Reflections on the Exemption of Women from Time-Bound Commandments
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Should Bakeries Which Are Open on Shabbat Be Supervised? a Response to the Rabinowitz-Weisberg Opinion RABBI HOWARD HANDLER
Should Bakeries Which are Open on Shabbat Be Supervised? A Response to the Rabinowitz-Weisberg Opinion RABBI HOWARD HANDLER This paper was submitted as a response to the responsum written by Rabbi Mayer Rabinowitz and Ms. Dvora Weisberg entitled "Rabbinic Supervision of Jewish Owned Businesses Operating on Shabbat" which was adopted by the CJLS on February 26, 1986. Should rabbis offer rabbinic supervision to bakeries which are open on Shabbat? i1 ~, '(l) l'\ (1) The food itself is indeed kosher after Shabbat, once the time required to prepare it has elapsed. 1 The halakhah is according to Rabbi Yehudah and not according to the Mishnah which is Rabbi Meir's opinion. (2) While a Jew who does not observe all the mitzvot is in some instances deemed trustworthy, this is never the case regarding someone who flagrantly disregards the laws of Shabbat, especially for personal profit. Maimonides specifically excludes such a person's trustworthiness regarding his own actions.2 Moreover in the case of n:nv 77n~ (a violator of Shabbat) Maimonides explicitly rejects his trustworthiness. 3 No support can be brought from Moshe Feinstein who concludes, "even if the proprietor closes his store on Shabbat, [since it is known to all that he does not observe Shabbat], we assume he only wants to impress other observant Jews so they will buy from him."4 Previously in the same responsum R. Feinstein emphasizes that even if the person in The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly provides guidance in matters of halakhah for the Conservative movement. -
Congregation Torah Ohr 19146 Lyons Road, Boca Raton, FL 33434 (561) 479-4049 ● ● [email protected] Rabbi Benjamin S
February 5 — 11, 2021 23 — 29 Shevat 5781 Congregation Torah Ohr 19146 Lyons Road, Boca Raton, FL 33434 (561) 479-4049 ● www.torahohrboca.org ● [email protected] Rabbi Benjamin S. Yasgur President, Jonas Waizer Office Hours Monday - Thursday 9:00am - 3:00pm, Friday 9:00am - 12noon WEEKDAY TIMES Earliest Davening (Fri-Thurs) 5:53am* Mishna Yomit (in Shul & online) 15 min. before Mincha Earliest Tallit/Tefillin (Fri-Thurs) 6:20am* Mincha/Ma’ariv (Shul & Tent) (S-Th) Shacharit at Shul (starting with Pesukai D’Zimra) 7:30am Shacharit in the Tent (starting with Pesukai D’Zimra) 8:30am Daven Mincha (S-Th) prior to 6:08pm Daf Yomi (online) 8:30am Repeat Kriat Shema after 6:46pm* Chumash Class (online) 9:30am *These are the latest times during the week BS”D CONGREGATION TORAH OHR NEW - UPDATED POLICIES FOR KEEPING OUR COMMUNITY SAFE We enjoy the seasonal return of our cherished congregants, friends, and neighbors. At the same time, let us acknowledge that the Corona-19 pandemic is not yet over. We cannot afford complacency in our sheltered senior community until the pandemic is fully controlled. Considering the situation of pikuach nefesh, the Shul will continue policies that protect all our members. We want you in Shul ASAP. But first, individuals returning to Florida, even from short out-of-state stays, must adhere to the CDC, Florida State and Shul rules: a) Self-isolate for 12 days; DO NOT ATTEND SHUL, including outdoor minyanim. If you have no symptoms after 12 days, please SHABBAT YITRO register to attend shul minyanim. -
September/October
A Traditional, Egalitarian and Participatory Conservative Synagogue ELUL 5777/TISHREI/HESHVAN 5778 NEWSLETTER/VOLUME 30:1 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 Or Zarua Annual Tshuvah Lecture Selihot Study with Rabbi Bolton Rabbinic Irreverence: Repentance and Forgiveness Imagining a Repentant God at the Time of the Spanish Expulsion: Rabbi Dov Weiss, PhD Abarbanel’s Take on Tshuvah Department of Religion University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Saturday, September 16 8:00 pm: Dessert Reception Sunday evening, September 24, 6:00 pm 8:30 pm: Selihot Study s we approach transgressing Torah law. Dr. Weiss (son with Rabbi Bolton the High Holy of Rabbi Avi Weiss) recently published a 9:30: pm Selihot Service Days, the process book, Pious Irreverence: Confronting God of repentance in Rabbinic Judaism, that ach Shabbat of 5777 we have Amust become our focus. explores these daring Egleaned from Don Yitzhak Abarbanel's As the High Holy Day Rabbinic texts. erudite commentary on the weekly Torah liturgy makes clear, our In this Tshuvah Lecture, portion. At Selihot, as we turn towards fate for the coming year Dr. Weiss will address why the new year, we will study selections may hinge on the efficacy some Rabbis envisioned a from the masterwork that address and of our tshuvah, which must involve genuine perfect God as performing explore repentance. This past year, while introspection, a thoroughgoing refinement tshuvah and what religious we have seen some of those passages as of character, and a deep commitment to values and insight might they arose in the context of our reading improvement in our conduct. Each year at Or be expressed in these radical texts. -
