tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-299002952024-03-08T02:04:14.222+00:00BelogskiAssorted thoughts, observations and articles on Judaism and the state of the Jewish world todayRabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-6887295327699614242011-03-26T21:12:00.001+00:002011-03-26T21:14:29.729+00:00This Blog has a New HomeThis blog has now moved.<br /><br />Its new home is <a href="http://www.rabbibelovski.co.uk/">http://www.rabbibelovski.co.uk/</a>.<br /><br />Please adjust your Favourites accordingly...Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-42457188897632928982011-02-25T09:52:00.002+00:002011-02-25T09:55:25.081+00:00A Thoughtful Post about Limmud<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Readers may be interested in a very interesting and thoughtful perspective on Limmud from my friend Dr. Ben Elton - </span><a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://limmudsolved.blogspot.com/">here</a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">.</span><br /></div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-49147409286185440972011-02-02T12:18:00.003+00:002011-02-02T12:22:49.387+00:00Thinking Sabbatical<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);">Thoughts from a returning rabbi</span><br /><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:donotpromoteqf/> <w:lidthemeother>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:lidthemeasian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> 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</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--><span lang="EN-GB">It’s hard to believe that it’s almost over, but I will be returning to ‘normal’ in a few days, following a wonderful winter Sabbatical.<span style=""> </span>I’ve spent much of the last few months in one of my favourite places in the world, the <a href="http://jnul.huji.ac.il/eng/">National Library of Israel</a> in Jerusalem, where I’ve had the opportunity to study, write and consult world-class scholars in my field of Jewish studies; I have even managed to make good progress on my dissertation.</span><span lang="EN-GB"> </span> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I’m finishing this period feeling renewed and refreshed in many ways: I have in mind ideas for family activities, exciting new projects for my community, fresh perspectives on Israel and Zionism, and complete courses that I hope to teach over the next year.<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">But most importantly for me, I’ve had the chance to think, something that is a rare and precious commodity.<span style=""> </span>Away from the concrete commitments, deadlines for sermons, pastoral emergencies, meetings and teaching schedules that characterise my professional week, I’ve actually been able to think for the first time in years, not just about my research, but about every aspect of life.<span style=""> </span>I brought my mp3 player to Israel, convinced that I’d need to fill the frequent lacunae with music: I’ve used it once.<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">Without space and time, essential issues scarcely surface, let alone get addressed – I cannot overestimate the benefit of having had an extended period of contemplation and self-discovery, with, I hope, some tangible, long-term results.<span style=""> </span>While I appreciate that few are accorded the privilege of a Sabbatical, small snippets of personal time and space for contemplation can be carved from even the busiest of weeks.<span style=""> </span>I know this because my wife has been doing it for years, despite juggling numerous overwhelming personal and professional responsibilities, including managing the rabbi.<span style=""> </span>I know that many people, including me, are nervous of doing this: we wonder what fears, insecurities or unresolved issues will surface and so avoid it all costs, instead filling our spare time with noise and other diversions.<span style=""> </span>Yet we sell ourselves short by not conquering these fears.<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">And during this period, I’ve come to realise something very important.<span style=""> </span>If we don’t appreciate the need to give ourselves space and time, we are unlikely to recognise and encourage its fulfilment in others.<span style=""> </span>For community leaders, this is a stark message: our ability to understand, guide and nurture growth in others is impaired by our neglect of our personal emotional and cerebral needs.<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB">I am truly grateful to <a href="http://www.goldersgreensynagogue.co.uk/">Golders Green Synagogue</a> and the <a href="http://www.theus.org.uk/">United Synagogue</a>, for granting me this period to think, and most of all, to my family, who have been wonderfully supportive, despite my extended absences.</span><br /></p>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-19193840575167362252010-12-22T21:48:00.004+00:002010-12-22T21:56:28.655+00:00This Blog<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">I haven't been posting much on this site recently, as I've been focusing on the development of two newer sites: </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.rabbibelovski.com/">Belovski's Shiurim</a><span style="font-family: georgia;"> and </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://belovski.posterous.com/">Belovski: a view with a room</a><span style="font-family: georgia;">. Do look there for shiurim and more 'weighty' articles.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;">Meantime, I will continue to post here occasionally, including one in the next few days.</span><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-69434939877616958782010-02-02T12:23:00.000+00:002010-02-02T12:25:11.512+00:00A long-awaited trip to Israel<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> My second daughter, Tehilloh, is very excited, as in about a month, God willing, she and I will be spending eight days together in Israel. She will become Bat Mitzvah at the end of June, and this trip to Israel, her first, is her special birthday present from me and my wife.<br /><br />I have the privilege of visiting Israel often, but for various reasons, my wife gets there only occasionally, and my children not at all. As such, it is a challenge to ensure that our children share our passion for Israel and remain aware of the fact that Israel lies at the centre of all Jewish religious, political and national aspirations. It is too easy for them to spend their childhood in the comfort of Golders Green without properly understanding the importance of Israel and the focal role that it ought to play in their lives and objectives. How does one convey to children living in a Diaspora that is largely happy and supportive of their religious lives that living outside Israel is not ideal? How does one teach Diaspora children to comprehend the miracle of the Jewish return to the Land, celebrate Israel’s successes, commiserate with her failings and identify with Israel and Israelis? How does one make them appreciate that the heart of the Jewish people beats not in Golders Green or Boro Park, but in Jerusalem?<br /><br />One way that we have devised is to try to take each child for a private, intensive tour of Israel as the main part of the celebration of their religious maturity. I took our eldest daughter three years ago, but I hope that as we get further down the family, my wife will be able to take some of the children for their special tour. The rest of the celebration will be modest – a dinner for family and friends and a Se’udah She’lishit hosted by our community – but the trip to Israel is seen as the ‘big’ experience. While we are there, I hope to take Tehilloh to key places of religious and historical interest (she’s been researching where she would like to go), see some friends, engage in a chessed project and visit a couple of famous people. But mostly, I want Tehilloh to have a fabulous time soaking up the incomparable atmosphere of the Land, to experience its smells, sounds, people, craziness and Jewishness so that she too will get the ‘Israel bug’ that will fill her dreams and aspirations, as my wife and I did years ago. I am confident that this trip will do the job and enable her to understand why when I return from one trip to Israel, I can’t wait to plan the next.<br /><br />As you can tell, I’m as excited as Tehilloh, even though I’ve done it all before, not least to get eight whole days of private daughter-daddy time. But most of all I’m excited and blessed to have the opportunity to contribute to strengthening Tehilloh’s Jewish identity and helping her to build her connection with our Land.</div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-19718099260921776722010-01-26T15:43:00.001+00:002010-01-26T15:45:37.174+00:00The place of a non-believing Jew<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: verdana;" class="storycontent"> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">At a simchah recently, I bumped into the father of an old friend, whom I hadn’t seen for many years. Charlie was always known as a forthright person, and it was good to see that the passage of twenty years hasn’t changed anything. He asked me what I consider to be the place of a Jew who doesn’t believe in God. He also told me that he remains a proud member of the community and of the Jewish people (he is, and always was, a staunch member of an Orthodox synagogue), but doesn’t believe in God. Charlie confided that he had asked his own rabbi and claimed that he had ‘been unable to handle the question’.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">I think that while it’s a matter of great regret that Charlie doesn’t believe in God, and it would be desirable to discuss his beliefs with him in detail, his question deserved an answer.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">My response (admittedly unprepared and delivered while struggling to hear over blaring music) was simple. I suggested to Charlie that even if he doesn’t believe in God, Judaism can certainly provide him with meaningful ideas, practices, and occasions for inspiration that will enhance his existence immeasurably. By continuing his association with the Jewish world, he will benefit from a way to contextualise major life-events, from the support of others and from unparalleled opportunities to enhance the lives of others.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:100%;">How would you have answered?</span></p><p><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2010/01/25/the-place-of-a-non-believing-jew/">A version of this article appeared on Cross-Currents</a><br /></span></p> </div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-79810364979003542192009-12-21T16:30:00.003+00:002009-12-21T16:34:02.855+00:00Ironies and opportunities: reflections on the JFS ruling<div style="text-align: justify;font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> Last week, the new Supreme Court of the UK dismissed the appeal of JFS, an Orthodox Jewish school, against a judgment that had branded its admission policy discriminatory. The details of the case (which hinged on how the Law views the unique blend of ethnicity and religion that defines Jewishness in the context of the Race Relations Act) are mystifying even to insiders; the final result is deeply disappointing.<br /><br />Despite this, there are fascinating and surprisingly positive aspects to the judgment, as well as some delicious ironies that cannot go unmentioned. The ruling itself, which was handed down by only the slimmest of majorities (5-4) offers the most extraordinary vindication of Judaism, the motivation of the Chief Rabbi and of the governors of JFS. Is it not remarkable that Lord Phillips, the president of the court, should open a judgment about Jewish status with excerpts from Deuteronomy about intermarriage? All of the justices asserted that the Chief Rabbi (who is the arbiter of Jewish status for the Orthodox community) acted in the best possible faith and that ‘no-one doubts that he is honestly and sincerely trying to do what he believes that his religion demands of him’. The governors of JFS were also deemed ‘entirely free from moral blame’. Put simply, despite falling foul of the Law, the school’s admission policy, and, by extension, Judaism itself, are not ‘racist’ according to any normative understanding of the word. <br /><br />Yet the greatest irony is the justices’ realisation, in the words of Lord Phillips, ‘that there may well be a defect in our law of discrimination’. How astounding that legislation drafted to outlaw anti-Semitism, among other evils, has been utilised to achieve what Lord Rodger calls, ‘such manifest discrimination against Jewish schools in comparison with other faith schools’. Catholics and Muslims are entitled to admit children to their schools according to their faith criteria, but following yesterday’s ruling, Orthodox Jews are now not. Lady Hale, who, incidentally, voted against JFS, reflected on whether Jews ‘should be allowed to continue to follow [Jewish] law’ in this regard. Indeed, could one fail to agree with Lord Rodger’s assertion that ‘one can’t help feeling that something has gone wrong’? It is good news that several of the justices felt that there may be a problem with the law. However, while any legislative remedy will certainly be very challenging, we will need to muster the support of those who are able to influence this process to ensure that Judaism is treated on a par with other faiths.<br /><br />Jewish schools like JFS will now have to continue with the chaotic practice test forced upon them by the ruling. While compliance is, of course, mandatory, it undermines everything that the Jewish schools’ movement holds dear: the universal delivery of Jewish education to Jewish children regardless of practice or affiliation. Yet the Jewish community is renowned for its resourcefulness and ability to turn a crisis into an opportunity. Orthodox synagogues have been inundated with new families seeking schools’ ‘practice certificates’ for their children. Many have no previous affiliation to the Jewish community and their attendance at the synagogue is an unparalleled chance to reach out to them and share with them the beauty of Jewish life and observance. It may well be that this unwanted and unfortunate decision has quite unexpected consequences.</span></div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-71134489870844985922009-12-05T20:39:00.006+00:002009-12-05T20:52:03.384+00:00Isn't our meat good enough for you?<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> A rabbi goes to heaven and is invited to sit at a banquet attended by Moshe himself. He makes a discreet enquiry and discovers that the food is under Divine supervision. The rabbi whispers in a waiter’s ear, ‘I’ll take the fish!’<br /><br />Many people are puzzled by the suggestion that a rabbi might endorse some area of religious life but be reluctant to partake in it himself. For example, it troubles people that some rabbis won’t eat from certain kosher butchers; others won’t carry on Shabbat, even inside an area enclosed by an ‘eruv’. One hears the obvious concerns about inconsistency expressed in blunt terms: ‘is it kosher or not? If it’s kosher why won’t you eat it, and if it’s not kosher, why should I?’