה מקומות במשנה אם אין מקדש ירקב ובגמ' אמרו דנפול מחיצות אלמא למ"ד קדושה ראשונה לא קדשה לעתיד לבא לא חלק בין מקדש לירושלים לשאר א"י ולא עוד אלא שאני אומר שאפילו לרבי יוסי דאמר קדושה שנייה קדשה לעתיד לבא לא אמר אלא לשאר א"י אבל לירושלים ולמקדש לא אמר לפי שהיה יודע עזרא שהמקדש וירושלים עתידים להשתנות ולהתקדש קידוש אחר עולמי בכבוד י"י לעולם כך נגלה לי מסוד ה' ליראיו לפיכך הנכנס עתה שם אין בו כרת

According to the Rambam we can bring Korbanos nowadays because מקריבים אע"פ שאין בית. However, R' Tzvi Hirsch Kalisher (in his sefer דרישת ציון) brings up the question what about according to the Raavad? After all, he holds there is no קדושה and therefore cannot say מקריבים אע"פ שאין בית? He suggested the following. According to the ראב"ד since the מקום המקדש has no קדושה therefore there is no איסור במות. Based on that, we should build a מזבח on the מקום המקדש and it will be good ממ"נ. If we pasken like the Rambam then it is the מזבח of the Beis Hamikdash and if we pasken like the ראב"ד it is just a במה.

However, it is not so simple. Many Rishonim hold that there is no היתר במות nowadays even if the מקום המקדש has no קדושה. The Mishna in Megila (10a) states:

אין בין שילה לירושלים אלא שבשילה אוכלין קדשים קלים ומעשר שני בכל הרואה ובירושלים לפנים מן החומה וכאן וכאן קדשי קדשים נאכלין לפנים מן הקלעים קדושת שילה יש אחריה היתר וקדושת ירושלים אין אחריה היתר

The Gemara there quotes R' Yitzchak as saying that you can be מקריב on a במה nowadays because the מקום המקדש has no קדושה. The Gemara then quotes this Mishna plus a Mishna in Zevachim which prohibit במות and the Gemara says therefore R' Yitzchak retracted. Then the Gemara brings a מחלוקת תנאים whether the מקום המקדש has קדושה or not. Tosafos there is bothered by the whole מהלך of the Gemara, if it is a מחלוקת תנאים whether the מקום המקדש has קדושה or not why did R' Yitzchak back out? Therefore Tosafos says that R' Yitzchak understood from the Mishnayos that the היתר במות is not תלוי on the question of whether the מקום המקדש has קדושה or not but rather is an independent din וז"ל:

לכך נראה להר"ר חיים דכ"ע מודו דמשבאו לירושלים נאסרו הבמות ושוב לא היה להן היתר והני תנאי בהא פליגי דמאן דאמר לא קדשה סבר דאף במקומו של מזבח אין יכולין להקריב עכשיו ומאן דאמר קדשה סבר דבמקום מזבח מותר להקריב אבל לא בבמה

Therefore if you hold that the מקום המקדש has no קדושה you can not be מקריב any korbanos nowadays. Many rishonim quote this question and answer of Tosafos and the consensus seems to be that the היתר במות is not תלוי on the question of whether the מקום המקדש has קדושה or not but rather is an independent din.

Based on the above the only way we can bring קרבנות nowadays is if we pasken like the Rambam. How do we pasken? The Mishna Berura in סימן תקס"א makes the following statement.
בית המקדש. והנכנס עתה למקום המקדש חייב כרת שכולנו טמאי מתים וקדושה הראשונה קדשה לשעתה וקדשה לעתיד לבוא [מ״א] ועיין בליקוטי הלכות זבחים בפרק המעלה

In the ליקוטי הלכות he explains that based on all of the rules of psak we should pasken that the מקום המקדש has קדושה as in a dispute between R' Yehoshua and R Eliezer we pasken like R' Yehoshua and in a dispute beween R' Yochanan and Resh Lakish we pasken like R' Yochanan who both held that the מקום המקדש has קדושה. He also points out that the overwhelming majority of the Rishonim hold this way (Rambam, Semag, Tur, etc.) and the ראב"ד seems to be a דעת יחיד.

Therefore the bottom line is that we can bring Korbanos nowadays based on the Rambam that מקריבים אע"פ שאין בית.

Part 2 is here
Part 3 is here

Using electronic devices on Shabbos

Hirhurim has a post about texting on Shabbos where he tries to explain why it is assur. I am certainly not in favor of allowing texting on Shabbos or the use of any electronic device on Shabbos. However, we have a very big problem. Everything is going electronic. Soon it will be very hard to find anything that doesn’t have some kind of electronic sensor on it. If you go to a hotel you can see some of them, for example:
Electronic keys
Motion sensors which shut off the lights and air conditioning if there is no movement
Faucets that go on and off based on motion sensors
Toilets with sensors
Automatic doors
Security cameras
…
Household appliances are changing as well. New refrigerators all have sensors that are put into action when you open the door etc. (even if you tape down the light switch). Modern burglar alarms have sensors on the door and register when the door opens even if the alarm is off. There are surveillance cameras everywhere.

The point is that electronics and sensors are becoming ubiquitious, they are going to be everywhere. It will soon reach a point that we will not be able to do anything without causing some reaction in some sensor.

If we just continue saying that electricity/electronics is assur we will either not be able to do anything on Shabbos or have to become Amish. I for one don’t see how a frum person can stay in a hotel in the US on Shabbos based on this.

The question is what will the reaction from the poskim be? RSZA opinion that there really is no issur seems to be very well reasoned and I believe is generally accepted. The question is will anyone have the courage to run with it and say that in the modern world where circumstances have changed we need to allow certain things (like electronic locks, refrigerator sensors etc.) The fact is that in the next 10 years the incandescent light bulb will go the way of the dodo which will remove the only issur doraysa related to electricity. I know that there is a very fine line it is clear that we don't want people using computers, tv's, mp3 players on shabbos, on the other hand we are rapidly reaching a point where we will be unable to do anything on Shabbos in a modern home. The poskim need to come up with some kind of balance, given what is going on in the Jewish world I am not optimistic.

Should yeshiva students move away from the South to avoid the missiles?

The south of Israel has been under missile/rocket attack for the past few days. It has been publicized in the name of R' Chaim Kanievsky that yeshiva students should move to the center of the country (e.g. Bnei Brak, Yerushalayim) to avoid the rockets. The Rosh Yeshiva of the Hesder yeshiva in Sderot published a response to this that the Yeshiva students should stay because they are soldiers and need to show solidarity with the other residents. He also made the point that according to the Rambam (ספר המצוות ל"ת נ"ח) it may be an Issur D'oraysa to run away.
Source: הרב קנייבסקי הורה לתלמידי ישיבה לעבור למרכז. ראש ישיבת שדרות: תלמידי חכמים לא עוזבים את העיר.

In truth I posted about this 3 years ago in a similar situation, Yeshivas are moving north out of danger, what about the protection of Torah learning? , and made the following point at the time (similar and maybe more comprehensive then R' Fendel's argument):

The Charedi world justifies the draft exemption for yeshiva students based on the following:

1. Torah learning protects everyone
2. The boys are engaged in מלחמתה של תורה
3. Talmidie Chachamim don't need protection

Based on these it would seem that the Yeshivas should stay where they are. If the boys who are learning are engaged in war just like the soldiers why should they abandon their posts? In addition if Torah learning protects, let them stay where they are and be protected by their Torah. Their move undermines the claim for draft exemptions and looks very bad. The soldiers are entering Gaza to fight while the yeshiva bachurim are fleeing to safer havens.

This argument is even more relevant today as the country deliberates on what to do now that the Tal law has expired.

As usual the various Tzedaka organizations are trying to do outdo each other

The Vaad Harabanim for Tzedaka in Israel is sponsoring a tefilla at the graves of Mordechai and Esther in Iran. The cause may be good, but this sounds a little crazy. Given what is going on in Iran these days does it really make sense to organize a tzedaka event to raise money in Iran? Is it really worth the risk to the people's lives who are going to daven there? Are they that desperate?

Kupat Hair Bnei Brak is going for quantity so sponsoring tefilos at 30 different graves around the world (they aren't going to Iran).

They have anoither ad as well, which is supposed to give you the impression that ע"פ דין you should give to them, even though the halacha is clear that עניי עירך קודמים.

This is without even starting with the local Kupot which need to compete (see this post by Rafi about what the local Kup in RBS is doing).

