America's obsession with sports

I just came back from the US having spent a few weeks working there on site for a customer (one of the big reasons why I haven't posted much).

Being in America for an extended period of time helped me realize how obsessed America is with sports.

There is not 1 not 2, not 3, but at least 10 all sports channels available (Espn, ESPN 2, ESPN Classic, ESPN News, Yes, MSG, SNY, MLB...) in the NY area. There are also 2 all sports radio stations that talk sports 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Sunday afternoon is dominated by the NFL.

Peoples lives are defined by the sports teams that they are fans of and people live through their teams.

Being back in NY pulled me in a little and I am very happy that in Israel I am somewhat removed from this.

When I was in Israel learning for the year, I was completely disconnected. There was no way to be a US sports fan in Israel, you were completely cut off from everything. You couldn't even get the scores. Unfortunately, today, the internet has made it very possible to continue being a US sports fan in Israel. Everything is available online. The internet has made the world a much smaller place, you can feel connected to anywhere now. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. It is great that my kids can talk to their grandparents and cousins on Skype and keep up a very close relationship. It is bad that it makes it hard to pull away from the sports obsessed US culture.

יקח נא מעט מים ורחצו רגליכם

Rashi comments that Avraham was afraid that they were ערביים who worshiped the dust on their feet and Avraham was מקפיד not to bring avoda zara into his house. Lot on the other hand was not מקפיד and therefore did not have them wash their feet first.

It is clear from Rashi that he is praising Avraham Avinu for his behavior. However, if you look at the Gemara ב"מ פו you get a different picture. The Gemara says that because Avraham was חושד that they were עובדי עבודה זרה Yishmael came from him whose descendants worshiped exactly as Avraham was חושד the malachim. The Gemara is saying that Avraham was חושד בכשרים and punished for his behavior while Rashi seems to be praising Avraham for not wanting to let עבודה זרה in his house.

Some halachos of building a succah

This post, Some halachic points regarding building a succah , covers many of the main issues.

I would like to add an addtional point.

When do you say דופן עקומה?

R' Akiva Eiger has a famous teshuva where he quotes the Ran that you cannot put together 2 הלכות למשה מסיני to make a wall. Therefore the Ran (and others) hold that you you can only say דופן עקומה when the walls reach the סכך. If the walls don't reach the סכך, then you need the halacha of גוד אסיק to complete the wall and the halacha of דופן עקומה. This is 2 הלכות למשה מסיני which according to the Ran doesn't work.

This idea of 2 הלכות למשה מסיני can't be used together is only if the 2 are not independent. However, if they are independent then there is no issue. In the case of the walls not reaching the סכך they are not independent, you can only say דופן עקומה after you complete the wall with גוד אסיק. However, the following case would be good even according to the Ran. You have דופן עקומה and then you have a 2 טפח gap in the סכך. here you can say both halachos as the דופן עקומה stands independently of the לבוד and the לבוד is independent of the דופן עקומה.

The Mishna Berura quotes this chumra (he says it seems like the Shulchan Aruch holds this way). However, he comments that if the wall is within 3 טפחים of the סכך everyone agrees that it would be good. At first glance the MB is very difficult, why should לבוד be any different then גוד אסיק, they are both הלכות למשה מסיני and you can't say דופן עקומה without the לבוד. The מקראי קדש answers that maybe the pshat is that you can't be מכשיר a wall with 2 הלכות למשה מסיני of walls. However, לבוד works everywhere and is not a halacha of walls. Therefore לבוד would work even in conjunction with another הלכות למשה מסיני.

This is an important MB, without it we would almost never say דופן עקומה. In all of the succahs that I see the סכך doesn't actually rest on the walls it usually rests on some supports which rest on the walls. The סכך is generally a few inches on top of the wall (especially if you have a non-wooden succah where you have an issue of מעמיד). Therefore we are always relying on לבוד to fill in that little gap. Without the MB you would never be able to say דופן עקומה because you are relying on 2 הלכות למשה מסיני.