<br /><br />It is not possible to make sense of this phenomenon without examining some of the underlying principles of halachah – Jewish law – and how they differ from common assumptions. Some rabbis, for whatever reason, have been unwilling to teach these ideas, perhaps considering them too uninteresting or abstruse for the average Anglo-Jew. I disagree. Indeed whenever I have tackled this topic, be it in conversation, writing or public lecture, it has been met with appreciation and, I hope, greater understanding.<br /><br />Jewish law is fascinating and complex. Even the word ‘halachah’ (lit. a way to go) indicates a process rather than a ruling. It is a complete system that regulates every area of life, from the mundane to the most profound. Halachah cares not only how we act, but also how we think and feel about ourselves, other human beings, the world itself, and, of course, God. As such, it is all-encompassing in its scope and the opportunity that it gives us to maximise every instant, imbuing it with meaning and purpose. From cradle to grave, boardroom to bedroom, halachah is ever-present, allowing every moment to be experienced through the lens of the Divine.<br /><br />Yet the comprehensive nature of halachah should not be confused with the desire to create a monolithic society in which everyone behaves identically. Indeed, disagreeing is the halachists’ favourite pursuit: unresolved arguments appear on each page of the Talmud and halachic code; in fact, there is only one chapter (in over 500) in the entire Mishnah that doesn’t contain a disagreement! While there are, naturally, established processes by which practical decisions are made, halachah might best be described as ‘organised disorder’ – a vast array of disagreements built on earlier disagreements. Some view this as an insanely unworkable system; others, me included, consider it to be one of Judaism’s greatest strengths. Disorder and multiplicity indicate range and diversity and are actually powerful tools that allow halachah to be applied in a responsive and case-driven manner, rather than as a blunt, insensitive instrument.<br /><br />For example, there is an ancient dispute between major kashrut authorities concerning the pulmonary condition of cattle. While some overlook certain lesions of the lung, others (notably Rabbi Yosef Caro, author of the Shulchan Aruch) are of the opinion that animals with such lesions are forbidden. This unresolved disagreement broadly manifests itself in a disparity of practice between Ashkenazim (lenient) and Sephardim (stringent). Yet, understandably, many Ashkenazim choose to be stringent. Another example of this phenomenon is the mediaeval dispute about the distinction between a private domain (where one may construct an ‘eruv’) and a public domain (where one may not). This disagreement resurfaces throughout halachic literature and influences the approaches of modern experts as to where and how one may create an eruv.<br /><br />Although there are well-established community norms in almost every area of law, we have shown that halachah does not offer a single answer to any legal issue, but an array of possibilities, within a carefully defined framework. Because of this, halachah is able to deal not just with ‘regular’ circumstances, but is flexible enough to accommodate emergency shortages, unexpected financial hardship, and the needs of the spiritually sensitive.<br /><br />Despite the intricacies involved, Jewish life is greatly enriched by the application and validation of this multiplicity.<br /><br />Talmudic sources conflict about whether the halachist should incline to leniency or stringency: ‘the power of leniency is preferable’ (Brachot 60a) appears to be contradicted by any number of Talmudic statements. Yet there really is no argument, as it is a given that the rabbi is to be lenient when ruling for others, yet stringent for himself and those who are striving for spiritual perfection. After all, his job is to make Jewish life as manageable, enjoyable and uplifting as possible. This demands leniency, where possible, especially when nurturing the spiritual needs of a disparate community. While there are many complex factors at play, inclusivism seems to me to be critical: given the constituents of a community, a ruling (certainly always based on proper sources and expert advice) must enable as many people as possible to observe their Judaism and feel comfortable within it.<br /><br />This doesn’t always mean being lenient: a stricter ruling will sometimes be more inclusive, but it is obvious that responsible rabbinical leadership must always incline to leniency when regulating public religious services such as butchers’ shops. Ill-conceived stringency could result in price increases, restricted availability and fewer people observing kashrut. The same applies to building an eruv: the advantages of a community eruv are so clear that they outweigh the need to accommodate every halachic view, which might result in not building it at all.<br /><br />Well-founded leniencies are squarely within the boundaries of halachah; yet this does not mean that everyone will want to rely on them. Halachah accommodates (and even celebrates) a range of practices for different circumstances and there have always been individuals who have elected to follow stringent practices. Yet while it is entirely reasonable for rabbis to adopt personal stringencies, they certainly ought to explain what they’re doing and why!<br /><br />A version of this article first appeared in the Jewish Chronicle<br /></div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-67909964347873280362009-07-10T07:14:00.008+01:002009-07-10T07:22:09.831+01:00Letter to Jewish Chronicle July 2009<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I sent the following letter for publication to the Jewish Chronicle. It appeared in part in today's edition.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Dear Sir</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I write to thank Rabbi Tony Bayfield for unequivocally supporting the Chief Rabbi in his attempt to fight the recent Appeal Court ruling against JFS. Rabbi Bayfield’s admirable response illustrates a point I made in my recent JC article – that acknowledging our differences, rather than pretending that they can be smoothed over, enables us to work together on issues that impact on us all. Unlike your columnist, the predictable Mr. Alderman and a number of other ill-informed correspondents, Rabbi Bayfield understands that the JFS ruling rejects the definition of Jewishness accepted by every Jewish movement in the UK, not just the Orthodox, as it insists that Jewishness is defined by practice, not by descent or conversion by any standard. By this criterion, a Sabbath-observant member of ‘Jews for Jesus’ is considered more Jewish than a non-observant born Jew or one converted by any movement. It is lamentable that so many have used this nadir in Anglo-Jewish history to attack the Chief Rabbi, when the ruling so obviously equally affects his detractors, whose interests he is fighting hard to protect. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Yours faithfully</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Harvey Belovski (Rabbi), Golders Green Synagogue, 41 Dunstan Road, NW11 8AE</span><br /></div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-17415937010167322482009-06-26T10:43:00.007+01:002009-06-26T10:57:21.680+01:00JCoSS: not cross-communal; at best non-Orthodox<div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" 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div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The imminent opening of JCoSS (Jewish Community Secondary School) has generated unprecedented interest.<span style=""> </span>Adorned with the slogan ‘excellence, choice, openness, inclusion’, its website describes it as ‘the first cross-communal Jewish secondary school in the UK’.<span style=""> </span>JCoSS takes pride in its admissions policy, which ‘will treat on an equal basis all pupils recognised as Jewish by any of the UK’s mainstream movements’ and its intention to deliver Jewish studies ‘while being non-judgemental between the various mainstream Jewish traditions’.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">JC readers will not be surprised to discover that ‘JCoSS worries Orthodox (United Synagogue) rabbis’ (14/05), nor that in a spurious comparison with Limmud, Miriam Shaviv (21/05) opined that rather than fighting a war already lost, the rabbinate should ‘face facts’ and ‘embrace JCoSS’.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>The battle-lines seem drawn already.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Before exploring further, I acknowledge the certainty that numerous children from US-type homes will attend JCoSS.<span style=""> </span>However the Orthodox rabbinate might prefer the world to look, we will support and nurture the Jewish lives of our communities’ children, irrespective of the educational choices made for them by their parents.<span style=""> </span>It is no secret that in a rare display of virtual unanimity, US rabbis have strongly opposed formal involvement with JCoSS.<span style=""> </span>Yet this has no bearing on our commitment to our children in the school.<span style=""> </span>There is spirited and evolving debate about how to achieve this: some will run out-of-school programming; others are grappling with alternatives to support JCoSS pupils.<span style=""> </span>And it is with deep sadness that we currently feel unable to work within JCoSS: this painful decision is informed by real concern for our children expressed in the context of legitimate anxieties about its identity.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Unfortunately, behind the happy ‘cross-communal’ picture painted by JCoSS’s professional website and cautiously-worded literature, there lies a confused ideology that conflicts squarely with basic Orthodox principles.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I am certain that JCoSS will indeed try to teach its pupils ‘about all the mainstream traditions within Judaism’, in a non-judgemental way and ‘to understand and respect all the UK’s mainstream Jewish traditions’.<span style=""> </span>This inclusivism may even succeed at a practical level - the school intends its kitchens to be kosher and its weekend programmes to be Shabbat-observant, even if it can’t commit to closing on second-day Yom Tov.<span style=""> </span>But ideologically this descends into pluralistic incoherence.<span style=""> </span>Presumably, pupils will be taught that some believe the Torah to be the unmediated word of God, while others think that it was authored by human beings; that some consider traditional Shabbat restrictions to be optional, but others consider them absolutely binding; that while the Torah itself expressly forbids certain types of relationships, some movements consider them to be valid life-options.<span style=""> </span>And while this dissent is simply a statement of fact, the ethos of JCoSS demands that each of these contradictory options is taught as equally legitimate.<span style=""> </span>Apart from the obvious fact that children need certainty, a sense of imperative and firm ideas to help them build a meaningful connection to their faith, this type of pluralism is theologically untenable from an Orthodox perspective.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In a seminal 1990 essay, later developed into ‘One People’ (Littman 1993), the Chief Rabbi masterfully explains the ‘incoherence of pluralism’ by observing that it ‘presupposes the absence of absolute or normative truth and hence the falsehood of Orthodoxy’.<span style=""> </span>Orthodoxy stakes its being on the existence of some truth that transcends the relativities of time.<span style=""> </span>This is the rock on which pluralism founders… Where truth and falsity are at stake, the idea that both sides of a contradiction are true is itself a contradiction’.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">A school whose raison d’être is the validation of conflicting stances on key issues of belief and practice must be considered at best non-Orthodox; in reality it is theologically completely and irreconcilably at odds with Orthodoxy.<span style=""> </span>In that landmark essay, the Chief Rabbi demonstrates that ‘the literature (on pluralism) proceeds on the explicit or hidden premise that Orthodoxy is false’.<span style=""> </span>The somewhat clumsy phrase ‘pan-non-Orthodox’ is a more theologically accurate description of JCoSS than ‘cross-communal’.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I understand the motivation of JCoSS’s founders.<span style=""> </span>The educational world is dominated by Orthodoxy: in varying degrees, the non-Orthodox denominations disagree with Orthodox beliefs and practices, and most acutely with its definition of Jewishness.<span style=""> </span>Why shouldn’t they create a school that incorporates their brands of Judaism?<span style=""> </span>Actually, JCoSS acknowledges that in the event of over-subscription, it will prioritise those ‘who are not considered to be halachically Jewish by… all other Jewish schools’ – i.e. children considered Jewish only by the non-Orthodox. <span style=""> </span>I respect their objectives, albeit tempered by genuine concern for the children of US communities, but I challenge the founders of JCoSS to reciprocate that respect by abandoning the term ‘cross-communal ’ in favour of a more candid representation of their school’s ideology.<span style=""> </span>And I reach out with love to potential parents and urge them to recognise that they may be inadvertently depriving their children of their Torah heritage.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Unsurprisingly, JCoSS has provoked an identity crisis for the United Synagogue.<span style=""> </span>The US has always been good at asserting what it isn’t (too frum, too Zionist, etc.), but imprecise when stating what it actually stands for.<span style=""> </span>Are we too afraid of the consequences to admit that even the welcoming, inclusivist version of Orthodoxy that we champion has clear beliefs and some ‘hard edges’?<span style=""> </span>Sometimes it is necessary to state the obvious: pluralism and Orthodoxy are antithetical.<span style=""> </span>In the words of the Chief Rabbi, ‘pluralism is no more tolerant than Orthodoxy’, since ‘each represents a way of viewing the relationship between belief and truth, and each excludes the other’.<span style=""> </span>We need not be scared of this truth, nor be anything other than respectful of others, such as the founders of JCoSS, who advocate pluralism.<span style=""> </span>Again, the Chief Rabbi’s words seem prescient: ‘the search for unity does not resolve the tensions in the Jewish world.<span style=""> </span>Instead it merely reproduces them’.<span style=""> </span>Failing to articulate the unbridgeable gulf between Orthodoxy and pluralism misrepresents both ideologies and creates false hope for a unified Jewry.<span style=""> </span>In fact, I believe that it hinders cross-communal cooperation in those areas where it is possible.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">A version of this article first appeared in the Jewish Chronicle.