Our Very Life the Sukkah Helps the Jews Remember Their History and Their Covenant with God
TORAH FROM JTS www.jtsa.edu/torah A Jewish man remembers the sukkah in his grandfather’s home And the sukkah remembers for him The wandering in the desert that remembers The grace of youth and the tablets of the Ten Commandments Sukkot 5778 סוכות תשע"ח And the Golden Calf and the thirst and the hunger That remembers Egypt. Our Very Life The sukkah helps the Jews remember their history and their covenant with God. The image of the 19th century sukkah from the collection of the Paris Dr. Jason Rogoff, Academic Director of Israel Jewish Museum expresses this notion with its elaborate panels depicting not Programs, Assistant Professor of Talmud and only images of an Austrian village, the dwelling of the owner of the sukkah, Rabbinics, JTS but also a view of Jerusalem, the walls of the old city, and the Decalogue. One time it happened that a priest poured the libation on his I hope that this year you invite into your sukkah not only your friends and feet, and all the people pelted him with their etrogim. family but also those who are no longer with us yet remain part of our (M. Sukkah 4:9) memories of the past. The above Mishnah describes a scandalous episode set on the festival of Sukkot during the Second Temple period. The previous mishnah explains that on each day of the festival there was a ceremony where the priests would fill a golden flask with water from the Shiloah spring and bring it to the Temple to offer as a sacrifice on the altar. -
The Intersection of Gender and Mitzvot Dr
The Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies Walking with Mitzvot Edited By Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson ogb hfrs andvhfrs Rabbi Patricia Fenton In Memory of Harold Held and Louise Held, of blessed memory The Held Foundation Melissa and Michael Bordy Joseph and Lacine Held Robert and Lisa Held Published in partnership with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the Rabbinical Assembly, the Federation of Jewish Men’s Clubs and the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism. THE INTERSECTION OF GENDER AND MITZVOT DR. RABBI ARYEH COHEN TO START WITH A COUPLE alakhah, or Jewish Law, it has been often noted, is as much a pedagogical system as a legal system. The goal of the Hmitzvot as codified and explicated in the halakhic system is to create a certain type of person. Ideally this is a person who is righteous and God fearing, a person who feels and fulfills their obligation towards God as well as towards their fellows. Embedded into this goal, of necessity, is an idea or conception of what a person is. On the most basic level, the mitzvot “construct” people as masculine and feminine. This means that the halakhic system, or the system of mitzvot as practiced, classically define certain behaviors as masculine and others as feminine. The mitzvot themselves are then grouped into broad categories which are mapped onto male and female. Let’s start with a couple of examples. The (3rd century CE) tractate Kiddushin of the Mishnah begins with the following law: “A woman is acquired in three ways, with money, with a contract and with sex.” The assumption here is that a man “acquires” a woman in marriage and not the reverse. -
Adas Israel Congregation
Adas Israel Congregation ChronicleMarch Highlights: Purim 5775 Full Schedule 2 Associate Rabbi Search Update 2 Kay Hall Renovation 2 Sulam Board Development 4 Kol HaOlam 5 Passover 5775 Full Schedule 6 First Night Passover Seder 7 Ma Tovu: Geoffery Berman 20 Vol. 77, No. 8 / March 2015 / Adar–Nissan 5775 Chronicle • March 2015 • 1 Associate Rabbi Search Update Purim 5775/2015 The Associate Rabbi search process is in full swing. The Joint Placement Join us for the festive observances of Purim, Committee of the Rabbinic Assembly and the search committee, chaired by celebrated every year on the 14th of the He- Jamie Butler, have been in regular consultation over the last six months. brew month of Adar (late winter/early spring). The committee has reviewed more than 20 applications, conducted eight The holiday commemorates the