Some reflections on Rosh Hashana

Here area number of thoughts I have on this past Rosh Hashana.

1. It amazes me how people waltz in to shul late on Rosh Hashana. Yes, davening is earlier then a regular Shabbos, but still how hard is it to get to shul on time? I had a Rebbe in 9th grade, R' Yitzchak Cohen, who I still remember very well 25+ years later for his musar. One of the things I remember very clearly is how he exhorted us to come to to shul on Rosh Hashana on time. He gave the following reasons:
a. Imagine if you had a secular court case and the trial started at 9AM. You would not dream of waltzing in at 9:20AM, you would be too afraid to come late. You would make sure that you got there on time if not a few minutes early just to be sure. Forget about court cases, imagine if you had an important meeting at work, would you show up late 20 minutes late? Rosh Hashana is the Yom Hadin, we are all on trial for our lives. To come late to shul shows that we don't really believe it and don't take it seriously.
b. Rosh Hashana is supposed to be a day where we daven with extra כוונא. To come late and have to hurry through or skip parts of פסוקי דזמרא kills your כוונא and again shows what is really important.

2. The acharonim point out that although on Rosh Hashana there is no issur of fasting half a day and therefore davening should go a little past חצות, that is on a weekday. However, on Shabbos the issur of fasting applies and therefore you should try to finish before חצות. This din seems to have fallen by the wayside. Very few shuls seem to be makpid on this. I remember R' Willig telling us in shiur, that when Rosh Hashana fell out on Shabbos he would tell his Baal Habatim that he would compromise with them, he wouldn't speak and they would start 15 minutes earlier to finish before chatzos.

3. A long speech by the Rabbi is counterproductive on Rosh Hashana. People are in shul for 5-6 hours, they are simply not able to sit and listen to a speech by the Rabbi for a half an hour. If the Rabbi feels the need to speak he should keep it short and simple.

4. Announcing how long the silent shemoneh esrei is going to be (15 minutes, a half an hour, whatever it is) is a tremendous help for kavana. This way people know how long they have to daven and how long they have to wait after they finish. You don't have people fidgeting and trying to figure out when is the chazan going to start chazaras hashatz and people who want to daven a long shemoneh esrei know exactly how long they have.

Recommended seforim for the Yomim Noraim

Here are some seforim that I find very useful/inspiring for this time period.

שער הגמול - by the Ramban. This sefer spells out many of the Yesodos Haemuna that relate to this time period. It explains what we are judged for on Rosh Hashana, צדיק ורע לא, Gehinom and Gan Eden, etc. It is both a tremendous source of mussar and knowledge for this period.
קונטרוס עבודת התפילה - This explains every line of the shemoneh esrei giving you all of the sources. I find it helps my כוונא tremendously. I like the sefer in Hebrew but there is an English version as well.
אסופי מערכות ימים נוראים - This is a set of essays from R' Goldvicht (former R' Yeshiva of Kerem B'Yavneh and talmid of the Chazon Ish and the Brisker Rav). R' Goldvicht is a master in aggadda and he has some beautiful ideas about the ימים נוראים.

All men are created equal?

Is this a Torah value?

It seems that the answer is yes and no.

The Mishna in Horiyos (31a) states that for life and death situations a man comes before a woman. The next Mishna then continues the hierarchy, a Kohen is before a Levi, a Levi before a Yisrael, a Yisrael before a mamzer etc.

Interestingly enough, the Gemara explains how the Mishna knew that a Kohen is before a Levi etc. based on either pesukim or sevara. The one relationship that the Gemara doesn't explain is a man ahead of a woman. The Rambam in the peirush hamishnayos says that a man has more kedusha because he has more mitzvos. It would seem that for all of the others the kedusha is the same as they are חייב in basically the same mitzvos.