<br /></span></p><div style="font-family: arial; text-align: justify;"> </div><p face="arial" style="text-align: justify;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-14845738715508220922009-01-06T12:49:00.009+00:002009-01-06T14:01:59.186+00:00Rabbi in Israel - War in Gaza<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I am sitting in the </span><a href="http://www.jnul.huji.ac.il/"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">National Library at the Hebrew University </span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">on the third day of a visit to Israel. I am in here to catch up with young people from my community who are studying at various institutions in Israel, but have dedicated today, the Fast of Tevet, to rest and to some private study. Yet instead, I feel motivated to write a short post about the atmosphere here. In the interests of brevity, here are a few points that have stuck in my mind:</span></div><ul><li><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Every minyan I have visited is saying a 'Kapitl Tehillim' - a chapter of psalms - after each service, every day, followed by a prayer for the wellbeing of Jews everywhere. For your interest, so far I have been to a shteibl in Meah Shearim, the minyan of a prominent Chassidic Rebbe, a religious Zionist Shul and the minyan at the Hebrew University library.</span></div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">There is a hand-written note pinned to the door of the lift in the building where I am staying, advertising opportunities to send non-perishable food to soldiers in Gaza. Apparently, there are many such notices, as well as those volunteering to deliver the goods.</span></div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I spoke yesterday to the head of a 'hesder' yeshivah; some of his students have been drafted and he is expecting most of the rest of the yeshivah to be called in the event of a prolonged or expanded conflict. This is the vision of the 'hesder' programme: enabling its students to combine Torah learning with military duty.</span></div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I also spoke yesterday to a prominent so-called anti-Zionist rabbi who told me that he has encouraged his community to recognise what he called the 'miracle' in the south of Israel: the incredibly few casualties in the wake of 1000s of rocket attacks. He pointed out to me that while many in the Israeli media are observing that this is 'abnormal', that is insufficient - we must see the hand of God in this phenomenon.</span></div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">How meaningful the additional prayers for the fast day seemed this morning; the primary purpose of a fast day is introspection - I found this rather more manageable than usual. These selichot also contain texts that were, perhaps, easier to absorb than usual: references to the siege on the Holy Temple and our hopes that fast days will be transformed into moments of rejoicing.</span></div></li><li><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I was particularly startled by the word חמסנו - we have acted aggressively - which appears in the alphabetic confession said on fast days (every day in some communities). והמבין יבין.</span></div></li></ul><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I am impressed by the sense of calm and normality which seems to exist. Of course, for those with husbands or other family members in the IDF or who live close to the area of hostility, it must be a nerve-wracking time, yet Israelis have learned (sadly) to live normally, despite stress and uncertainty. But most of all, I am struck by the sense of unity and real care and fervent hope expressed by everyone here, of whatever stripe or allegiance within the religious community. I'm pleased that I've been here during this difficult time, as I've learned a lot of good things about Israelis and Israeli society.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">May the hostilities end soon and the casualties be very few. May we also value the precious unity that this campaign has engendered and realise that it needn't take a war...</span></p>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-74715386424244384062008-12-13T20:46:00.007+00:002008-12-13T21:05:30.080+00:00Colour Among The Black Hats?<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">The students of a prominent Eastern-European rabbi were about to join him to light the Chanukah candles.<span style=""> </span>The rabbi noticed a broom near the window next to his Menorah and asked for it to be removed; apparently, he was concerned that in their zeal to emulate him, his followers would place a broom by the window before lighting their Menorahs too.<span style=""> </span>There is a humorous (and definitely fictitious) end to the story: having visited the rabbi, each of his students went home, placed a broom by the window and then removed it before lighting his candles!</div><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">A common perception of a significant part of the Orthodox world is that it is narrow, monolithic and stifles individual expression. <span style=""> </span>Detractors often point to the restrictive nature of Jewish law, conformity in dress-style (this criticism is levelled especially at those visible communities with distinctive garb) and the seemingly limited range of educational and other life-choices available to its adherents.<span style=""> </span>There is a sense that the ‘men in black’ all think the same way and live cloned, indistinguishable lives.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">There is some truth to this: traditional Judaism is predicated on a belief in the historical truth of the Sinaitic revelation and the eternal imperative of halachah.<span style=""> </span>Its followers will create communities that share religious aspirations, educate their children in a certain way and where religious and social needs can be met.<span style=""> </span>This may create a certain narrowness of experience, but devoting one’s life to a complete system of belief and practice involves accepting that some of the wider experiences of an unfettered life must be surrendered to a higher ideal.<span style=""> </span>The intensity of experience that the religious crave may also lead them to form tightly-knit groups with their own exacting standards and social norms and look to charismatic leaders for guidance in their quest for individual perfection and constant communion with the Divine.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The Modern Orthodox world has attempted to combine serious commitment to Mitzvah observance and Torah study with aspects of contemporary scholarship, culture and engagement with the modern world.<span style=""> </span>But for the rest of the Orthodox world, must fervour and spiritual ambition lead inexorably to conformity and the crushing of individuality, or is there room for personal expression and creative thought?</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">There will always be those who take refuge in the crowd, preferring to follow rather than to think for themselves; choosing to evade personal responsibility by relying on others.<span style=""> </span>The Orthodox community harbours no fewer such people than any other group, but surely no more.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">One can certainly observe those within the community who fear individual expression to the extent that they try to suppress it in others.<span style=""> </span>There have been a number of unfortunate high-profile examples of this.<span style=""> </span>They include banning of books that deviate from a narrow ideological line, attempting to limit higher education, abolishing concerts and other forms of entertainment, and restricting access to even the unobjectionable parts of the internet.<span style=""> </span>Is it possible that some feel threatened by the very individual expression that is one of Judaism’s greatest strengths?</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Yet despite these regrettable attempts to recast Judaism as a system requiring all its adherents to think and behave identically, most Jews are pretty resilient in their individual expression!<span style=""> </span>Despite the superficial appearance of conformity and group behaviour that delegitimizes individuality, one readily finds a vast range of ideas, aspirations, ideologies and modes of religious expression.<span style=""> </span>These differences are evident both between and with Orthodox groups.<span style=""> </span>In traditional Jewish teaching, there is a spectrum of opinion on nearly every subject: the nature of God, Man’s free will, how to understand human suffering, the appropriate attitude to art and music, secular studies and even modernity itself, as well as about virtually every area of Jewish observance.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">This multiplicity translates into diversity of lifestyle and belief.<span style=""> </span>Even in the most Orthodox of circles, there are those who visit art galleries, love classical music, tour China, learn Arabic and even consider these essential to their religious experience.<span style=""> </span>Others prefer to incorporate ‘secular’ modes of expression into Jewish contexts; in recent years, some highly professional and innovative music, art and literature have emerged.<span style=""> </span>Among the ostensibly monolithic Orthodox, there are staunch Zionists, political lefties, recycling macrobiotics, DIY enthusiasts, aficionados of Kabbalah and those who reject it as mumbo-jumbo.<span style=""> </span>In my own experience I have come across a Chassidic university chancellor and a number of Charedi avant garde musicians.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:5) observes that God makes each human being different from every other; as such, everyone should be able to say with confidence, ‘the world was created just for me’.<span style=""> </span>A great Chassidic thinker understood this to mean that each of us has strengths and weaknesses that distinguish us from every other person; consequently, each of us has a unique spiritual task.<span style=""> </span>Indeed wrestling with one’s own relationship with God is a Biblical role of the Jew.<span style=""> </span>When Jacob was attacked by an unknown assailant, his name was changed to Israel, ‘because you struggled with God and with Man and you prevailed’ (BeReishit 32:29).<span style=""> </span>‘Struggling with God’ to forge a religious identity that is individualistic, yet firmly within the portals of tradition, is intrinsic to Judaism.<span style=""> </span>The paraphernalia of Jewish life exist to facilitate this lofty goal, rather than stifle it.<span style=""> </span>On its own terms, Judaism thrives on and celebrates individuality.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Fusing staunch commitment to a specific version of traditional Torah life with a tolerant attitude to the range of valid alternative views is a challenge which has its successes and disappointments.<span style=""> </span>Yet respect for the multiplicity of views and lifestyles that the Torah accommodates is central to its system.<span style=""> </span>We fail the Torah itself by stifling genuine creativity and individuality; but when we validate the legitimate religious choices and ideas of others, we not only create a harmonious and tolerant Orthodox society, but confirm the beauty and breadth of the Torah.</span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">A version of this article appeared in the Jewish Chronicle. It is republished here with permission.<br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2008/12/13/colour-among-the-black-hats/">A version of this article appeared on Cross-Currents</a><br /></span></p><div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-28232174985787636012008-11-01T23:09:00.008+00:002008-12-03T09:31:27.439+00:00Heady Reflections On A Sukkot Adventure<div style="font-family: georgia;" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;">I looked in the mirror this morning and realised that the bump on my head hasn’t quite gone away. It’s only a couple of weeks since Sukkot, so I thought I’d share the story and what I learned from it.<br /><br />On the first day of Chol HaMoed (Thursday) I had planned to join my family for a trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew (see </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://belogski.blogspot.com/2007/04/halachic-child.html">here</a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> for another article in which I mention Kew Gardens), However, I was exhausted and decided to stay at home, especially as we were hosting a Sukkot party for my community that evening. My wife and children left the house and I decided to rest, so I donned my pyjamas (remember this for later) and dragged my mattress into the Sukkah.