salvation of introductory Skype interviews to date, and anticipates additional ones in the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Ha- the coming weeks. Committee members have received applications from man’s plot “to destroy the Jews in a single day.” experienced rabbis all over the country, and they are enthusiastic about This year at Adas observances include the quality of the applicants. The committee expects to bring promising a full Megillah reading in the style of The candidates in for a mid-week visit that will include leading minyan, reading Wizard of Oz, a Traditional Egalitarian Minyan Torah, delivering a brief d’var Torah, and meeting with the committee, clergy, family reading, readings for families with and staff. The committee will then invite finalists for a Shabbat weekend young children, and the incredible annual sometime this spring and will solicit feedback from the congregation. -
Jewish Perspectives on Reproductive Realities by Rabbi Lori Koffman, NCJW Board Director and Chair of NCJW’S Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice Initiative
Jewish Perspectives on Reproductive Realities By Rabbi Lori Koffman, NCJW Board Director and Chair of NCJW’s Reproductive Health, Rights and Justice Initiative A note on the content below: We acknowledge that this document invokes heavily gendered language due to the prevailing historic male voices in Jewish rabbinic and biblical perspectives, and the fact that Hebrew (the language in which these laws originated) is a gendered language. We also recognize some of these perspectives might be in contradiction with one another and with some of NCJW’s approaches to the issues of reproductive health, rights, and justice. Background Family planning has been discussed in Judaism for several thousand years. From the earliest of the ‘sages’ until today, a range of opinions has existed — opinions which can be in tension with one another and are constantly evolving. Historically these discussions have assumed that sexual intimacy happens within the framework of heterosexual marriage. A few fundamental Jewish tenets underlie any discussion of Jewish views on reproductive realities. • Protecting an existing life is paramount, even when it means a Jew must violate the most sacred laws.1 • Judaism is decidedly ‘pro-natalist,’ and strongly encourages having children. The duty of procreation is based on one of the earliest and often repeated obligations of the Torah, ‘pru u’rvu’, 2 to be ‘fruitful and multiply.’ This fundamental obligation in the Jewish tradition is technically considered only to apply to males. Of course, Jewish attitudes toward procreation have not been shaped by Jewish law alone, but have been influenced by the historic communal trauma (such as the Holocaust) and the subsequent yearning of some Jews to rebuild community through Jewish population growth. -
Designing the Talmud: the Origins of the Printed Talmudic Page
Marvin J. Heller The author has published Printing the Talmud: A History of the Earliest Printed Editions of the Talmud. DESIGNING THE TALMUD: THE ORIGINS OF THE PRINTED TALMUDIC PAGE non-biblical Jewish work,i Its redaction was completed at the The Talmudbeginning is indisputablyof the fifth century the most and the important most important and influential commen- taries were written in the middle ages. Studied without interruption for a milennium and a half, it is surprising just how significant an eftèct the invention of printing, a relatively late occurrence, had upon the Talmud. The ramifications of Gutenberg's invention are well known. One of the consequences not foreseen by the early practitioners of the "Holy Work" and commonly associated with the Industrial Revolution, was the introduction of standardization. The spread of printing meant that distinct scribal styles became generic fonts, erratic spellngs became uni- form and sequential numbering of pages became standard. The first printed books (incunabula) were typeset copies of manu- scripts, lacking pagination and often not uniform. As a result, incunabu- la share many characteristics with manuscripts, such as leaving a blank space for the first letter or word to be embellshed with an ornamental woodcut, a colophon at the end of the work rather than a title page, and the use of signatures but no pagination.2 The Gutenberg Bibles, for example, were printed with blank spaces to be completed by calligra- phers, accounting for the varying appearance of the surviving Bibles. Hebrew books, too, shared many features with manuscripts; A. M. Habermann writes that "Conats type-faces were cast after his own handwriting, . -
Teshuvah: Being Your Best Self!