I think that just like R' Steinman said that Yeshiva boys getting drunk is not the way Hashem wants us to celebrate Purim, someone needs to get up and say that Hashem doesn't want glossy colored ads with crazy schemes to get people to give tzedaka.

An open letter to Yeshiva Bachurim from R' Shteinman about getting drunk and misbehaving on Purim

The Yeshivas send out their students on Purim to collect money. Unfortunately many of them get drunk and make a chillul Hashem while collecting.

R' Shteinman has some harsh words for the boys going so far as to call them armed robbers:
...There is a concern that they are doing it in a way that will cause a Chillul Hashem with their behavior. They are like armed robbers when they force people to give them money. It is clear that this is not the way to fulfill the mitzva of thanking Hashem that the Rabbis instituted on this day.

Here is the full text of the letter in Hebrew:

Purim tznius advice for girls - stay inside ...

away from everyone and try not to be noticed and heard.

I see that a lot of people are getting here from Facebook. Can one of you please leave a comment saying who linked to me?

Davening Dov Kramer

This past week's Mishpacha magazine had a flattering portrait of Dov Kramer who has worked for all sports radio WFAN for the past 25 years ago and is affectionately known to the hosts (and listeners) as Davening Dov Kramer behind the glass.

What is fascinating about this story is that the magazine was able to write a positive story about someone who works in a very non-traditional field (sports radio) and still call him Charedi. There is no doubt in my mind that this kind of story would never be written in the Hebrew Mishpacha and that there is no way that someone like Dov Kramer could do what he does in Israel. This illustrates the very big gap that exists between American Charedim and Israeli Charedim.

There is another important point here, religious tolerance. This story and the story of the Beren Academy illustrate the religious tolerance in America. Dov Kramer is the producer for the Mets games even though they play 2 games a week on Shabbos!!! His employers see that he can do the job well even given his religious limitations and are willing to accommodate him. In Israel there is no way that he would even be considered for such a job.

The question we need to answer is why?

YNet published a story about the Tapp league moving the game to Friday afternoon to accommodate Shabbos. Most of the comments made the point that this would never happen in Israel, it would be rejected as religious coercion.

IMHO, this is the big difference between Israel and America on these issues. In Israel, the secular population is worried about religious coercion, which already exists (no public transportation on Shabbos, weddings, divorce, etc.). Therefore, they see any further accommodation for religion as the beginning of a slippery slope which will end with a halachic state. The fact is according to a recent poll only a very small percentage (under %5) of the population is really anti-religious. However, the people do not want to be coerced into observing Judaism. The recent events with Mehadrin buses etc. have only made things worse. Now whatever little room for compromise is gone. In America on the other hand there is no religious coercion and no one is worried that an accommodation for Shabbos will lead to coercion therefore society is open to accommodation.

Religious coercion hasn't worked in Israel so maybe it is time to try a different approach without coercion.

How is R' Elyashiv doing?

Over the past few days, there have been various reports saying that he is getting better, sitting on a chair, davening, etc. According to Kikar Shabbat it's all a lie. R' Elyashiv's condition hasn't gotten any better and he hasn't been able to sit on a chair, daven, etc.

This shouldn't surprise anyone, even when he was healthy most of the statements about/in the name of R' Elyashiv were false so why should it change now that he is in the hospital.

However, the question does have to be asked, why can't the public get accurate information from someone? R' Elyashiv means a tremendous amount to many people (so much so that people have donated years of their life to him) and everyone is being asked to daven for him so therefore the public is entitled to know what is going on. Why the secrecy?

Who should be exempt from serving in the army?

Now that the Supreme Court has canceled the Tal Law and done away with army exemptions (at least for the moment), it is important to understand  who if anyone should get an exemption. Here is a quote from an article of R' Aharon Lichtenstein on exemptions for yeshiva students (Tradition, Fall 1985) who presents a very compelling argument against draft exemptions:

Finally, even if we grant that the Rambam's statement does imply a categorical dispensation in purely halachic terms, it remains of little practical significance. We have yet to examine just to whom it applies. A levi [sic] is defined genealogically. Those who are equated with him, however, literally or symbolically, are defined by spiritual qualities; and for these the Rambam sets a very high standard indeed. He present an idealized portrait of a selfless, atemporal, almost ethereal person - one whose spirit and intelligence have led him to divest himself of all worldly concerns and who has devoted himself "to stand before God, to serve Him, to worship Him, to know God; and he walks aright as the Lord has made him and he has cast off from his neck the yoke of the many considerations which men have sought." To how large a segment of the Torah community - or, a fortiori, of any community - does this lofty typology apply? To two percent? Five Percent? Can anyone... confront a mirror and tell himself that he ought not to go to the army because he is kodesh kodashim, sanctum sanctorum, in the Rambam's terms? Can anyone with even a touch of vanity or a concern for kavod contend this? Lest I be misunderstood, let me state clearly that I have no quarrel with economic aspiration or with normal human foibles per se. again, least of all do I wish to single out b'nei yeshivot for undeserved moral censure. I do feel, however, that those who would single themselves out for saintliness should examine their credentials by the proper standard

In essence, RAL's point is that requires a tremendous amount of hubris for a person to say that my learning is so important that I don't need to go to the army and fight, especially when in many other areas the person doesn't show such great faith (as RAL describes). It is very nice for a person to say that they are joining Shevet Levi, but who says that they were accepted?

This is even more relevant today because very few 18 year olds are really choosing to be in Shevet Levi. When the exemption started most people served in the army and therefore to get an exemption meant making a conscious decision to dedicate yourself to learning Torah. Today it is just the opposite. All Charedim in Israel are simply assumed to be learning and there is tremendous societal pressure to do so. Anyone who chooses to not learn is an outcast, off the derech and looked down upon.  Therefore to say today that all of these 18 year olds are joining shevet levi is simply not true. They are simply doing what society expects of them.

There is 1 more very important point. There already is a system where Yeshiva students go to the army it is called Hesder and there the students commit to a 5 year program where they spend a year and a half in the army and 3 and a half years in the Yeshiva.

IMHO such a system should be instituted for the Charedi world as well. I would propose the following:
1. 3 years learning in Yeshiva (17-20) before the army
2. At the age of 20 enter the army for a year and a half (in an appropriate setting, no women, kashrus, etc.)
3. At the age of 21.5 they are free  to do what they want, go back to yeshiva, work, whatever.
4. A small percentage of students in any Yeshiva would be granted a permanent exemption. This would be reserved for those thought to be the generation of Torah leaders (if after 3 years in a Yeshiva you can;t identify these people then you have a real problem).

I don't see how a system like this would destroy the Torah world. Bottom line, it is a year and a half in teh army and then back to the Yeshiva. Devoting a year and a half to defending the country might even have positive effects in terms of maturity, growth etc. and after the year and a half service they could sit and learn for as long as they want with no one bothering them.

IMHO the real reason that the Charedi leadership is against plans like this is because a plan like this means that at the age of 21.5 - 22 the guys are free to do whatever they want. They can go to work, go to school whatever, and the Roshei Yeshiva are afraid that without anything hanging over their heads the Yeshivas will empty out. To that I say, if you have to force people at the age of 22 to stay and learn then it is better that they should go out and get a job.

The NY Times praises the organ donation system in Israel

In Israel, a New Approach to Organ Donation

Israel recently passed a law: if two patients have identical medical needs for an organ transplant, priority will be given to the patient who has signed a donor card, or whose family member has donated an organ in the past.

This was spearheaded by Dr. Jacob Lavee who told the following story:
In 2005, he had two ultra-Orthodox, Haredi Jewish patients on his ward who were awaiting heart transplants. The patients confided in him that they would never consider donating organs, in accordance with Haredi Jewish beliefs, but that they had absolutely no qualms about accepting organs from others.
That Haredi Jews would not donate organs was a well-known fact in Israel. But this was the first time anyone had openly admitted the paradox to Dr. Lavee.
The unfairness of a segment of society unwilling to donate organs, but happy to accept them, nagged at Dr. Lavee. After he operated on both patients, giving each a new lease on life, he put together a proposal that would give priority to those patients willing to donate their organs.

This raises a very big moral/ethical question. If you really believe that taking a heart from a brain dead patient is murder how can you accept it?  In essence the doctors are killing the donor to save you, as the Gemara says why is your blood redder then his?

Yated's ridiculous Pesach ad disclaimer

Yated Neeman prints a lot of ads for hotels for Pesach. They printed the following disclaimer today:

IMHO, this disclaimer is a joke. Only old and sick people are going to hotels? The bottom line is that they print these ads because they bring in a lot of money so to salve their conscience they printed this ridiculous disclaimer.

Should we be davening for R' Elyashiv to live?