<br /><br />After an hour and a half, I was refreshed and ready to continue with my day. However, my attempts to return to the house were thwarted by the discovery that the back door was mysteriously locked from the inside. I could see the keys in the lock and, frustratingly, my cell phone on a table within, but I couldn’t access either.<br /><br />As we leave our front door secured only with a number-lock during the day, I was certain that if I could get into the front garden, I could re-enter the house through the main door. I squelched my way in my socks to the side gate and tried, unsuccessfully, to climb over it, cracking my head in the process. A bit dazed, but not badly hurt, I remembered the ladder at the back of the garden. I intended to climb over the gate and take the ladder with me, but this failed too: while I was sitting on the lintel, the ladder fell back into the garden. I managed to scramble down into the front garden, where, inexplicably, I found the front door locked. I was now standing in the front garden in my socks and pyjamas (remember them?) unable to get into either the house or back into the garden. Contemplating the possibility of a further couple of hours of this situation, I hid behind a car, hoping for some kind of solution.<br /><br />At this point, a neighbour walked past en route to a funeral. He noticed me and insisted that I come and sit in his Sukkah rather than crouch behind the car. I accepted his invitation, which included a drink and the loan of a sweater and a coat. I then realised that I didn’t know my wife’s cell number, so I called my parents to ask for assistance. The conversation began a little like this: ‘hello, I’m sitting in a neighbour’s Sukkah wearing my pyjamas.’ When they stopped laughing, which took quite some time, they were able to put me in contact with my wife, who was at least a hour away.<br /><br />There is a small gap in the fencing between our house and the neighbour’s garden, so foolishly, I resolved to return to my own garden. I was hoping to prise open a window or get in some other way. I squeezed through the gap, returned to my own garden and quickly discovered that I still couldn’t enter the house. I was also unable to get back through the gap in the fence (perhaps I should have realised that my eight-year-old son, the usual gap-squeezer, is rather smaller than me), so I was again stuck in the garden in my pyjamas.<br /><br />I heard a ring at the door, so I climbed the ladder again and peered over. This was one of several conversations I conducted in my pyjamas over the following 45 minutes with passers-by, from my perch nine feet above the ground. The most remarkable was with another neighbour, who approached the house, saw me looking over the gate from a great height and said, with a straight face, ‘hello Rabbi Belovski: the party is this evening, isn’t it?’ When I replied in the affirmative, he thanked me and walked away, making no reference to the fact that I was on a ladder, in my pyjamas, behind the gate, or, most significantly, that my head was bleeding. Perhaps my life is so odd that this event seemed the very paragon of normality.<br /><br />Two hours after discovering that I was locked out, my wife returned and admitted a rather damp and bedraggled rabbi to the house.<br /><br />So what had happened? How had I been locked out? That is explained by a remarkable series of ‘coincidences’. While I had been sleeping, the musician booked to play at the evening’s party (an old friend) had arrived at the house to deliver his equipment, wrongly assuming that we would be at home. When no-one answered, he took a bold step: his assistant climbed over the side-gate, discovered to his delight that we had been silly enough to leave the back door unlocked and entered the house. He opened the front door and unloaded his kit. As I was heavily asleep and wearing earplugs, I heard none of this. Assuming that he was doing me a favour, he locked the front and back doors before leaving, trapping me in the Sukkah…<br /><br />I have retold this story several times, including in my sermon on Shemini Atzeret. It has made people in the UK and in Israel cry with laughter at my plight, but mostly at the thought of the rabbi standing on a ladder in his pyjamas noting the (non) reactions of passers-by. It is the most powerful and real Sukkot message I could have received. Every year, we speak about Sukkot reminding us that life is impermanent, that our material possessions are ephemeral and that our security can evaporate at any moment. We may know this intellectually, but, thank God, most of us have few opportunities to experience this directly, even for a short while. My brief exile from my home made the message of Sukkot more real for me than I recall it having been in the past.<br /><br />Many people say a prayer before entering the Sukkah which mentions the possibility that in the aftermath of the judgement of Yom Kippur, one deserves the punishment of exile. We ask God to consider our week-long sojourn in the Sukkah as a type of ‘exile’ in place of a full-scale banishment. I thought of this prayer after my little adventure and hope that it remains true for me.<br /><br />A gezinte winter!<br /><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;" align="justify"> </div><div style="font-family: georgia;" align="justify"> </div><div style="font-family: georgia;" align="justify"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2008/11/01/heady-reflections-on-a-sukkos-adventure/">This article first appeared on Cross-Currents</a></span></div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-75924282850732105192008-08-31T22:52:00.002+01:002008-08-31T22:54:13.143+01:00Statues in Montreux<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;">A few days ago, I visited Montreux, a small Swiss town by Lake Geneva. It is picturesque, temperate, and while there are plenty of tourist shops, parts of the town are pretty up-market. It was a lovely place to spend a few hours with the family before driving back into the mountains.<br /><br />Two significant statues on the lake-front are popular with tourists, both of well-known men who lived good parts of their lives in or near Montreux. One is of Charlie Chaplin, the famous actor and film-director, the other is of Freddie Mercury, a leading pop-star of the 70s and 80s. If we can briefly ignore their private lives (the inscription on the statue of Mercury even mentions the ‘discretion’ of the locals), each of them brought much pleasure to millions of people. Presumably, the residents of Montreux feel honoured that Chaplin and Mercury chose to live in their town and recognised this with lake-side memorials.<br /><br />I was struck by the lack of a statue of Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, a world-famous posek (Jewish legal authority) who lived in Montreux for a large part of his life until his death in 1966. He was a man of astonishing scholarship, who wrote landmark responsa (published as Seridey Aish, by which eponym the author has become known) tackling the most complex and contentious modern issues. The Seridey Aish was at home in the premier yeshivos of pre-war Eastern Europe, yet was a man of his times, facing modern challenges to traditional Judaism robustly, but with a light touch. He fostered a generation of students, including some of the world’s foremost rabbinical leaders, such as the late Gateshead Rov, Rabbi Betzalel Rakow, zt”l, the late Rabbi Joseph Hirsch Dunner zt”l of London, and ylc”t, Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, shlit”a, the Ra’avad of the Eidah Charedis in Jerusalem.<br /><br />Where indeed is the statue of Rabbi Weinberg? Of course, hardly any visitors to Montreux will have heard of him and it is unlikely that a bronze likeness of a rabbi would attract the level of interest from tourists to make its manufacture worthwhile; this apart from the obvious halachic issues raised by making a statue in the first place. I’m sure that the matter was never even considered.<br /><br />Actually, I’d have been rather upset to have seen a statue of the Seridey Aish along the lake-front in Montreux: Rabbi Weinberg immortalised in the company of an actor and a singer. While the contribution of Rabbi Weinberg is immeasurably more significant than, lehavdil, Messrs Chaplin and Mercury, his immortal responsa, which are still debated and relied-upon by halachists the world over, are a far better testimony to his greatness than a bronze cast.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2008/08/31/statues-in-montreux/">This article first appeared on Cross-Currents</a></div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-42917134672232985152008-08-20T17:10:00.009+01:002008-08-31T22:55:19.770+01:00What’s That For? Musar From A Three-year-old<div style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;" class="storycontent"> <p>I am enjoying the privilege of holidaying with my family in the French Alps, so I am far from a <em>minyan</em>. While my children rarely see me <em>davening</em>, especially wearing <em>tefillin</em>, this morning my second daughter Tehilloh (10) and younger son Shmuel Yosef (3) were in the room during <em>Shacharis</em>. When I was laying <em>tefillin</em>, my daughter remarked to my son that one day he would have to don them. As I was putting on the head-<em>tefillin</em>, my son asked her, ‘What’s that for – does it hold his <em>kippah</em> on?’ Then, being three, he suggested that I might need one to hold my neck on and another to keep my leg in place!</p> <p>Other than causing me some amusement as I was trying to concentrate on <em>davening</em>, Shmuel Yosef left me considering something important. How often do I (or any of us) actually think ‘what’s that for’ when putting on <em>tefillin</em>? It’s so easy for regularly-observed <em>mitzvos</em> to become rote performances, devoid of real meaning. I realised that it’s easy to lay <em>tefillin</em> each day, but harder to experience the ritual as a means of connecting with God: a tool of subjugation of the most powerful human capabilities to the Divine agenda.</p> <p></p><p>Many people say a meditation before donning the <em>tefillin</em>, one which I have just re-read. It reminded me that:<br /></p><p style="font-style: italic;">God has commanded us to wear the arm-<em>tefillin</em> to recall the ‘outstretched arm’ (of the Exodus), placed close to the heart to thereby subjugate the desires and thoughts of our hearts to His service; and upon the head, close to my brain, so that the soul that resides in my mind, together with all of my senses and capabilities, are subjugated to His service.</p><p></p><p></p><p>‘What’s that for?’ Three words of powerful <em>musar</em> (ethical guidance) from a three-year-old: God has many agents. It’s a good focal point with which to approach the pre-Rosh HaShanah month of Elul, which starts alarmingly soon.</p><p><a href="http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2008/08/20/what%E2%80%99s-that-for-musar-from-a-three-year-old/">This article first appeared on Cross-Currents<br /></a></p><p></p></div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-51983196618753810262008-08-15T17:08:00.000+01:002008-08-20T17:10:26.777+01:00Is It Ethical To ‘Hijack’ An Internet Connection?<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;">In 2005, a West London man, Gregory Straszkiewicz, was fined £500 and given a 12-month conditional discharge for "hijacking a broadband connection". Using a laptop while sitting in his car, Straszkiewicz had connected to the Internet by piggy-backing on the wireless network of a local resident.<br /><br />Today, many people access the Internet using Wi-Fi wireless technology, which allows a computer to connect to the web via a router, for which service the subscriber pays a monthly fee to an internet service provider (ISP). Although most such connections are secure, and accessible only via a password, some people leave their service unsecured, allowing free Internet access to anyone with a computer to hand. While breaking a security code to access a network is clearly dishonest, how might Jewish law view the unauthorised use of an unsecured connection, as in the case of Gregory Straszkiewicz?<br /><br />At first glance, this looks like a simple application of the principle "one gains without loss to another": there seems to be no apparent loss to the subscriber (who has, after all, left the connection unsecured and therefore open to access by others) through unauthorised use of his wireless connection.<br /><br />However, this may be swiftly discounted, since some financial loss is likely. Many domestic subscribers have capped services: if they download more than a fixed amount of data each month, they are billed extra for it. Additional usage by an outsider may push the monthly total data download over that limit, generating additional cost to the subscriber.