However, the Mishna has 1 very big caveat, that they are all equal בחכמה. If not, then a ממזר ת"ח comes before a Kohen Gadol עם הארץ.

What comes out is that yes, the Torah has a hierarchy, all men are not created equal, but, anyone can jump the hierarchy through his own efforts in Torah.

Is the Charedi world turning against the Edah Hacharedis?

This weeks Mishpacha newspaper (Hebrew) had a number of very strong opinion pieces against the Edah. Basically they said that they have become like the boy who cried wolf with so many protests and when a really important issue comes up the protest will have no meaning.

They also mentioned something that I posted a while back (Who is a real kannoi? ), that the kanaus of the Edah is not defined by Torah. They quoted a protester who said he was willing to die to prevent chillus shabbos. That is a very nice sentiment but is anti-Torah. The Torah says וחי בהם, a person needs to take care of themselves. Only the 3 cardinal sins are יהרוג ועל יעבור. In fact, here it is on an even lower level, it is not that someone is forcing him to be מחלל shabbos, but rather he is trying to prevent some stranger from being מחלל שבת. Therefore, there is absolutely no basis in halacha for a person to put himself in a life threatening position to prevent a stranger, or be מוחה for chillul shabbos.

And the moral of the story is ...

The Mishpacha magazine (Hebrew) had a fascinating story this past week. The story was about a mother and her quest for wives for her sons and the lesson that she learned. She had a number of sons (3 close together and then a gap). For the first 3 sons she was looking for a wife who would be able to support her son so that he could sit and learn. Therefore, she chose Beis Yaakov graduates with a real profession (not teachers). The first was a computer programmer, the second an architect, the third an accountant. To make a long story short, each one of them was very successful in their career and made good money. However, their family life and her son's learning suffered terribly. They all worked full time jobs and therefore had to work 9+ hours a day. That meant leaving the house before 8AM and coming home the earliest 5:30-6PM. This turned their husbands into Mr. Mom. The husband had to get the kids out to school, help prepare supper, etc. 2 of them opened their own offices and therefore the husband helped run the office. In short, the husband's learning suffered and the kids were being brought up by babysitters.

After a few years when son number 4 was looking for a wife, she decided that she had learned her lesson and things would be different for son number 4. Can anyone guess what lesson she learned?




















The lesson that she learned was that she should not look for a career woman, money isn't everything. Rather, she would look for a girl like her, a teacher/gannenet who would have time for her children and husband.

It did not occur to her that maybe the whole system of the wife supporting the husband while he sits and learns is the root of the problem. It did not occur to her that maybe her precious son should actually go out and work and make a living to support his wife as he is מחייב himself to do in the כתובה. Instead, his wife should work and support him while he would sit and learn.

ועשית ככל אשר יורוך

This quote has become the battle cry of the Charedi world, that you have to unquestionably follow the decisions of the Gedolei Hador. Many also quote Rashi (Parshas Shoftim) where he quotes the Sifri that אפילו על שמאל שהוא ימין, even if they are making a mistake you still need to listen.

I would like to discuss whether the modern day application is necessarily correct and some other interpretations of this principle.

There are 2 premises here:
1. This din applies to the Gedolim today
2. You need to listen even if you know that they made a mistake.

Premise 1 would seem to be a שיטת יחיד.

The Chinuch says this in Mitzva 495,496 however, as the Minchas Chinuch points out there he doesn;t know what the source for this is. In fact, the Rambam seems to disagree as the Rambam puts all of these dinim in the Perek where he discusses the ב"ד הגדול. It would seem that according to the Rambam this din would only apply to the ב"ד הגדול.

The Gemara in Horiyos (2b) explicitly contradicts premise 2.