At first glance the question sounds ridiculous, of course we should. However, the fact is that it is not so clear cut.

The Gemara in כתובות ק"ד tells us that when Rebbe (R' Yehuda Hanasi) was dying, his שפחה initially davened (along with everyone else including his talmidim) that Rebbe should live. However, when she saw the pain that he was in, she davened that Rebbe should die. When she saw that the talmidim were still davening that Rebbe should live and therefore the מלאן המות couldn't take him, she caused a distraction (she dropped something which broke and caused a loud noise) which allowed Rebbe to die.

We see explicitly from this Gemara that there are times that it is proper to daven for a person to die. R' Moshe (אגרות משה חושן משפט חלק ב, סימן ע"ג) quotes this Gemara להלכה. He writes:

ונקט זה הגמ' לאשמועינן שאיכא לפעמים שצריך להתפלל על האדם כשמצטער ואין מועיל מיני רפואות לרפאותו, והתפלות שיתרפא לא נתקבלו ,שצריך להתפלל עליו שימות ,כי אמתיה דרבי היתה חכמה בדיני התורה והיו למדים ממנה רבנן לפעמים

R' Moshe quotes a Ran in Nedarim (40a) that makes the same point from the story with Rebbe:

כתב דה"ק פעמים שצריך לבקש רחמים על החולה שימות כגון שמצטער החולה בחליו הרבה וא"א לו שיחיה, כדאמרינן בפרק הנושא דכיון דחזאי אמתיה דרבי דקא מצטער אמרה יה"ר שיכופו העליונים את התחתונים כלומר דלימות רבי
...
הרי דהר"ן מביא לדינא הא דהתפללה אמתיה דרבי לבסוף כשראתה צעריה דרבי טובא ותפלות דרבנן לא מתקבלות לרפאותו לגמרי ואף לא להקל יסוריו אלא שיחיה כמו שהוא ביסוריו

Based on this, the question becomes is R' Elyashiv in the situation of Rebbe or not?

Split in the Edah Charedis whether to publicly call to daven for R' Elyashiv

On Friday the Gaavad of the Edah Charedis (who is supposed to be the supreme authority), R' Yitzchak Tuvia Weiss, asked the management of the Edah Charedis to publicize a call to daven for R' Elyashiv. However, the Edah management defied him and refused saying it wasn't proper. The reason for the refusal was very clear. R' Elyashiv was a dayan on the official Chief Rabbinate Beis Din for many years and therefore many in the Edah will have nothing to do for him because he "collaborated" with the Zionists. It will be interesting to see how this defiance affects the Edah going forward internally and externally especially the Hashgacha.

Source: הגאב"ד הורה להתפלל עבור הגרי"ש - הנהלת ה'עדה' התנגדה

Fly me to Ramallah on Delta

Last week, Delta put a new destination on their web site, Occupied Palestinian territories. Here is a great video making fun of this:

R' Wein hits the nail right on the head

THE FRIER COMPLEX

The most dreaded status in Israeli society is to be considered a frier - a sucker, a boob, stupid and unable to withstand being taken advantage of.  
...
The underlying motive for all of this Charedi bashing is that the Israeli public, including the divergent sections of it – religious, traditional, secular and Charedi light, is tired and disgusted at being a frier. It has had it with supporting a large and growing section of the Israeli population that it feels is being supported by the general public while itself contributing next to nothing to the general good and welfare of society.

It is useless to protest that the study and observance of Torah and the continuity of Eastern European or Sephardic traditions is somehow the guarantee of the continued existence of the State of Israel.
...
It is well recognized that thousands of Charedi young men are not really cut out to sit and study Talmud all day. The streets are full of them even if they are not yet those who have thrown off their garb and faith. Yet the rabbinic and Chasidic leaders of the Charedi community refuse to endorse the practical notion that these young men do national service stints - in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, shelters and other welfare institutions.

In this way they can fulfill their obligations to the state and society and allow themselves to obtain the necessary educational and vocational skills to enter the Israeli workforce and not be condemned to a lifetime of borrowing, charity and poverty. 
...
Is the sole and main purpose of the Charedi members of Knesset to allocate as much government funds as possible for the unemployed, the uneducated and the unappreciative at the expense of others in society?
...
And then there are the small things that have been raised to be great principles of faith in Charedi society that are continual irritations. I cannot understand why a prayer on behalf of the soldiers of the State of Israel is not allowed to be recited in Charedi synagogues and institutions of learning. Is this not the height of ingratitude when such prayers for the Czar’s army, the Turkish army and other “friendly” governments when we were in exile were recited?

It will be fascinating to see if someone like Yonasan Rosneblum responds to this.

A one way street

In his weekly Mishpacha magazine column Yonasan Rosenblum told the following story.

He was in South Africa for the first Sinai Indaba and he had a debate with R' Moshe Taragin a Rebbe from Gush (a product of YU and R' Lichtenstein and a big Talmid Chacham) on the Charedi vs Dati Leumi perspective. He writes that he was impressed that R' Taragin was very fair in the debate and even praised the Charedi community. A few weeks ago R' Taragin invited him to Gush to speak to the American Talmidim about the Charedi community given what was going on. The next day R' Taragin sent him a 9 minute video detailing all of the chesed work done by the Charedi community as a response to the media storm from the events in Bet Shemesh.

Now we come to a very interesting admission by Yonasan Rosenblum and I quote:

I was deeply touched by the gesture. But it also forced me to ask myself a question. Had the national religious community been under a similar assault in the secular press as it frequently is, would I have spent any time looking for videos highlighting the wonderful aspects of that community in order to lessen the public outcry? And if not why not?

I think the answer to his question is very clear. The YU/R' Lichtenstein world has never delegitimized the Charedi world. They have very clear ideological differences the role of secular studies and the significance of the State of Israel and other issues), but they have always said that while we may disagree on those we agree on so many other things, namely, limud hatorah and kiyum hamitzvos. They have never called the Charedi leaders kofrim or mocked them. People in the YU world give money to Charedi causes and go to hear shiurim from Charedi Rabbis.

However, the same can not be said for the Charedi world. There is a general attitude in the Charedi world of thoroughly delegitimizing all those who do not follow the one true Charedi way, and having no respect for such people. It is found in the leadership, in the charedi media, and in the street. The Charedi world insists that it has the one true path and everyone else is wrong. They delegitimize everything else. R' Shach made the statement that it is a disgrace to call Hesder yeshivos, yeshivos, he made a similar statement about Maarava. The Charedi world would mock RYBS and did not give him the respect that he deserves. RHS would never be invited to speak at a Charedi event. At the recent Aguda convention Modern Orthodox were compared to misyavnim.

So IMHO the answer to his question is very clear, he would not search for videos because that would legitimize the Dati Leumi position in some way and that cannot be done by a true Charedi.

The overwhelming majority of Jews in Israel believe in God

YNet has published a comprehensive study about religious attitudes among Israeli Jews and the results should once and for all destroy the myth that the Chilonim are anti-religious and out to make the Charedim not religious.

Here are some of the important numbers:

How do you define yourself?

7% Charedi
15% Religious
32% Traditional (Masorti)
43% Chiloni but not anti-religious
3% Chiloni anti religious

Belief in God, reward and punishment etc.

80%  believe in God
80% believe that people are rewarded for good deeds
77% believe that God intervenes in the running of the world (the hand of God)
74% believe that evil deeds are punished
72% believe that prayer is effective
67% believe that the Jewish people are the "Chosen People"

Life events (birth, marraige, death)

94% do a Bris Mila
92% sit shiva
90% say kaddish for parents

Observance of Shabbos

84% spend time with family
69% have a special meal
66% light candles
The bad news is that there still is a long way to go in terms of Shabbos:
65% watch TV
37% do sports
16% go shopping

Food

63% separate between meat and milk
76% eat kosher in their house
70% eat kosher outside their house
72% will not eat pork under any circumstances

I have to say that these numbers are in many ways a welcome picture. Most of the people believe not only in God but in reward and punishment, prayer, and in the uniqueness of the Jewish people. This should tell us that there are tremendous opportunities to bring people back to mitzvos if only we approach them in the right way. The basis/spark is there, we only need to figure out how to light it. Unfortunately the events of the past few weeks have only made things much harder.
 

Pre-Matan Torah Jews in RBS B

Rafi has an eyewitness account from the woman who was attacked in RBS B.

Charedi sources are reporting accounts that she was a provocateur and that she picked up her shirt when the Avreichim yelled at her. I find that very hard to believe as she is a traditional Sefardic woman (just look at her last name Moshiach), just doing her job putting up posters.