<br /><br />Another consideration is bandwidth, the quantity of data that can be transferred per second via the connection. This equates to the speed at which the connection works: the higher the bandwidth rating, the faster the connection. Unauthorised use of the connection will reduce the quality of the subscriber's use, as it will operate more slowly. So the piggy-backer's activities may result in a more expensive and/or slower Internet experience for the subscriber.<br /><br />But even with an uncapped provision, where the piggy-backer uses the connection so little that the subscriber detects no deterioration in service (or the intruder uses it at a time when the subscriber is not online), piggy-backing may still be problematic.<br /><br />The Talmud records a disagreement over whether "borrowing" an item without permission constitutes theft; the Shulchan Aruch rules stringently, which might seem to outlaw piggy-backing. However, the Ritva (Rabbi Yom Tov ben Abraham Ashvilli, died 1330) restricts this ruling to a case where "borrowing" an item could potentially lead to its damage. This clearly excludes piggy-backing, which causes no tangible harm to any material possession of the subscriber.<br /><br />One might argue that when the subscriber leaves a connection unsecured, he is indicating that he doesn't mind if outsiders "borrow" it. This could be supported by the rule allowing one to borrow a tallit left in a public place, even without the owner's permission. However, the Bach (Rabbi Joel Sirkes, died 1640) assumes that this applies only where a mitzvah can be performed, and when the use is occasional; even when the piggy-backing is infrequent, it is unreasonable to suggest that it is a mitzvah!<br /><br />Even if Jewish law theoretically allows piggy-backing, it may still be an act of piety to refrain from it. The Talmud refers to Rabbi Lazar's refusal to take a tiny splinter from a fence for use as a toothpick. Although the loss to the fence's owner was insignificant, and therefore taking the splinter technically permitted, Rabbi Lazar realised that if everyone were to adopt this view, the fence would cease to exist. Similarly, although one piggy-backer may make little difference to a subscriber, the presence of many freeloaders will drastically reduce the quality of his service, perhaps even bringing it down altogether.<br /><br />A further point is that the subscriber is also bound by the terms of his agreement with the ISP: by accessing a connection from outside the premises where the router is located, the piggy-backer may cause the subscriber to be in breach of contract.<br /><br />In conclusion, we can imagine a limited range of circumstances in which piggy-backing might be allowed, but even so, it is meritorious to avoid it.<br /><br />Sources<br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" ><br />A squatter need not pay rent, provided that the owner has not served him notice and the dwelling is not normally rented out. It is a case of "one gains without loss to another" Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 364:6, paraphrased<br /><br />Rabbi Shimon bar Kahana walked past a vineyard with Rabbi Lazar and asked him to take a splinter for him from the fence to use as a toothpick. He refused, reasoning that if everyone were to do so, the fence would disappear. Talmud Yerushalmi Damai 3:2,<br /><br />There is a dispute about one who "borrows" without the permission of the owner. One rabbi says that he is a legal borrower; another says that he is a thief. Talmud Bava Batra 88a<br /><br />Unauthorised "borrowing" of an item that cannot be damaged by handling is never considered to be theft. Ritva, Bava Metzia 41a<br /><br />It is permitted to take a tallit and make the blessing over it... Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 14:4<br /><br />This only applies to occasional [use] when performing a mitzvah. Bach to Tur, Orach Chaim 14:4<br /><br />It is forbidden to steal even the slightest amount. Yet if it is something that no-one is bothered about, it is permitted... But the Yerushalmi forbids this, as an act of piety. Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 369:1</span><br /><br />A version of this article first appeared in the Jewish Chronicle. It is republished here with permission.</div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-57596081057710335662008-07-11T11:52:00.001+01:002008-07-22T12:00:42.299+01:00Copyright And Software Piracy<div style="text-align: justify;"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link style="font-family: georgia;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CHarvey%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link style="font-family: georgia;" rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CHarvey%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link style="font-family: georgia;" rel="colorSchemeMapping" 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font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:595.3pt 841.9pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">In February of last year, at an event in Bucharest attended by Bill Gates of Microsoft, the Romanian president, Mr. Traian Basescu, apparently made an astounding statement.<span style=""> </span>Allegedly, he claimed that software piracy (unauthorised duplication of software, such as Microsoft Office products) helps the younger generation discover computers and that it is an investment in Romania’s friendship with Microsoft!<span style=""> </span>It is unlikely that either Mr. Gates or those software pirates languishing in jail for infringement of copyright were especially sympathetic to Mr. Basescu’s views.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">‘Piracy’ of this sort has a long history in Jewish sources.<span style=""> </span>Some 450 years ago Rabbi Meir of Padua published a new version of the Rambam’s halachic work Mishneh Torah.<span style=""> </span>Subsequently, a Venetian nobleman, Marco Antonio Justinian, also published an edition of the Rambam, which his detractors claimed would leave Rabbi Meir with many unsold copies.<span style=""> </span>Rabbi Moshe Isserlis of Cracow (d. 1572) upheld Rabbi Meir’s right to sell his stock before the other edition reached the market; meanwhile, he forbade his followers from buying the Venice printing.<span style=""> </span>In 18th-century Livorno, a dispute arose between the author of an edition of the Mishnah and his printer.<span style=""> </span>After publication, the printer removed the author’s commentary from the plates and reused them!<span style=""> </span>Rabbi Yechezkel Landau of Prague (d. 1793) ruled that the printer must compensate the author for his loss.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Legislating rights and responsibilities towards such non-tangible entities as copyright is complex: these landmark rulings were vital steps in the development of halachic attitudes towards intellectual property.<span style=""> </span>We see application of this is legislation nowadays to the problem of software piracy.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">It is tricky to identify early Jewish sources that discuss title to intangibles - one that establishes a legal right to a concept or other kinds of non-monetary commodities, the development of which required the investment of expertise, resources or time.<span style=""> </span>Such a source could be used to derive a Jewish view of software piracy.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The Talmud (Kiddushin 59a) records the case of a hungry pauper who discovers a cake; before he picks it up, however, someone else snatches it.<span style=""> </span>The Rabbis describe the ‘snatcher’ as ‘evil’, since he has exploited the pauper’s efforts; however, he is not a ‘thief’, nor is the case actionable.<span style=""> </span>We see that effort alone (which equates in our study to intellectual property) does not confer title, an idea supported by the maxim, ‘one who quotes a statement in the name of its originator brings redemption to the world,’ (Megillah 15a).<span style=""> </span>Using someone else’s ideas without acknowledgement is not actually a crime, just bad manners.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Another permissive view of intellectual property could be based on the rules governing squatters.<span style=""> </span>If a squatter continues to live in a property that is usually rented, he must pay rent after the landlord has served notice.<span style=""> </span>This is because financial benefit accrued by one person, even if there is only a potential loss to another, is claimable.<span style=""> </span>This has ramifications for software piracy.<span style=""> </span>One argument advanced to justify copying is that if one has no intention of buying the product, the manufacturer incurs no loss.<span style=""> </span>If the software is duplicated exclusively for private use and none of the people who use it (or secondary copies made from it) would have bought it (all highly improbable), there might be room for a lenient ruling.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Others adopt a less accommodating position. Following the law that someone entrusted with a manuscript may not copy even one letter from it without authorisation, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (d. 1986) prohibits translating book segments without the author’s permission.<span style=""> </span>Accordingly, it would be forbidden to duplicate software without consent.<span style=""> </span>Furthermore, the Talmud asserts that whenever a purchaser breaks the conditions of a contract, compensation is payable; indeed someone who ignores the wishes of the ‘owner’ is termed a ‘thief’.<span style=""> </span>Following this, in a responsum about copying music, Rabbi Z.N. Goldberg (contemporary) notes that even after the sale, the original owner is entitled to retain some aspects of ownership.<span style=""> </span>Halachah would thus recognise a software developer’s right to withhold permission to copy the product, and duplication would qualify as theft.<span style=""> </span>Additionally, Rabbi J.S. Nathanson (d. 1875) asserts that ‘logic’ asserts authors’ halachic rights to their works.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">We have examined some ingenious responsa, many of which suggest that halachah forbids software piracy.<span style=""> </span>Of course, Jewish law anyway asserts ‘dina demalchuta dina’ (e.g. Nedarim 28a) – in financial matters, at least, once must defer to the law of the land.<span style=""> </span>As software copyright is certainly regulated by English law, halachah obliges one to adhere to the terms of the purchase agreement.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">Side bar</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">In conclusion, the rabbi wins the case and he has the right to sell his books first, and the only newly-printed edition of Maimonides that one may purchase is the one published by the rabbi. (Responsa Rama – Isserlis – 10)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">The printer has caused the author great loss, for if it were not for this new edition, he would have had many more purchasers. (Responsa Noda BiYehudah – Landau – CM 2:24)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">Someone who lives in a courtyard without permission must pay rent, whenever the owner intended to rent the courtyard. (Bava Kama 20a, paraphrased; Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 364:6)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">Just as one may not read a (deposited) manuscript, one may not copy even one letter from it. (Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 292:20)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">It is forbidden to translate laws from my works… Some already asked me permission, which I refused. (Responsa Igrot Moshe – Feinstein – YD 3:91)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">Anyone who ignores the wishes of the ‘owner’ is called a ‘thief’… If one gives a pauper a coin to buy a shirt, he may not use the money to buy a cloak,<span style=""> </span>since he ignores the wishes of the donor. (Bava Metzia 78a-b)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">When one sells an item, one may retain certain rights over it… A cassette vendor may retain sole rights of duplication… Ignoring this is like theft, for with respect to duplication, the cassette is not his property. (Rabbi Z.N. Goldberg, Techumin 6)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">
<br /></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;"> </div><p style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span lang="EN-US">An author’s rights to his works are universally established; to say otherwise is illogical… (Responsa Shoel UMaishiv – Nathanson – 1:1:44)</span></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span lang="EN-US"></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">A version of this article first appeared in the Jewish Chronicle. It is republished here with permission.