TESHUVAH: BEING YOUR BEST SELF! During the days leading up to and including Rosh Hashanah, we spend a lot of time in shul asking Hashem for forgiveness for things we may have done wrong over the course of the year, and we ask for a successful year, a healthy year, and a peaceful year. Also, we are encouraged to reach out to people who maybe we have not spoken to in a while or people we may have had disagreements with and make amends. We can all think to ourselves and make a list of people who might appreciate a phone call, or might be excited to get a text, or wants to become friends again. The months of Elul and Tishrei which contain Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, focus specifically on the middot and character traits of repentance, charity, and prayer. So let’s explore how we can include this attribute of Teshuvah (Repentance) this Rosh Hashanah season, and why it is so important! Teshuvah) which is translated as Repentance) -תְּׁשּובָה This is the act of us righting a wrong, big or small, and it can take place whether it’s between you and a friend, or you and Hashem! During the days leading up to Rosh Hashanah, it is a special time for us to ask for forgiveness and work on ourselves. WHAT ARE 3 THINGS I CAN WORK ON? (It can be something as small as trying to say good things about other people or letting your younger sibling pick what TV show to watch). Fill in below: ____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ -
The Decline of the Generations (Haazinu)
21 Sep 2020 – 3 Tishri 5781 B”H Dr Maurice M. Mizrahi Congregation Adat Reyim Torah discussion on Haazinu The Decline of the Generations Introduction In this week’s Torah portion, Haazinu, Moses tells the Israelites to remember their people’s past: זְכֹר֙יְמֹ֣ות םעֹולָָ֔ ב ִּ֖ ינּו נ֣ שְ ֹותּדֹור־וָד֑ ֹור שְאַַ֤ ל אָב ֙יך֙ וְ יַגֵָ֔דְ ךזְקֵנ ִּ֖יך וְ יֹֹ֥אמְ רּו לְָָֽך Remember the days of old. Consider the years of generation after generation. Ask your father and he will inform you; your elders, and they will tell you. [Deut. 32:7] He then warns them that prosperity (growing “fat, thick and rotund”) and contact with idolaters will cause them to fall away from their faith, so they should keep alive their connection with their past. Yeridat HaDorot Strong rabbinic doctrine: Yeridat HaDorot – the decline of the generations. Successive generations are further and further away from the revelation at Sinai, and so their spirituality and ability to understand the Torah weakens steadily. Also, errors of transmission may have been introduced, especially considering a lot of the Law was oral: מש הק בֵלּתֹורָ ה מ סינַי, ּומְ סָרָ ּהל יהֹושֻׁעַ , ו יהֹושֻׁעַ ל זְקֵנים, ּוזְקֵנים ל נְב יאים, ּונְב יא ים מְ סָ רּוהָ ילְאַנְשֵ נכְ ס ת הַגְדֹולָה Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. [Avot 1:1] The Mishnah mourns the Sages of ages past and the fact that they will never be replaced: When Rabbi Meir died, the composers of parables ceased. -
2006 Abstracts
Works in Progress Group in Modern Jewish Studies Session Many of us in the field of modern Jewish studies have felt the need for an active working group interested in discussing our various projects, papers, and books, particularly as we develop into more mature scholars. Even more, we want to engage other committed scholars and respond to their new projects, concerns, and methodological approaches to the study of modern Jews and Judaism, broadly construed in terms of period and place. To this end, since 2001, we have convened a “Works in Progress Group in Modern Jewish Studies” that meets yearly in connection with the Association for Jewish Studies Annual Conference on the Saturday night preceding the conference. The purpose of this group is to gather interested scholars together and review works in progress authored by members of the group and distributed and read prior to the AJS meeting. 2006 will be the sixth year of a formal meeting within which we have exchanged ideas and shared our work with peers in a casual, constructive environment. This Works in Progress Group is open to all scholars working in any discipline within the field of modern Jewish studies. We are a diverse group of scholars committed to engaging others and their works in order to further our own projects, those of our colleagues, and the critical growth of modern Jewish studies. Papers will be distributed in November. To participate in the Works in Progress Group, please contact: Todd Hasak-Lowy, email: [email protected] or Adam Shear, email: [email protected] Co-Chairs: Todd S. -
Daf Ditty Pesachim 78: Korban Pesach Today (?)
Daf Ditty Pesachim 78: Korban Pesach today (?) Three girls in Israel were detained by the Israeli Police (2018). The girls are activists of the “Return to the Mount” (Chozrim Lahar) movement. Why were they detained? They had posted Arabic signs in the Muslim Quarter calling upon Muslims to leave the Temple Mount area until Friday night, in order to allow Jews to bring the Korban Pesach. This is the fourth time that activists of the movement will come to the Old City on Erev Pesach with goats that they plan to bring as the Korban Pesach. There is also an organization called the Temple Institute that actively is trying to bring back the Korban Pesach. It is, of course, very controversial and the issues lie at the heart of one of the most fascinating halachic debates in the past two centuries. 1 The previous mishnah was concerned with the offering of the paschal lamb when the people who were to slaughter it and/or eat it were in a state of ritual impurity. Our present mishnah is concerned with a paschal lamb which itself becomes ritually impure. Such a lamb may not be eaten. (However, we learned incidentally in our study of 5:3 that the blood that gushed from the lamb's throat at the moment of slaughter was collected in a bowl by an attendant priest and passed down the line so that it could be sprinkled on the altar). Our mishnah states that if the carcass became ritually defiled, even if the internal organs that were to be burned on the altar were intact and usable the animal was an invalid sacrifice, it could not be served at the Seder and the blood should not be sprinkled.