In any case whatever she did there is absolutely no justification for what was done to her. Where in Halacha is there a justification to destroy her property (throwing rocks and damaging her car) no matter how she is dressed? What justification is there to physically assault her? These are serious issurim d'oraysa. It is very sad that there are so called Charedi Jews who believe that this is the behavior that the Torah wants from us. What kind of chinuch creates people who are ready to lynch a woman no matter how she is dressed? The fact is that this woman while wearing pants was not dressed in a revealing manner. The Chazon Ish once commented on the  Kannoim in Yerushalayim that they were pre-matan torah Jews, meaning  that their actions were not guided by torah but by emotion. Unfortunately nothing has changed in 60 years.

The people who did this call themselves kannoim, however the question that needs to be asked is can these people really be called kannoim? Please take a look at this post Who is a real kannoi? for the answer.

Taking responsibility for events that happen in a community

R' Slifkin (An Example of a True Gadol), refers to a speech that Rav Aharon Lichtenstein gave after the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin where he does some serious introspection about the murder and what led to it. He doesn't blame anyone else and try to bury this under the rug. He deals with the issues head on and accepts some level of responsibility for events that happened in his larger community. The contrast between R' Lichtenstein's approach and the approach that we see today is startling.

It is also amazing how relevant this essay is to the events of today. Substitute spitting on little girls, violence, Nazi imagery, etc. for Rabin's murder and every word that R' Aharon wrote applies to the current situation. In the essay he brings out 3 points worth of reflection:

1. The self-confidence that arises from commitment and devotion to a world of values and eternal truths - whether in terms of Torat Yisrael or Eretz Yisrael - sometimes has led to frightening levels of self-certainty and ultimately to arrogance.
2. we have promoted simplicity and shallowness ([my addition]e.g. there is only one true Torah derech)
3. Sometimes we taught our students to belittle and suspect others. One who doesn't agree with us is criminal, not merely mistaken.Any opportunity to credit a public leader with good intention was rejected in order to credit him with alienation, with hostility, with malice - not a suspicion of evil, but a certainty!

The essay has a lot more to say and I highly recommend that you read the whole thing.

The Posek Hador is disconnected from the Dor

This is the headline of an article in todays YNet (in Hebrew).

Basically the article says that many in the Charedi world believe that R' Elyashiv doesn't really know what is going on in the outside world and that access to him is tightly controlled. The last letter that was published in his name was basically no, (see R' Elyashiv's No's - No to Nachal Charedi, No to Charedi colleges, No to Charedi job programs), no to Nachal Charedi, no to Charedi colleges, no to Charedi job programs with complete disregard to the desperate poverty in the Charedi street. In fact, things have gotten so bad that some people took his last letters to a graphologist to see if the signatures were real (see גרפולוג: חתימתו של הרב אלישיב זויפה).

Here is one quote from the article:

במכתבו האחרון של הרב אלישיב, שזכה למעמד איקוני למרות הספקות הכבדים באמינותו - נשמעה בעיקר המילה "לא": לא לכל אמצעי שיעזור לאנשים מהמגזר להתפרנס בכבוד. וכשיש אלפי ילדים שרעבים ללחם, במובן הכי פשוט וישיר של המושג - יש משהו בלתי נתפס בהתעלמות הבוטה מהמצוקות שמשדר השטח. היא לא אנושית ובטח שלא יהודית, והיא מצביעה על כך שלא באמת ברור לו, לרב אלישיב, מצבו האמיתי של צאן מרעית

במסכת ברכות בתלמוד (דף כ"ח), מתוארת סיטואציה של מחלוקת בין שני רבנים. באקט של פיוס מגיע המנהיג

מביניהם ל"סולחה" אצל חברו, ומוצא את קירות ביתו שחורים - כיאה לייצרן פחמים בזוי. הרב-האורח הפטיר בתמיהה למארחו, כי לא ידע שזה מצבו. השיב לו בעל הבית: "אוי לו לדור שאתה פרנסו, שאי אתה יודע בצערן של תלמידי חכמים".

רב מתבקש להיות מעורב חברתית. הוא נדרש לאינטימיות עם הבריות - מתוקף תפקידו. לי לפחות (אוח, הגירודים האלה), לא ברור האם כבוד הרב אלישיב באמת נכנס לעומקם של אותם "בתים מושחרים"; האם פתח מקררים ריקים, לפני שהכריז את מה שהכריז קבל עם ועיתון - או שאין הוא יודע בצערם של תלמידי חכמים, או של יהודים בכלל. אני מאמינה יותר באפשרות השנייה. לצערי, אפילו חותמת עליה.

Can someone who spits on little girls, embarrasses women on buses, throws rocks, etc. be called a קנאי?

Given everything that has happened in the past few weeks and actions by people who claim to be קנאים, the question that needs to be asked is can these people really be called kannoim?

After Shimon and Levi destroy the city of Shechem Yakov is very angry with them and asks them why they exposed their family to danger, they answer, הכזונה יעשה את אחותינו. Yaakov Avinu does not respond at that point but does respond when he gives the shevatim their berachos in this weeks parsha, ויחי. Yaakov says about Shimon and Levi, כלי חמס מכירותיהם, clearly negative and then he says אפיצם ביעקב אחלקם בישראל, that they will be spread around. However, Rashi comments that Yaakov was saying that they will be the מלמדים and סופרים for the Jewish people.

R' Yaakov Kamenetsky asks why should they be the כלי קדש? Yaakov Avinu was not happy with their actions. He answers that to be a כלי קדש you need to be a kannoi. Things have to bother you and you have to act on it.

R' Yaakov then pointed out that Levi fulfilled the beracha while Shimon did not. Levi rallied to Moshe Rabenu's side when he said מי לה' אלי by the עגל, however, Shimon did not. In fact, Shimon used his קנאות for bad in the מעשה of זמרי where the נשיא of Shimon was a kannoi against Moshe Rabenu and acted out his desires. And in fact, who killed Zimri, Pinchas from Shevet levi.

What was the difference between Shimon and Levi? R' Yaakov answers, Torah. Levi learned torah in מצרים and was therefore able to harness his קנאות to torah while Shimon was busy working and therefore his קנאות was not bound by torah and turned out to be a terrible thing.

The Chazon Ish once commented on the Kannoim in Yerushalayim that they were pre-matan torah Jews, meaning that their actions were not guided by torah but by emotion. This is a very bad thing which leads people to do terrible aveiros.

Unfortunately, this is the case of today's kannoim as well. They are pre-matan torah Jews like Shimon. Their קנאות is causing them to violate very serious aveiros for which they cannot do teshuva. They have been מזיק and stole from who knows how many people, an aveira from which there is no כפרה until you return the גזילה\היזק. There is absolutely no heter whatsoever to destroy public property to make a מחאה, it is simply גזילה from the ציבור. In addition, they have created a terrible chillul hashem, again an aveira with no kappara. Why? because their kanaus is not defined by Torah but by their emotions.

When R' Weiss was appointed the Av Beis Din of the Eidah Charedis people complained that he wasn't a big kannoi. The Satmar rebbe said that anyone can be a kannoi overnight, to become a Talmid Chacham like R' Weiss takes 20 years.

This is exactly the problem today, everyone is a kannoi but how many kannoim have their kanaus defined by the Torah?

R' Aharon Lichtenstein on Daas Torah

R' Lichtenstein spoke on Chanuka about Daas Torah his talk has been transcribed and published here:
http://bit.ly/A1zsvv

His main point is that torah knowledge alone is not enough and a person needs to have daas as well as Torah to be a leader.

The Haredi State

Have you always dreamed about living to see the establishment of two states for two peoples? The dream has long since come true. Fantasized about a welfare state? Look no further, it's here. Demonstrated for affordable housing? Behold, it is now reality. Striving for a country not drained by enormous security budgets? You've already got it. Demanded classes with few pupils, a long school day, and free higher education? All these dreams have come true in the Haredi State, living in peace alongside the State of Israel. 
...
The Haredi State is a welfare state that would make the Scandinavians jealous. Most inhabitants are supported by pensions and stipends, and are almost completely exempt from income tax and municipal taxes.
...
Fortunately, the Haredi State has no army and needs none, thanks to the defense treaty with its closest neighbor. 
...
The fiscal agreements between the two states, regulating funding of the Haredi state by Israeli taxpayers, are ironclad, as are the military agreements guaranteeing protection from the Israeli army and the judiciary agreement giving the Haredi State control over matters of matrimony, divorce and burial. However, the actual border line between the new states has never been clearly drawn. Therefore it is only natural that the rapid growth of the Haredi population causes the border line to be moved every so often, as part of a slow - and ultimately justifiable - annexation of Israeli lands. This process of Haredi expansion and Israeli retreats has only one danger: The Haredi State might eventually lose the hand that feeds it.