<br /></span></p> Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-91574196666340477812008-06-26T15:56:00.006+01:002008-07-08T19:08:40.170+01:00The Pope And Praying In Hebrew<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" class="storycontent"> <p style="font-family: georgia;">The <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/">London Times</a> reports that the Catholic Church is discussing reintroducing the Latin Mass largely abandoned in the aftermath of Vatican II. See <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4159522.ece">here</a> for details. Apparently, the Pope is writing to every seminary urging them to ensure that priests are trained to conduct the Tridentine Mass, which was replaced in the 1960s by the vernacular liturgy said in most churches today. While before Vatican II, every Catholic Church in the world conducted Mass in Latin, today it is recited in the local language. </p> <p style="font-family: georgia;">Readers may wonder why I’m interested in the Latin Mass, something one can safely assume to be of marginal concern to most Cross-Currents readers! The answer is brief and simple. It helped me to realise how blessed we are to have a Hebrew liturgy, which (with a few minor differences here and there) is the same the world-over. Indeed, among the supportive ultra-conservative remarks appended to the article, are a few thoughtful ones that welcome the return of a universal liturgy, allowing people of every nationality and tongue to celebrate Mass together.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;">The early 19th-century German-Jewish and later reformers genuinely meant well when they replaced certain Hebrew prayers with vernacular equivalents: they hoped to make them more accessible and comprehensible to their worshippers; presumably, this was successful. However (and this is apart from the theological and halachic issues raised by their versions of the prayers), a great deal more was lost than gained. They underestimated the universal value of Hebrew prayers: the capacity of a Jewish national language, the language of God and the Bible, to unite and inspire people; to erase boundaries between those of different cultures and unify them in devotion.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;">To be fair, this has now been recognised by some non-Orthodox groups, who have re-introduced greater Hebrew content into their services: I’m sure that they have been greatly enhanced by so doing.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;">But many Westernised Jews have little or no knowledge of Hebrew – not much has changed since 19th-century Germany (where the vernacular was introduced) in that regard. This is a problem that has a solution – learn Hebrew! It’s easier said than done, but the opportunities available (courses, CDs and internet sites, etc.) have never been greater or the rewards (especially the chance to communicate with the natives on a visit to our own Hebrew-speaking country) more evident. Anyway, there are excellent translations of the Siddur available, each serving a different need, which one can consult throughout the prayer service.</p> <p style="font-family: georgia;">I think that the Pope has this one right: the vernacular alternatives to their (and our) prayers are, in the words of one comment to the article in The Times, ‘improvised’ and ‘fabricated’. Do you agree?</p><p><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2008/06/26/the-pope-and-praying-in-hebrew/">This article first appeared on Cross-Currents</a><br /></p> </div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-38283470147044402882008-06-19T18:40:00.000+01:002008-06-19T18:41:25.106+01:00Shmuel Yosef's Opsheren<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="288" height="192" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Frabbibelovski%2Falbumid%2F5213630860749380177%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-72959704481915261802008-06-06T15:59:00.004+01:002008-06-26T16:22:17.258+01:00Welcome to Techno-Torah<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"><meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CHarvey%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CHarvey%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"><link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CHarvey%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:trackmoves/> <w:trackformatting/> 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mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">A Jewish child is thinking of Moshe about to receive the Torah.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Moshe ascends the mountain and God’s hand reaches through the cloud and hands him not tablets of stone, but a laptop, a CD and some Hebrew keyboard stickers!</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">It may seem ridiculous, but these are indeed today’s Torah tools; Shavuot is a perfect opportunity to survey th<span style="font-family: georgia;">em.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">A plethora of websites, searchable databases and desk-top publication tools have sprung up to service every Jewish interest.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Computer resources for Torah study are among the most advanced of any field and have completely transformed the way that traditional Jewish sources are accessed.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Hebrew Desk-<span style="font-family: georgia;">top publishing</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Not many years ago, even typing in Hebrew was a nuisance: one needed to install a special font, type the letters backwards and avoid spilling on to the next line to prevent the text from coming out as gibberish.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Next came specialist Hebrew word-processors, such as <i>Dagesh</i> and <i>Davka</i>, which made bi-directional typing easier.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">While these remain available, standard program suites such as Microsoft Office now come with built-in features that make left-to-right typing straightforward.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">One need only enable the software (a very simple task) and acquire a keyboard with Hebrew letters or stick some labels on to an existing one and the most powerful publishing, spread-sheet and internet software solutions become available to the bilingual user.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Searches can be performed on Hebrew texts and the contents of tables ordered according to the aleph-bet. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">A mouse-click is all that is required to toggle between typing Hebrew and English characters, which align automatically to produce a seamless document.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Torah web-sites</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">There are a vast number of internet sites offering Torah ideas and programmes.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">As with everything on the web, these vary widely in quality, although many are really excellent.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">They service every shade of observance and knowledge, from the rudimentary to the most advanced, and deal with matters as diverse as making a Seder and obtaining a get (Jewish divorce).</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">There are fun materials for children, serious monographs for academics and everything in between.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">One can download guides to every aspect of Jewish life, prayer services, halachic rulings and, even, would you believe, study for the rabbinate.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Even those in the most observant sector of the Jewish world have caught on to the power of the web as a tool for Torah dissemination.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">One will find many Yeshivot, outreach organisations and even Chassidic sects represented: Aish, Breslov and Chabad, for example are known for their extensive use of the internet.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">There are Hebrew-calendar calculators and sites offering extensive libraries of audio files (shiurim and the like) for listening online or downloading to one’s mp3 player.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">The extent of these resources is quite mind-blowing.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">‘Blogs’</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">There has been a recent explosion of Torah weblogs or ‘blogs’ – web diaries that opine on anything from Jewish law to political issues and modern challenges.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Some ‘blogs’ are simply platforms for peoples’ unhappiness with the world; but one can also easily identify other excellent ‘blogs’ that are thought-provoking and refreshing: many important halachic and contemporary Torah issue have been flagged first by the ‘bloggers’, who are viewed with deep concern by some and with great affe<span style="font-family: georgia;">ction by others.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Torah libraries</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The biggest revolution, however, has been in the development of tools for the manipulation of research and manipulation of Torah texts.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">These come in the shape of libraries of Torah materials, available either across the internet or to purchase as disks.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The idea is to make the vast literature of Torah accessible for study and research or for creating materials for lectures, religious rulings and academic presentations.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">A page of text is scanned and stored on some computer medium, either as a picture (in which case the page appears in its original format but cannot be edited) or is converted into text to be copied and manipulated, but losing the original layout.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">However the material is stored, sections can be pasted into word-processing and other documents to develop sophisticated archives and class hand-outs.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">With a little practice, it is possible to prepare first-rate source-sheets in a fraction of the time that it would have taken to drag a pile of books to a photocopier (assuming one even has all the texts available), cut the copies into fragments and paste them into a single document.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">The result is easier to read, produces no waste and can easily be improved at a later date.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The range of texts available is astonishing.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Even an outline list of topics is lengthy.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">It includes: Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, Midrash, classic commentaries from all eras, Rambam, standard halachic works, responsa, mysticism, chassidut, prayer, festivals, Jewish philosophy, encyclopaedias and periodicals.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Looking first at free resources, try <i>Mechon-Mamre</i> for a selection of basic texts, including the entire JPS English translation of the Bible.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><i>Hebrewbooks.org</i> has over 15,000 classic texts for free download, mostly of old editions or out-of-print books, many quite obscure; it also offers a really excellent selection of digitised commentaries on the Rambam and some unusual material published during the nascent years of the American Jewish community.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Some chassidic websites also allow downloads of specialist Hebrew texts.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Two types of purchasable resources are available: those accessed across the internet for a monthly or annual fee, and those that are purchased outright on disk.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">The advantages of the web versions are that the cost is spread, they may be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection, and don’t ever need upgrading.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">The versions bought outright generally work faster, deliver higher functionality and can be used even when no internet connection is available, but must be carried around and may be expensive to purchase.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">There is a good range of disks available at the lower end of the market.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">They supply fundamental texts, such as Bible, Talmud and basic commentaries on CD.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Some contain English texts, such as translations of the Bible, Talmud and Midrash.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">In the middle range, also on CD, there is <i>DBS</i>, offering a huge range of commentaries on the Bible and Talmud and a good range of chassidic literature and the <i>Bar Ilan Responsa</i> project, which contains a plethora of rabbinical responsa from across the ages.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">For the most serious scholars, <i>Otzar HaChochma</i> contains over 28,000 searchable books and periodicals in their original format.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Available across the internet or on a 500Mb hard drive, it comes with a price t<span style="font-family: georgia;">o match its power.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Shavuot celebrates the giving of Torah more than 3200 years ago.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">While the message of the revelation remains vibrant and exciting, the medium has changed beyond recognition.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Using the amazing techno-Torah tools at our disposal is a real way to connect the past, present and future.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Resources</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;">
<br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Bi-directional word-processors, keyboards and keyboard stickers:</span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:85%;"><a href="http://www.jewishsoftware.com/default.asp?page=categories&type=84&id=92"><i><span style="" lang="EN-GB">http://www.jewishsoftware.com/default.asp?page=categories&type=84&id=92</span></i></a></span><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Selected Torah websites:<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>MiBereshit: </i><i><span lang="SV"><a href="http://www.mibereshit.org/newsite/eng/flash.asp"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">http://www.mibereshit.org/newsite/eng/flash.asp</span></a></span></i><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span lang="SV">Breslov: <a href="http://www.breslov.com/en/index.php/Breslov_on_the_Internet%21">http://www.breslov.com/en/index.php/Breslov_on_the_Internet%21</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Chabad: </i><i><span lang="SV"><a href="http://www.chabad.org/"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">http://www.chabad.org/</span></a></span></i><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Jewish Law: </i><i><span lang="SV"><a href="http://www.jlaw.com/"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">http://www.jlaw.com/</span></a></span></i><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Aish: <a href="http://www.aish.com/">http://www.aish.com/</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>YUTorah: <a href="http://www.yutorah.org/">http://www.yutorah.org/</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Virtual Beit Midrash: <a href="http://www.vbm-torah.org/">http://www.vbm-torah.org/</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>WebYeshiva: <a href="http://www.webyeshiva.org/">http://www.webyeshiva.org/</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>613: <a href="http://www.613.org/">http://www.613.org/</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>