A little background. The beginning of Horiyos discusses the halachos of a פר העלם דבר של ציבור. If the ב"ד הגדול paskens that something where the punishment is כרת is permitted and the majority of the people follow the psak and do the aveira, the individuals do not need to bring a korban chatas, rather the ב"ד brings a פר העלם .דבר של ציבור

The first Mishna in Horiyos discusses the case where a member of the ב"ד disagrees or even if a talmid who is ראוי להוראה disagrees with the psak of the ב"ד. The Mishna says that if they rely on the psak of the ב"ד they will not be covered by the פר העלם דבר של ציבור, but rather will need to bring their own private חטאת. The Gemara asks why are they considered a שוגג if they knew the pask was wrong. The Gemara answers that they made a mistake in the מצוה לשמוע לדברי חכמים. They thought that they needed to listen even when the ב"ד made a mistake.

You see explicitly from the Gemara that you are not supposed to listen to the ב"ד הגדול if you know that they made a mistake.

This seems to contradict the Sifri that Rashi quoted. In addition, the Yerushalmi also seems to contradict the Sifri. The Yerushalmi writes that I might think that I should listen if the chachamim tell me על שמאל שהוא ימין, the Yerushalmi says קמ"ל that you should only listen when they say על ימין שהוא ימין.

The Rishonim and Acharonim offer a number of resolutions to these contradictions.

A number of mefarshim of Rashi claim that the Sifri is only talking about where you think that the ב"ד is wrong but you are not sure. In that situation you just listen to the ב"ד. However, if you are sure, then you should not listen and this is the Gemara in Horiyos and the Yerushalmi.

The Ramban in his השגות on the Sefer Hamitzvos (שורש ב) offers the following resolution. He says that if you disagree with the ב"ד הגדול you should follow your opinion until you go to them and present your arguments and they reject them. He says that this is pshat in the Gemara Horiyos. However, once they reject your arguments and maintain their psak the din of the Sifri applies that you must listen.

The Ramban is difficult because the case of the Mishna in Horiyos includes where a member of the ב"ד that ruled on the case disagrees. It is hard to imagine that he did not present his arguments when the case was heard and yet, the Gemara still says that he should not follow the psak of the ב"ד.

R' Elchanan in קונטרוס דברי סופרים offers the following resolution. Part of the איסור of בל תוסיף is that the חכמים are not allowed to label a דין דרבנן as a דין דאורייתא. The חכמים are allowed to create דינים דרבנן but they must be clearly labeled as such. Based on this he explains the Yerushalmi as follows. The Yerushalmi is talking about a case where the חכמים are labeling a דין דרבנן as a דין דאורייתא, that is what ימין שהוא שמאל means and therefore you are not allowed to listen. The Sifri on the other hand is talking about a completely different case. The Sifri is talking about where the חכמים tell you not to perform a mitzva, for example not to blow shofar on shabbos. Even though they are telling you not to do a mitzva (ימין שהוא שמאל) that is within their authority and therefore you have to listen.

According to R' Elchanan, it comes out that the Sifri has nothing to do with listening to the חכמים in general, it is talking about a very specific case.

The bottom line is that the application of this principle to the statements of the "Gedolim" regarding elections etc. and saying that everyone has a חיוב to listen would seem to be on very shaky ground.

The Edah Hacharedis continues with their campaign for the "starving mother" ...

With a 50 page booklet detailing the crimes of Hadassa.


Here they attack Hadassa for being a research hospital. This is just silly. How do think the new treatments that save their lives will be discovered without research? Anyone who knows anything knows that a research hospital is generally the best place to go as they have access to the best and latest treatments.



The last page is absolutely fascinating. The caricature shows how they believe that the chiloni world is obsessed with attacking them. As someone who works in hi tech and deals with chilonim every day, I can say this is absolutely silly. The chiloni world has no interest in Charedim whatsoever and spends no time thinking about them.

Also, take note of the e-mail address.

For the first time since Moshe Rabenu ...

This is how the latest Kupat Hair flyer begins in dramatic fashion. What will they think of next? Who comes up with these ideas?

Is this really what gets people to give tzedaka?