You can read the whole article here: The Haredi State

From a chiloni point of view this article really hits home.


 

A Charedi satirical response to the secular press

Source: http://www.bhol.co.il/Article.aspx?id=36340

This is actually quite good although way over the top. This is a good indication of how serious the Charedi world thinks the situation is. They truly believe that the Chilonim are out to get them, in fact R' Shteinman said just that yesterday (see http://bit.ly/wJlMmb where R' Shteinman calls the Chilonim Erev Rav who hate the Jews).  I think that they truly believe that the Chilonim want to wipe them out.

R' Shteinman's response to recent events

I am not going to translate the letter word for word instead I will try to elucidate it's main messages. The letter has 3 main points:
1. Both the Gemara and Tur/Shulchan Aruch state explicitly that a man should love his wife like he loves himself and give his wife more respect then he gives himself and therefore it is clear that among the Charedim the honor and respect of women is paramount. However, the Gemara does say that a man should not walk behind a woman.
2. The No True Scotsman defense. Based on 1 if any events occurred that disrespected women the perpetrators do not represent the general Charedi population.
3. It is pointless to try to convince some people in the general population of this because some of them  are doing this to attack the Charedi population.

This letter is clearly for internal consumption only. What is pathetic is the reaction of the Charedi press to the letter. Since it was written by one of the "Gedolim" they have to pump it up and make it seem as if this letter answers all of the questions raised by events of recent weeks. However, in truth, with all due respect to R' Shteinman this letter doesn't say anything new whatsoever and repeats the same defense that we have been hearing for days/weeks.


Mishpacha wrote the following describing the letter:

The publication of this letter was received with great satisfaction in all segments of the [Charedi] population because it contains an explanation and a clarification of a matter that is arousing disputes and arguments between torah observant Jews and those who are not yet observant.


 

R' Chaim Kanievsky: Is Bet Shemesh in America?

This video shows how disconnected the "gedolim" are from what is going on and how dependent they are on "askanim" to get them the facts. Therefore it is hard to trust anything they say about contemporary issues. Does anyone believe that R' Elyashiv actually read the Mishpacha magazine/newspaper before banning it?

Mishpacha has been banned by R' Elyashiv

Shortly after coming out with a free Tuesday paper distributed in Charedi neighborhoods, Mishpacha has been banned by R' Elyashiv for distorting/falsifying the torah haskafa. It will be very interesting to see Mishpacha's response as well as the impact that this has on their readership.

Eli Yishai (Interior Minister): A Charedi only city will have no income and will not be able to survive

In a radio interview to Kol Brama, Eli Yishai explained his opposition to splitting Bet Shemesh into a Charedi city and a non-Charedi city. He explained that a Charedi city has little or no tax base, cities raise much of their money from property taxes (arnona). However, 80% of Charedim receive a very large discount paying very little. In addition, in a Charedi city there is little or no industry.The bottom line is that a Charedi city with no Chilonim will be bankrupt.

What does this say about the viability of the Charedi world as constituted?

Source: http://bit.ly/v4vLSK

What should we do with contradictory medrashim especially when Rashi quotes both?

When Yosef reveals himself to his brothers the medrash says that he "proved" his identity by showing them his mila. Yet, in last week's parsha (Miketz) the medrash on the Pasuk

ויאמר פרעה לכל מצרים לכו אל יוסף אשר יאמר לכם תעשו

says that Yosef forced all the מצרים to do a מילה and therefore if even the Egyptians had a מילה what proof was Yosef trying to bring by showing them his מילה?

There are a number of answers offered but I believe that this raises a more fundamental question, do we need to assume that medrashim are not contradictory especially when Rashi quotes both? I can't offer a definitive answer but I would suggest that the answer is no. The purpose of medrashim is not necessarily to tell us the pshat in the text but rather to bring out certain lessons and therefore even if the medrashim conflict the lessons are still valuable.

Noted Charedi Mechanech: Banning The Internet Is Not The Answer

London - Noted Charedi Mechanech: Banning The Internet Is Not The Answer

Rabbi Osher Shapiro explained how the internet is not the reason for the ever growing problem of at risk teens that plagues society.  Rabbi Shapiro, who lives in Stamford Hill London, is the son of the Naroler Rebbe Rabbi Berish Shapiro Shlita, in addition to being a well known mechanech and founder of Kol Bonayich, a United Kingdom based outreach organization.

 In fact, Rabbi Shapiro placed the blame for the younger generation’s fascination with the internet squarely on the shoulders of those who issued internet bans and said that the act of banning something such as the internet or a concert only increases its appeal. According to Rabbi Shapiro the internet, like the telephone, the radio or the cell phone, is an instrument that was, at first, met with great trepidation by many in the Jewish community, but when used properly can become an integral and appropriate part of our lives.

Finally someone in the Charedi world who is willing to say the emperor has no clothes. There is no question that the internet is not going away any time soon and in fact is becoming more and more ubiquitous. More and more services are going online and soon there will be many things that are only accessible on the internet (e.g. making an appointment at the US Embassy in Israel). It is simply not workable to ban the internet in modern society.

R' Elyashiv's No's - No to Nachal Charedi, No to Charedi colleges, No to Charedi job programs

The following letter from R' Elyashiv was printed on the front page of yesterday's Yated Neeman:

... We must protest and warn of all sorts of trends from outside to harm the pure cruse of oil, who found 'special frameworks for Haredim,' which will be under their full control and spirit, included in this are: programs of national service, army service,
... 
They also are encouraging all kinds of institutes and colleges for job training and academic degrees which bring in foreign ambitions absorbed from the outside, and their goal is to bring a change in the spirit and essence of the Haredi public, and act to introduce all sorts of other aspirations, national and enlightenment which our forefathers did not know; and to integrate and connect them with the nonreligious life and the culture of evil people.

The question that needs to be asked is where will the money come from? If job training, secular studies etc. are prohibited how will people make a living? Live on handouts? Is that really the traditional Jewish way? Given the recent events in Bet Shemesh things are coming to a head and the secular majority is not going to give the Charedim money for much longer. In any case in 20-30 years the Charedim will be the majority and there won't be any money for the government to give.

The Charedi world has this idea that everyone is out to get them, that the secular want them to become irreligious. IMHO, from my experience working in Israel (with mostly Chilonim) this is simply not true. In fact, my experience is that they respect the religious people that they interact with at work. The average Chiloni has no interest in making anyone irreligious. They do however want a number of things:

1. Freedom from religious coercion
2. Army service for Charedim
3. No money for people sitting and learning

Another fascinating picture of R' Ovadya Yosef and his family

This time as a young child, the adults are his mother and father.

Source: http://www.y-or.co.il/blog/2011/12/21/%D7%9C%D7%9B%D7%9C-%D7%9E%D7%99-%D7%A9%D7%9C%D7%90-%D7%9E%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%9B%D7%9E%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%A7%D7%A6%D7%A0%D7%95-%D7%9160-%D7%A9%D7%A0%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%97%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%95/#.TvMRFdU27bw

When to daven mincha this Friday?

What is different about this Friday? This Friday we will be lighting Chanuka candles. Usually on Friday, most peoples wives light Shabbos candles and then they go to daven Mincha. The minhag on Shabbos Chanuka is that we light Chanuka candles before Shabbos candles (this needs a post by itself to explain why). Davening mincha after lighting Chanuka candles is problematic for 2 reasons:
1. The Chida writes that since Chanuka candles are זכר למקדש, they should be lit after Mincha because in the Beis Hamikdash the menora was lit only after the תמיד של בין הערבים. Nowadays, Mincha is instead of the תמיד.
2. There is a machlokes what is the nature of the mitzvah of lighting candles on Chanuka? Is it a mitzva of לילה? Or is it a mitzva of פרסומי ניסא? According to some Rishonim (the Rashba and others) it is a mitzva of night (see What is the nature of the mitzvah of lighting candles on Chanuka?, for a lengthy explanation of the machlokes). Based on this, when we light before sunset on Friday night, it is the regular din that you can do a mitzva of night starting from plag hamincha. If so, when we light we are designating the time from plag hamincha until shkia, night, and therefore it is inappropriate to daven mincha then (this is similar to the early Shabbos problem of davening Mincha and Maariv between plag and shkia).

Based on these 2 reasons, the minhag in many places has become to daven Mincha this Friday early (mincha gedola time) so that Chanuka candles will be lit after mincha.