<br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Selected blogs<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Hirhurim: <a href="http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/">http://hirhurim.blogspot.com/</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Cross-Currents: <a href="http://www.cross-currents.com/">http://www.cross-currents.com/</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>The Seforim Blog; <a href="http://seforim.blogspot.com/">http://seforim.blogspot.com/</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Eruv Online: <a href="http://eruvonline.blogspot.com/">http://eruvonline.blogspot.com/</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span lang="SV">Belogski: <a href="http://belogski.blogspot.com/">http://belogski.blogspot.com/</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span lang="SV"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>
<br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Hebrew calendar and Shabbat-time calculators<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Hebrew calendar: <a href="http://www.kaluach.org/">http://www.kaluach.org/</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Shabbat times only: <a href="http://www.chabad.org/calendar/location.asp?tDate=&weeks=1&AID=6226">http://www.chabad.org/calendar/location.asp?tDate=&weeks=1&AID=6226</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>
<br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Index of Torah and Jewish academic articles<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span lang="SV">RAMBI: <a href="http://jnul.huji.ac.il/rambi/">http://jnul.huji.ac.il/rambi/</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span lang="SV"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span lang="SV">Free Torah libraries<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span lang="SV"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span lang="SV">Mechon-Mamre: <a href="http://www.mechon-mamre.org/index.htm">http://www.mechon-mamre.org/index.htm</a><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;">Hebrewbooks.org: </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" href="http://hebrewbooks.org/">http://hebrewbooks.org/</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>
<br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Purchasable Torah libraries<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Basic libraries: <a href="http://www.davka.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=4">http://www.davka.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?category=4</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Bar Ilan Responsa project: <a href="http://www.responsa.co.il/home.en-US.aspx">http://www.responsa.co.il/home.en-US.aspx</a> (online access)<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i><a href="http://www.jewishsoftware.com/products/Bar_Ilan_Responsa_15_991.asp">http://www.jewishsoftware.com/products/Bar_Ilan_Responsa_15_991.asp</a> (buy)<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>DBS: <a href="http://www.jewishsoftware.com/products/DBS_Master_Library_163.asp">http://www.jewishsoftware.com/products/DBS_Master_Library_163.asp</a><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><i>Otzar HaChochma: </i><i><span lang="SV"><a href="http://www.otzar.biz/index_e.php"><span style="" lang="EN-GB">http://www.otzar.biz/index_e.php</span></a></span></i></span><i><span style="font-size:85%;"> (online access or buy)</span><o:p></o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><o:p> </o:p></i></span></p><div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i>
<br /></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i>These are only examples.<span style=""> </span>Many other excellent resources are available.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">A version of this article first appeared in the Jewish Chronicle. It is republished here with permission.</span>
<br /><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p> Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-5024524691638785402008-04-14T15:26:00.015+01:002008-06-26T16:14:23.298+01:00Haggadah - Two Views (Pesach 5768)<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 12"><link style="font-family: georgia;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CHarvey%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype></span><link style="font-family: georgia;" rel="themeData" 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font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;} span.HeaderChar {mso-style-name:"Header Char"; mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-locked:yes; mso-style-link:Header; mso-ansi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt; mso-ansi-language:EN-US; mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:10.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;} @page Section1 {size:612.0pt 792.0pt; margin:72.0pt 90.0pt 72.0pt 90.0pt; mso-header-margin:35.4pt; mso-footer-margin:35.4pt; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The very word </span><span dir="rtl" lang="HE" style="font-size:100%;">הגדה</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> (Haggadah) conjures up wonderful memories of Sedarim past, reliving the story of the Exodus with family, friends and students.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">It’s used to refer colloquially to the booklet -- a compilation of texts and commentaries -- read at the Seder, but the word itself actually contains a wealth of information about the way in which a truly memorable and effective Seder should be conducted.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Allow me to share some ideas:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">According to Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen, the way to discover the core meaning of a Biblical word is to look at the first time it appears in the Torah.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">In the case of </span><span dir="rtl" lang="HE" style="font-size:100%;">הגדה</span><span style="font-size:100%;">, the root word first occurs in the story of Adam and Eve.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">When God addressed Adam after the Sin, we find the following dialogue:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >The Lord God called to Adam and said to Him, ‘Where are you?’</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >He said, ‘I heard your voice in the Garden and I was afraid because I am naked, so I hid.’</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >[God] said, ‘Who told </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" dir="rtl" lang="HE">(</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" dir="rtl" lang="HE">הגיד</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" dir="rtl" lang="HE">)</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" > you that you are naked?</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?’</span> (BeReishis 3:9-11)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Rashi explains that God’s question is to be understood in the following way:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >How do you know?</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">What shame is there is standing naked?</span> (Rashi ad loc.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Before the sin, Adam and Eve wore no clothes but were not ashamed (BeReishis 2:25); however, they subsequently acquired a sense that there was something embarrassing about being naked.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">It can be seen from this that the word </span><span dir="rtl" lang="HE" style="font-size:100%;">הגיד</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> means to <i>acquire</i> new information.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">This has an interesting implication for Seder night: the story must be told in a way that is new and exciting for the participants.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">One cannot fulfil the requirement of </span><span dir="rtl" lang="HE" style="font-size:100%;">הגדה</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> (which is primarily directed at one’s children) by merely reading the text or presenting a stale version of the Exodus.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Instead, one must find a new angle on the story each year and create interest and fascination by finding new nuggets of information and by telling it in a refreshing way: one that will grab the imagination and retain peoples’ attention well into the night.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;">
<br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i>Based on ‘Hegioney Halachah’ Haggadah <span style=""> </span>by Rabbi Yitzhok Mirsky</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">The Avney Nezer of Sochaczew pointed out that an accurate reading of the word </span><span dir="rtl" lang="HE" style="font-size:100%;">הגדה</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> can be derived from the Aramaic Onkelos translation of the word:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-style: italic;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >And you shall tell </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" dir="rtl" lang="HE">(</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" dir="rtl" lang="HE">והגדת</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" dir="rtl" lang="HE">)</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> your son on that day as follows: because of this that God did for me in bringing me out from </span><st1:place style="font-style: italic;" st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place><span style="font-style: italic;">.</span> (Shemos 13:8)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">And you shall point out to your son…</span> (Onkelos ad loc.)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">It seems that the word </span><span dir="rtl" lang="HE" style="font-size:100%;">הגדה</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> means to show or to demonstrate that something is true, rather that merely tell a story.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">This fits with the Rambam’s version of the text of a key paragraph of the Haggadah:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >In every generation, one is obliged to see oneself </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" dir="rtl" lang="HE">(</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" dir="rtl" lang="HE">לראות את עצמו</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" dir="rtl" lang="HE">)</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" > coming out of </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place style="font-style: italic;" st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place><span style="font-style: italic;">…</span> (standard text)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" >In every generation, one is obliged to show oneself </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" dir="rtl" lang="HE">(</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" dir="rtl" lang="HE">להראות את עצמו</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" dir="rtl" lang="HE">)</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" > coming out of </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place style="font-style: italic;" st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place><span style="font-style: italic;">…</span> (Rambam’s text)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">While the standard text suggests one’s mindset during the Seder, the Rambam’s text (supported by the Targum) regulates one’s behaviour by re-enacting aspects of the Exodus.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">The Seder should demonstrate the facts of the Exodus and present them in a tangible and accessible way such that leaving <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> becomes a real, rather than purely intellectual, experience for the participants.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">In fact, the text of the </span><span dir="rtl" lang="HE" style="font-size:100%;">הגדה</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> itself indicates the use of props to turn the Seder into a demonstration, rather than a purely intellectual process.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">We may only tell the story when the illustrative ‘props’ are in place:</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">One might have thought (that one should begin telling the story) from Rosh Chodesh (Nissan), so the verse writes, ‘on that day’ (only).</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">But perhaps ‘that day’ means while it is yet daytime (of Erev Pesach), so the verse writes, ‘because of this’. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">One can only say, ‘because of this’ (by pointing towards something tangible) when the Matzah and Maror are present.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">This could be considered the original multi-media presentation: one can only properly fulfil one’s obligation of </span><span dir="rtl" lang="HE" style="font-size:100%;">הגדה</span><span lang="HE" style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">by turning the occasion into an experiential show.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><i>Based on the Haggadah of the Shem MiShmuel of Sochaczew</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">With a little thought over the remaining hectic days until Pesach, it should be possible to plan for a Seder that incorporates both of these ideas: telling the story from a new perspective, and bringing it to life for the participants.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">May we be blessed with inspirational Sedarim, the impact of which will remain with us throughout the year.</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">Chag Kosher VeSomayach.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: arial;">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;font-family:arial;">This post originally appeared on Cross-Currents