A Jewish Santa puts on tefilin for the first time

Free private Mehadrin buses for 6 million shekel a month

The incident with Tanya Rosenblit seems to be the straw that broke the camels back (Tanya Rosenblit Is The Straw That Broke The Camel's Back) and it is clear that Egged will not be able to continue the Mehadrin bus lines.

Therefore a group of Charedi askanim have come up with a plan to set up free private mehadrin bus lines. Why free? Because by law a private company cannot run a fee for service bus line without a permit from the Ministry of Transport which they won't get. Therefore, to get around this the buses will be free, however, there will be pushkas on the bus for anyone who wishes to contribute.

This is expected to cost 6 million shekel a month. As I wrote here, The real cost of mehadrin standards, you have to question whether this is the best use of such a large sum of money. The Charedi population is very poor (see Poverty in Israel - some disturbing statistics about the Charedi world) and I am sure that the money could be used for more pressing needs then Mehadrin buses.

Different laining in חו"ל and ארץ ישראל on Chanuka?

Every year this amazes me.

On Chanuka we read the parsha of the נשיאים, every day the נשיא for that day. Each נשיא is 6 pesukim and we have 3 aliyas. The miniumum number of pesukim for an aliya is 3. therefore we are 3 pesukim short. From where do we get the extra 3 pesukim? This is a machlokes the Mechaber and the Rama. The Mechaber writes that we simply read over that day. In other words, tomorrow morning Kohen will read the first 3 pesukim of the 5th נשיא, Levi will read the next 3, and the third aliya simply repeats all 6 pesukim of the 5th נשיא. The Rama on the other hand says, that for the third aliya you simply read the next day. In other words, tomorrow morning Kohen will read the first 3 pesukim of the 5th נשיא, Levi will read the next 3, and the third aliya reads the 6th נשיא. In חו"ל the minhag is like the Rama and in EY the minhag is like the mechaber.

The Gra points out that this is לשיטתם by chol hamoed succos. On chol hamoed succos the problem is greater, each day is only 3 pesukim and there are 4 aliyos. According to the Mechaber in חו"ל kohen and levi read the 2 days of sefeka d'yoma and then the next 2 aliyas simply repeat them. The Rama writes that שלישי reads the next day, meaning if today is the first day of Chol Hamoed, the first 2 aliyas read days 2 and 3 and the third aliya reads day 4, even though it is clearly not day 4 even with the sefeka d'yoma, and רביעי goes back on the first 2 days. In EY the machaber writes that we simply repeat the same thing 4 times. Here also the minhag in EY is like the mechaber.

The machlokes would seem to be does the next day have any connection to today and does it make sense to read it.

Interestingly enough the Ashkenazim in EY are noheg like the Mechaber both on Succos and on Chanuka.

Colored strollers prohibited? No it's a fraud - UPDATED

I saw the following pashkevil that colored strollers are prohibited, I don't if it is a joke or real.

According to Kikar Shabbat the pashkevil is a fraud.

However, that fact that so any people believed it or at least thought that it could be true says it all.

The IRS is going after me and other Americans in Israel

There have been articles in Hamodia for months about how the IRS is cracking down and is auditing people in Israel who claimed the child tax credit. However, I never thought it would happen to me. Last week I received a letter from the IRS stating that I owed tens of thousands of dollars in taxes and penalties. I was quite surprised as I file a tax return every year and get a refund every year. It took me a while to figure out why they thought I owed all that money but I finally figured out what they did. I immediately went to an accountant who specializes in these things and he told me that I am not alone, many people have gotten such letters.

Here is the IRS's modus operendi. Let's take as an example someone who made $100,000 in salary working in Israel and paid $40,000 in Israeli taxes with 6 kids. The taxes that they paid in Israel more then cover what their US tax liability and since the child tax credit is refundable they would get between $5000 - $6000 as a refund. What the IRS does is they believe that you made $100,000 but throw everything else away. (Very similar to teh idea of פלגינן דיבורא in halacha). They deny that the foreign taxes were paid and the fact that you have 6 children. From their perspective it is all a fiction to cheat the US government. Therefore, from the IRS's perspective you made $100,000, paid no taxes, and in fact got $6000 in illegitimate child tax credits. Oh, and by the way you have 30 days to answer them otherwise they start taking your assets.

Proving that I made what I said I made and paid taxes in Israel like I said, is not difficult, I have my pay stubs and year end (tofes 106) statement. However, how do you prove that your children are your children and that they live with you? What kind of proof can you bring? The accountant suggested going to our family doctor and getting a letter from him attesting that these are our children. We did that and it turns out we were not the first to ask him for it.

The accountant needs to get my Israeli pay stubs etc. translated and then he will respond to the IRS. Hopefully it will go well.

One lesson that I learned, never throw out things like pay stubs, etc. You never know when you may need them.

Updated

After submitting all my supporting documentation (pay stubs, children's passports, letters from schools, doctors, etc.) the IRS has withdrawn their claim and sent me an official letter stating that I don't owe anything.

Maintaining a pure Torah outlook

The following letter appeared in today's Hamodia and to me epitomizes the issues that I have with the Charedi world.

Can you believe this? No matter how much Torah is learned how many mitzvos are done, it is all worthless if you don't have the pure Torah outlook. Of course the big question is who decides what the pure Torah outlook is? In the book Harav Mibrisk Volume 3, there is a discussion of the Aguda convention before WWII where the question of the partition of Palestine was discussed and in fact the majority opinion was in favor. The book describes how R' Elchonon got up at the convention and expressed the pure Torah view against Zionism, partition etc. and that this was the Brisker Rav's position as well. What is amazing is that the author describes R' Elchonon's position as the pure Torah position and dismisses all of the other Gedolim's opinions as non-pure Torah positions. Based on what? Why was R' Elchonon's position more pure Torah then the other Gedolim who were at the convention? How do we decide? In fact a bigger question is whether there is such a thing as the 1 pure Torah outlook? Was R' Akiva not propounding a pure Torah outlook when he declared that Bar Kochva was Moshiach? Was R' Saadya Gaon not expressing a pure Torah outlook when he dismissive the idea of gilgulim? I could go on with any number of example, the fact is that on just about every major theological issue there is a fundamental machlokes starting with who does hashgacha pratis apply to, to the source of machlokes. Is 1 side not expressing a pure Torah outlook?

IMHO this is the biggest problem in the Charedi world today. The inability to admit that there may be more then 1 path, that everything is not black and white. As R' Elyashiv was quoted as saying "They could say it we can not". Since the end of the Sanhedrin there have always been multiple opinions in Judaism, the Charedi world's attempt to deny this is simply revisionist history.

The mystery of the ninth year is solved

A few days ago I posted about Kupat Hair's big campaign of the 9th hour of the 9th day of the 9th month of the 9th year and I (among others) asked the question how is this the 9th year? This morning in shul I saw a whole booklet put out by kupat hair where they explain this "segula" and have an FAQ. Question number 4 is our question, the sefer says the ninth year and yet this year is not the ninth year? The answer given in the name of R' Wosner is you are right, it isn't the ninth year but it doesn't matter. In fact any 9 is good.

Here is the actual text from the booklet:

So when you really think about it, according to R' Wosner the whole Kupat Hair's campaign was a fraud. There is no 9 minutes of grace, as according to R' Wosner any 9 is good, just like it doesn't have to be the ninth year who says it has to be the ninth hour. Maybe all day on the 9th day of the 9th month is good. In fact maybe even the whole month?

The bottom line is once you say R' Wosner's answer that the 9th year is לאו דוקא where do you stop?

Some interesting statistics about the Mir Yeshiva in Yerushalayim

Number of students: 7200
Number of Batei Medrash: 20
Number of Yeshiva students: 3400
Number of Kollel avreichim: 3000 (I know the numbers don't add up)
Number of staff members: 200+
Number of shnitzel pieces served on Wednesday's: 10,000+
Number of students served lunch every day: 6000
Monthly budget: 10,000,000 NIS
Monthly stipend budget: 3,000,000 NIS
Yearly budget: 120,000,000 NIS
Debt owed: 54,000,000 NIS

Source: Mishpacha magazine in Hebrew ה' כסלו תשע"ב

What is the significance of the 9th hour of the 9th day of the 9th month of the 9th year? - Updated

This ad is all over the Charedi press this week.

I understand the 9th day of the 9th month but how is this the 9th year? What is it the 9th year of?

Someone suggested that 9th year is the 9th year after Yovel. However, that is impossible for a number of reasons.
1. This is the 4th year of the shemitta cycle so there is no way that this is the 9th year of the Yovel cycle the math doesn't work out.
2. There is no Yovel nowadays so there can't be a 9th year in the Yovel cycle.

Fascinating picture of R' Ovadya Yosef and his family in Egypt

Source: עדינה בר-שלום, בתו של הרב עובדיה: הדרת נשים – לא לפי התורה

R' Shteinman - Life insurance is not worth it, it is better to rely on tzedaka

Shas has been working on a plan to provide life insurance for all kollel students. The plan is to take 30 shekels from their stipend each month and use it to buy life insurance at a discounted group rate.

The Mishpacha newspaper has an article this week that R' Shteinman is against the plan. He is reported saying, life insurance is not worth it, as the merit of giving tzedaka to the widows and orphans is what is saving this generation from destruction. Here is the article in full:

I find this very hard to understand for a number of reasons:

1. Is there no shortage of tzedaka that needs to be given? Even if every person had life insurance there would still be plenty of poor people who needed tzedaka. As I pointed out in this post, Kupat Hair - Marrying off your children puts you on the tzedaka rolls , according to Kupat Hair the profile of the recipient of Tzedaka has changed dramatically in recent years. Most of the people who now get money from Kupat Hair are regular people who are poor because they married off their children. To marry off their children they had to buy them apartments and that put them under water. They borrowed money that they could not repay and now they need tzedaka. Unfortunately, these people are poor because of their lifestyle and will not be helped by life insurance. In fact, if everyone had life insurance, maybe there would be more money to help these kinds of people. In addition, let's not forget that the Mir yeshiva has a $10 million debt. In short, מרובים צרכי עמך and even if everyone had life insurance there would still be plenty of opportunities to give tzedaka.
2. If we really think about it, what this is saying is let the widows and orphans suffer so that we can have a chance to do a mitzva by giving them tzedaka. There is no question, that without life insurance these people suffer. They have no money and have to worry if the tzedaka campaigns will bring in enough money for them to live on. In addition, tzedaka campaigns are done right after the person dies, what happens a year 2 years down the line when there a whole bunch of new widows/orphans that get the tzedaka campaigns and the widow of 2 years has no money to feed her kids. Is it fair for us to tell widows/orphans to suffer so we can do a mitzva? Would it not be a bigger זכות for us to set up a system where everyone is provided for if someone dies? Wouldn't that be the highest form of tzedaka?

Rashi believed in mermaids

On Tuesday the Daf Yomi learned Bechoros 8. At the top of the daf the Gemara says הדולפין פרין ורבין מבני אדם (Rashi's גירסא is מבני). Rashi explains this as follows. דולפין is a sea creature that looks half like a person and half like a fish, they are called sereine in Old French. Rashi clearly refers to mermaids (the French sereine derives from the Latin siren, meaning mermaid). The Gemara is saying that if a man and a mermaid have relations the mermaid can get pregnant.

The truth is that the simple pshat in the Gemara is that it is referring to dolphins and the Gemara is saying that dolphins reproduce like people ( הדולפין פרין ורבין כבני אדם).

However, Rashi for whatever reason had a different girsa (see Tosafos there) and believed that the Gemara was talking about mermaids.

What we see clearly from Rashi is that he took the mythology of his time and believed it and used it to understand the Gemara.

The Mir Yeshiva is virtually bankrupt

With the unexpected death of R' Nosson Tzvi Finkel the Mir Yeshiva has become front page news. In this weeks Mishpacha newspaper the main front page headline is that the Mir Yeshiva has no money and that they are trying to raise millions of dollars during the shiva of the Rosh Yeshiva, to save the Yeshiva.

The Mir Yeshiva is the biggest yeshiva in the world with approximately 7600 students in many locations. The operating costs are staggering and due to the world financial situation the money has stopped flowing in. Because of this, the Yeshiva has not paid stipends to the Kollel Avreichim or salaries to Rebbes for the last 5 months and the Yeshiva has a 10 million dollar debt.

Could Avraham Avinu have been as tall as 74 men?

Parsha blog quotes the following from the end of Maseches Sofrim:
"The man [who lived in Chevron] was the greatest of the giants" (Yehoshua 14:15) -- This refers to our forefather Avraham, whose height was equal to that of seventy-four men. The amount of food and drink he consumed was enough for seventy-four men, and he had the strength of that many men as well.

R' Chaim Kanievsky is his sefer on Tanach (טעמא דקרא) takes this medrash literally and in fact offers an explanation of the source. However, from a strictly rationalist/scientific viewpoint it is very difficult to take this medrash literally.

On one of my trips to the US I bought a fascinating book called, The Physics of Superheroes, which explains many of the basic principles of physics using examples from comic book superheroes. One of the superheroes that he discusses is Giant Man, his power being that he could increase his size when needed. In his discussion in the book he points out that the size that a person could grow to is limited by the strength of materials (particularly bone) and gravity. A person's size is ultimately limited by the cube square law. For simplicity's sake let's model a person as a box. A box's volume is a product of length x height x width so a box that has a length, width and height of 5 feet (our person model) will have a volume of 125 feet cubed. Now assume that he grows to 4x times these proportions (20x20x20). He will now have a volume of 8000 cubic feet, in other words quadrupling his length increases his volume by a factor of 64. Now we need to consider density and mass. It makes sense to say as a person grows his density stays the same (otherwise he would simply thin out into nothingness). To maintain a constant density means that mass must increase at the same rate as volume so quadrupling height increases weight by a factor of 64. The problem is that as weight increases the ability of the skeleton to support that weight does not. The strength of an object depends on how wide it is, it's cross-sectional area. In our case here volume and mass increase much faster then the cross -sectional area of the bones.

Let's take the following simple example of someone who is 6 feet tall and 185 pounds. A single vertebra can support approximately 800 pounds. Now lets increase his height by a factor of 10 to 60 feet. His volume and mass grow by 1000 while his cross-sectional area only grows by a factor of 100. His vertebra can now support 80,000 pounds but his weight is now 185,000 pounds, meaning that his skeleton can no longer support his weight.

The bottom line is that if Avraham Avinu was 74 times taller then the average man (between 370 and 444 feet tall) his body would collapse of it's own weight (well before 74 times). It is a matter of simple physics.

Of course we could come up with all kinds of miracles and believe anything, but we know that Hashem tries to limit miracles and the world works with nature (the laws of physics). Therefore it doesn't make sense to assume that Avraham simply being able to stand (against the laws of physics) was a miracle. In fact, there are many interpretations of this medrash in a non-literal sense (see for example http://www.dafyomi.co.il/parsha/mishpat3.htm) which very nicely explain the medrash without having to believe that Avraham was literally 350 feet tall.

Can you daven too slowly?

Most people would answer no, if you want to daven slowly with kavana good for you. However, there are circumstances where it is not the correct thing to do.

I daven in a vasikin minyan where some days we have exactly a minyan and other days we have 11 or 12. What this means is that in order to start chazaras hashatz we need to wait for everyone (or almost everyone) to finish shemoneh esrei so that we have a minyan of people answering. In this situation if the minhag of the shul is to allot 6 minutes for the silent shemoneh esrei and you take 12 which causes everyone else to wait for you, your behavior is not correct. The person who is davening with great kavana is causing a tircha d'tzibura and making everyone wait for his frumkeit.

Simchas Torah - How long should Hakafos be?

Many shuls drag out the davening/hakafos on Simchas Torah and finish very late. The shul where I usually daven started at 7AM and finished around 2PM (I believe since I was not actually there). IMHO this is not working and people are starting to vote with their feet. I have been davening vasikin on Simchas Torah for the past few years (at least 5) and every year more and more people are joining me at the vasikin minyan.  This year the vasikin minyan that I attended was packed to the gills, not a seat available. A friend who davened at a different vasikin minyan in the neighborhood reported the same at his minyan. More and more people are rebelling against being held against their will in shul until ridiculously late hours. These people have no problem with dancing and hakafos, they just don't want to be held hostage from 7AM until 2PM, they want to have some control of how long they are in shul and when they eat their yom tov meal.

The fact is, if you look around most shuls you will see a small core group of people who are dancing and everyone else is basically hanging out waiting for hakafos to finish. The average person (even in a shul of Bnei Torah) does not want hakafos to drag on forever.  The truth is that, in dragging out the hakafos shuls end up adopting a number of questionable halachic practices to do this:
1. Making Kiddush before Mussaf and eating more then a כביצה
2. Not davening Musaf before mincha gedola and therefore getting involved in a question of which should come first mincha or musaf
3. Not davening musaf before 7 hours (around 12:30 this year in Israel).

These are not the biggest issues but why get involved in these halachic issues.

In many yeshivas (including my son's) they have a much better system. They start davening earlier and have short hakafos (max 5-10 minutes each) and finish davening by 11. People can then go home and eat and enjoy the Yom Tov. They then daven mincha early and have hakafos from after mincha until Yom Tov is over, approximately 2 hours.

IMHO the above is a much better solution for a number of reasons:
1. It solves all of the halachic problems mentioned above
2. People can have a nice Yom Tov meal with their family at a reasonable time
3. Hakafos and dancing can be done at a time when no one is forced to stay, those who want to dance will dance and those who don't can go home

The bottom line is that people are voting with their feet.  More and more people are simply opting to daven vasikin and if the shuls don't adapt those minyanim that drag things out may find that their minyan is growing smaller and smaller every year.

Some halachic considerations when building a succah

As now is succah building time I would like to post some common halachic issues that come up when building a succah.

Here are  2 posts from previous years which deal with many of the main issues encountered when building a succah.

Some halachic points regarding building a succah
Some halachos of building a succah

What were you doing during Chazaras Hashatz on Yom Kippur?

If the shul I was in is at all representative it wasn't paying attention to every word that the chazan was saying.

Looking around during davening over Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur I noticed 3 different types of people doing 3 different things during chazaras hashatz

1. Learning - Many people come prepared with various seforim and spent much of chazaras hashatz learning. I definitely fall into this category.
2. Daydreaming/sleeping - Some people are simply bored and have nothing to do and therefore daydream or fall asleep during chazaras hashatz
3. Paying close attention to the chazan 

I don't know the exact percentages, but in my experience 3 is by far the smallest group, a very small percentage. There are very few people who pay attention to every word of the chazan. Of course, the truth is many people fit more then 1 category. I for example, spend a lot of chazaras hashatz learning but there are times when I do listen to the chazan and participate, it depends on what is being said etc.

The bottom line is that there is a major problem here. Most people simply do not really pay attention to chazaras hashatz on the Yomim Noraim. The chazaras hashatz simply does not speak to them as a religious experience.

In fact, I believe that this is a problem all year round, as well. It is just that chazaras hashatz on a regular weekday and shabbos are relatively short, so you don't see it. However, even on a regular Monday very few people actually pay attention to chazaras hashatz.

The reason is really simple, we just davened and therefore it is hard to see the relevance of chazaras hashatz to us. We don't feel a connection/need to have the chazan repeat what we just said.

I don't know what the answer is but we need to acknowledge that it is a problem.

Steve Jobs death, how should it affect our יום כיפור?

I don't claim to know why Steve Jobs died and why he died now. However, the time of his death does give us an opportunity to learn a powerful lesson for Yom Kippur.

Steve Jobs death should be a lesson that Hashem is ultimately in control. Steve Jobs was a billionaire who changed the world, yet he died at the age of 56, all of his money and brilliance could not save him. All of the technological progress, all of his money could not stop his death at a relatively young age. Hopefully his death inspires us to realize that רבות מחשבות בלב איש but ultimately עצת ה' היא תקום. We need to realize that as much as we think we control events, we don't, and that our fate for the next year is being decided on Yom Kippur.

Unfortunately this is not an easy thing to do. Over the last hundred years there has been so much technological progress that we have lost our connection and fear of Hashem. We get sick and we go to the doctor and we believe that he cures us. The temperature outside is 100 degrees, we turn on the AC and sit comfortably in our chairs. Night falls and we turn on the lights, and the list goes on. Life expectancy in the Western world has gone from 36 in 1800, to 52 in 1900, to 78 in 2000. Our standard of living is unimaginably higher then even the King of England 200 years ago. This leads to a feeling of hubris and a feeling that we are in control of our lives. We have gained a lot from the technological advancement but we have also lost a lot. We no longer have a real connection to Hashem in our everyday lives. We feel that we are in control not Hashem.

Dr. Chaim Soloveitchik describes this phenomenon better then I can in his essay Rupture and Reconstruction.
In 1959, I came to Israel before the High Holidays. ... The prayer there was long, intense, and uplifting, certainly far more powerful than anything I had previously experienced. And yet, there was something missing, something that I had experienced before, something, perhaps, I had taken for granted. Upon reflection, I realized that there was introspection, self-ascent, even moments of self-transcendence, but there was no fear in the thronged student body, most of whom were Israeli born. Nor was that experience a solitary one. ... I have yet to find that fear present, to any significant degree, among the native born in either circle. The ten-day period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are now Holy Days, but they are not Yamim Noraim—Days of Awe or, more accurately Days of Dread –as they have been traditionally called.

I grew up in a Jewishly non-observant community, and prayed in a synagogue where most of the older congregants neither observed the Sabbath nor even ate kosher. They all hailed from Eastern Europe, largely from shtetlach, like Shepetovka and Shnipishok. Most of their religious observance, however, had been washed away in the sea-change, and the little left had further eroded in the "new country." ... Yet, at the closing service of Yom Kippur, the Ne'ilah, the synagogue filled and a hush set in upon the crowd. The tension was palpable and tears were shed.

What had been instilled in these people in their earliest childhood, and which they never quite shook off, was that every person was judged on Yom Kippur, and, as the sun was setting, the final decision was being rendered (in the words of the famous prayer) "who for life, who for death, / who for tranquility, who for unrest." These people did not cry from religiosity but from self- interest, from an instinctive fear for their lives. Their tears were courtroom tears, with whatever degree of sincerity such tears have. What was absent among the thronged students in Bnei Brak and in their contemporary services and, lest I be thought to be exempting myself from this assessment, absent in my own religious life too- was that primal fear of Divine judgment, simple and direct.

I hope that Steve Jobs death can inspire us to recapture some of that primal fear of Divine judgment, simple and direct this Yom Kippur.

Creative solution for selichos and vasikin

I have been davening vasikin for the past year, but this week with selichos it is simply too early. Selichos start around 4:50 in the morning and I simply can't get up at 4:30 AM.

However, someone suggested that I do the following. I should get up for the vasikin minyan (which starts around 5:20) and then go to selichos after davening (around 6 - 6:15). This way I can daven vasikin without getting up at 4:30 and still say selichos at a reasonable time. The only drawback is that I would be saying selichos after davening, however, I don't think that it is a serious problem as once you aren't saying selichos before alos hashachar it is bdieved anyway. I really don't see a problem saying selichos at 6 (which I have been doing and davening at 6:30) after davening.

I am thinking about doing this tomorrow. If I do it I will report back how it went.

The insignificance of baseball

I have been a baseball fan for a long time, since I was about 8 years old. For better or worse, the internet has made it possible to continue following baseball even when living in Israel.

This year Rosh Hashana came out on the last day of the season and continued into the playoffs. It also happened to be that both wild card races went down to the last day (as did the race for second place in the AL) and going into Rosh Hashana none of these were decided.

If not for Rosh Hashana this would have generated a lot of interest, speculation etc. on my part. However, due to Rosh Hashana from Wednesday until Saturday I was completely tuned out of all this. In Israel where I live, there is no outside information, period on Yom Tov. WW III could have started but if the bombs were not falling in Israel we wouldn't know about it. In a way this makes it easy to tune out the outside world and forget it because you know that simply aren't going to get any information for 3 days so you can simply shut it out and concentrate on what is important. I am very happy that over the 3 day Yom Tov I was able to do this regarding baseball. It's significance paled in comparison to what was going on. It was the Yom Hadin so who cared whether the Red Sox or Rays made the playoffs. Life or death, poverty or riches, health or sickness, etc. was being decided and therefore I had no time or energy to think about the Red Sox or the Rays. In fact, it didn't matter, when you really think about it baseball is silly, it is a game played by adults but it doesn't really matter.

Whether the Yankees win or lose is irrelevant on the larger scale of things, namely what we are doing in this world. When we die (after 120), no one in the next world will care whether the Yankees won the World Series or finished in last place. We will be asked much more important questions. If baseball helps us unwind and relieve some tension then it is fine, it is helping us in our ultimate purpose, but when it takes on a life of it's own, becomes important in and of itself, we need to take a deep breath and take a step back. We need to realize the place of things like baseball and what it's role is.

It is all too easy to get sucked into professional sports and take it very seriously. There are people who almost literally live and die with their teams. In NY there are 2 all sports radio stations that talk sports 24x7x365. We need to be able to take the good from sports (teamwork, passion, beauty, exercise, etc.) and not get sucked in to the all encompassing nature. We need to be able to put sports into perspective and I believe that this 3 day yom tov helped me do this.