<br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-71404704110608854512008-04-13T22:47:00.004+01:002008-04-13T22:54:21.011+01:00Shabbat And The Single Jew - part 2 (Mazal Tov edition)<div style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;">In one of my first posts on the theme of dating, I discussed the pros and cons of attending singles events on Shabbat and Yom Tov. I suggested that Shabbat and Yom Tov need to be ends in themselves and not just means to some other end, even the laudable objective of finding a life-partner. Those who use most Shabbatot as dating opportunities risk depleting their spiritual reserves and robbing their religious lives of transformative power. Interested readers will find the original post <a href="http://belogski.blogspot.com/2007/03/shabbat-and-single-jew.html">here</a>.<br /><br />In that post, I offered a specific (true) example:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">A woman approached me recently for advice about attending a Purim party. She knew that there was only a slim chance of meeting someone suitable there, yet she felt that not going would leave her wracked with guilt. She took my advice and didn’t attend, instead devoting the evening to Purim pursuits: she later mentioned that focusing on the day alone enabled her to experience her most meaningful Purim for years.</span><br /><br />Well, I am delighted to report that last Purim turned out to be more remarkable for the woman concerned than any of us could possibly have hoped (I am writing this at her request). Very late that Purim evening, she visited my home to help prepare for the Se’udah (Purim banquet) the next day. While I was reading the Megillah for my wife in another room, she got chatting over the kitchen sink to a fellow who was also planning to celebrate with us the next day.<br /><br />As frequent visitors to our home, they had the opportunity to bump into each other on other occasions, and got to know and like each other, although for certain reasons it was not possible to consider furthering the relationship. Until recently that it, when they began to date in earnest. They became engaged this week and the wedding is likely to be in Israel in the summer. My wife and I are absolutely delighted for both of them and we feel honoured to have been instrumental in bringing them together.<br /><br />It’s an astonishing story, especially as they only met each other because she decided to hang out in my house instead of going to a Purim party designed to enable singles to meet. God works in mysterious ways, and all of us who know the choson and kallah well know quite how extraordinary their relationship is; it has definitely served to remind us of the inscrutability of the Divine matchmaker.<br /><br />Be assured that this is not an attempt to bash singles events, even those held on Shabbat and Yom Tov. They have their function and serve to bring people together who may otherwise not have met. Yet we should remember that they are only one of many ways in which God can make matches. We are not party to the Divine plan, but must allow Him to work through us in whatever way possible to bring singles together. Perhaps by simply recognising this fact, we open new vistas for His match-making and thus can become partners with Him in this holy work. May we all be blessed with the foresight and inspiration to grasp every opportunity to help others create new Jewish families.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2008/04/11/means-and-ends-part-2-mazal-tov-edition/">This article first appeared on Cross-Currents</a><br /></div>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-41064322954219161142008-03-06T21:08:00.006+00:002008-03-09T18:24:58.175+00:00If You Prick Us Do We Not Bleed?<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">Some pupils at the <a href="http://www.learningtrust.co.uk/schools/secondary_schools/yesodey.aspx">Yesodey Hatorah</a> girls’ high school not too far from where I live have attracted UK and international news overage (see, for example, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=522938&in_page_id=1770">here</a>, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/jewish-pupils-boycott-exam-in-shylock-protest-790021.html">here</a>, <a href="http://news.scotsman.com/education/School-slips-as-girls-shun.3833068.jp">here</a> and <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10496130">here</a>) over their refusal to answer examination questions about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant_of_Venice">Shakespeare</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Apparently, the pupils declined even to write their names on the papers, in protest at Shakespeare’s ‘anti-Semitism’, despite the fact that they had not even been studying ‘</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Merchant_of_Venice">The Merchant of Venice</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">’ and that by doing so they would forfeit the entire examination.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">As a result, the school has fallen drastically in the performance tables (it was, quite remarkably, first in the entire country last year and is now 274</span><sup style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">th </sup><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">albeit out of over 3000).</span><sup style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p></sup></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I should interject a word here about the school system in the </span><st1:country-region style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" st="on"><st1:place st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span>Many Jewish schools here have what is known as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voluntary_aided_school">voluntary aided status</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">, which entitles them to state funding for buildings, general studies teaching and a host of other things, leaving the parents to pick up the tab for the Torah curriculum.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Of course, this requires the school to meet government educational standards in all relevant areas.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The examination in question was a standard government test on material for which the Shakespeare section is a mandatory part of the syllabus.</span><o:p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The principal of Yesodey Hatorah, Rabbi Avrohom Pinter, has been interviewed several times about this curious episode, including on the prestigious BBC Radio 4 ‘Sunday’ religious affairs programme.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span>(You can listen to the interview <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/sunday/archive/">here</a><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">: click on the link for ‘Shakespeare and anti-Semitism’).</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">He walks a fine line between supporting the girls in their principled stand, while indicating that he doesn’t really agree with them.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> </span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">It is clearly not the school policy to eschew Shakespeare, since it has bought into a system that requires his works to be taught; at the very least it tolerates its inclusion in the English syllabus and assumes that its students will do likewise.</span><o:p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">I think that the issue as to whether Shakespeare was an anti-Semite is irrelevant – it has been debated for centuries.<span style=""> </span>My own opinion (to the extent that I know enough about the subject to have an informed one) coincides with Rabbi Pinter’s.<span style=""> </span>While the portrayal of Shylock has anti-Semitic overtones, there are also very humane, sensitive (dare one say philo-Semitic?) aspects of his character.<span style=""> </span>The bard lived in an age when anti-Semitic sentiments were common; actually it is likely that he was writing with little first-hand knowledge of Jews, as he lived at the end of the 16<sup>th</sup> century, long after the expulsion in 1290 and some while before the resettlement in the mid-17<sup>th</sup> century.<span style=""> </span>As such, I am not inordinately troubled by Shakespeare’s alleged anti-Semitism.<o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">However, two other aspects of this incident have given me cause for thought.<span style=""> </span>First, even if Shakespeare was an anti-Semite, should this influence whether his works ought to be taught in Jewish schools?<span style=""> </span>Second, should a school support pupils’ principled objection to a syllabus item even if by doing so it significantly damages the school and its reputation?<o:p></o:p><o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">Tacking the second question first, one could argue that the students (and their parents, who are reported as supporting them in this case) are bound by some kind of understanding with the school, in which they have agreed to engage fully in the stated programme of study.<span style=""> </span>They ‘breach’ this ‘contract’ if they do not participate in the examinations. <span style=""> </span>I don’t accept this argument, as I feel that the very essence of a quality education must encourage a degree of independent thinking and allow for the students to take informed decisions, especially when they are fully aware of the consequences.<span style=""> </span>This is all part of growing up, something which a school must foster; in that respect, Yesodey Hatorah and Rabbi Pinter should be very proud of their students.<o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">Yet there must be limits to this type of freedom within an educational environment.<span style=""> </span>When I was at high school, one of my co-students became an anarchist, changed his name from Darren to ‘Grover Herbivores’ and refused to wear shoes.<span style=""> </span>This provoked consternation and, finally, rage from the school administration, which eventually excluded him from school life.<span style=""> </span>While this extreme example is no more than quaint, it illustrates the fact that conscientious objection to accepted school norms must have limits, otherwise the institution become ungovernable.<span style=""> </span>Of course, at least in the minds of the students, there is a perceived moral dimension to the Shakespeare issues which is patently absent from ‘Grover’s’ unwillingness to wear shoes.<span style=""> </span>Nonetheless, there has to be a balance between personal expression and potential damage to the school resulting from the students’ ethically motivated objections.<span style=""> </span>If students fail to sit examinations or perform very poorly in them the school will eventually be subject to government scrutiny, which will influence the life of every student in the school.<span style=""> </span>Striking that balance is very difficult – this is a genuine clash between private and public need.<span style=""> </span>We all draw the line in different places, but I would advocate maximising the students’ opportunity for personal expression (based on informed choice and awareness of the consequences), only invoking the need for public responsibility when the potential damage is significant.<span style=""> </span>I, like Rabbi Pinter, do not believe that to be the case in the recent school case.<o:p></o:p></p><div style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"> </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">However, before voting too firmly for the girls of Yesoday Hatorah, I would like to challenge the notion that if Shakespeare was an anti-Semite (accepting this for the purposes of this discussion), Jewish schools should not study his works.<span style=""> </span>I find this incomprehensible, especially in a complex and open world where it is impossible to avoid a broad range of views about Jews and, indeed, everything else.<span style=""> </span>Surely studying Shakespeare, even if one vehemently disagrees with his premises, is of great educational value anyway.<span style=""> </span>Perhaps ‘The Merchant of Venice’ should be discussed in a Jewish school in the context of a lesson on the history of anti-Semitism.<span style=""> </span>Perhaps the students should be encouraged to debate whether Shakespeare actually was an anti-Semite and if so, consider from where he derived his information and attitude.<span style=""> </span>Are we so weak-minded that we need restrict our syllabi to the comfortable, familiar and unchallenging?<span style=""> </span>I certainly hope not.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2008/03/06/if-you-prick-us-do-we-not-bleed/">This article first appeared on Cross-Currents</a><br /><o:p></o:p></p>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-18755794470319712902008-03-06T18:35:00.007+00:002008-03-09T18:50:40.285+00:00Must Your Online Shop Shut On Shabbat?<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;">Widespread internet use has transformed the way many businesses operate. It is possible to use the internet to sell clothes, household appliances, books, or almost anything.<span style=""> </span>And as websites are ‘open’ around the clock, this raises new issues for Jewish law: since commerce is forbidden on Shabbat, must one close down one’s internet site on Friday afternoon to prevent purchases being made?<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p>Another related ‘hot’ topic is the issue of on-line auctions. May one bid for an item if the auction will end on Shabbat? What if the system bids automatically on Shabbat (when you are outbid in an on-line auction, such as eBay, but have indicated that you will pay more than the current highest bid by putting in a maximum bid before Shabbat)? The core issue is whether a transaction that takes place with no human involvement on Shabbat, even without one’s knowledge, remains prohibited by the laws of Shabbat.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p>By way of introduction, many authorities assert that the entire corpus of laws regulating commerce on Shabbat is of rabbinical, rather than Biblical origin. While this means they must be taken very seriously (and observed without compromise), in a case of uncertainty, the final ruling may allow for some flexibility. <o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p>Some 200 years ago, Rabbi Akiva Eiger considered the permissibility of selling an object when the money is handed over on Friday but remains the property of the vendor until Shabbat. Even though the acquisition happens automatically on Shabbat, he adopts the stringent position and prohibits this.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p>This point is qualified by Rabbi Zvi Pesah Frank, who asserts that when the entire process occurs on Shabbat, both the vendor and the purchaser transgress, but when the purchase is started before Shabbat and concludes on Shabbat, only the purchaser transgresses. While the owner of a website might not actually sin by ‘trading’ on Shabbat, he or she may be enticing a potential (Jewish) purchaser to sin!<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p>According to this view, it would be difficult to allow a website to remain open on Shabbat, since any purchase made would result in transfer of title to the goods on Shabbat.<span style=""> </span>However, if the vendor’s website can be designed not to actually process the charge on Shabbat, but instead wait to receive payment until the goods are available and ready for shipping, there may be no halachic problem.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p>Based on this ruling, Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, senior halakhic authority of the American Orthodox Union, is quoted as prohibiting ‘proxy’ bidding for an item when the internet auction ends on Shabbat.<span style=""> </span>However, his ruling seems to ignore the fact that when the sale ends, all that actually happens is that one becomes legally committed to buying the item; until one pays for it after Shabbat, there is no actual transfer of title.<span style=""> </span>This should remain permitted even according to Rabbi Eiger, since no acquisition actually happens on Shabbat.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p>Offering a fresh approach, Dayan Yitzhak Weiss considered the permissibility of a Jew trading on Shabbat using a vending machine.<span style=""> </span>As the device is left in a public place and is freely accessible to passersby, it provides an excellent precedent for its ether-equivalent, the e-commerce website.<span style=""> </span>After an extensive discussion of the issues, Dayan Weiss permits the use of vending machines when the following conditions are met:<o:p></o:p></p> <ol style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia; text-align: justify;"><li><o:p></o:p>The owner of the machine must declare that the proceeds of the sales won’t be acquired until after Shabbat (to avoid the above-mentioned concern of Rabbi Eiger).<o:p></o:p></li><li><o:p></o:p>The owner must have in mind that any items purchased on Shabbat are notionally considered to have been acquired by the purchaser before Shabbat commences.<span style=""> </span>In certain circumstances, Jewish law allows the status or ownership of items to be determined in this way, even though the actual selection takes place on Shabbat.<o:p></o:p></li><li><o:p></o:p>The vending machine is in a public place, which avoids the appearance that the product has been bought from a Jewish business on Shabbat.<o:p></o:p></li></ol> <p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p>It seems reasonable to apply these conditions to e-commerce websites. The website may be considered to be a ‘public place’, and, as discussed above, the site can be designed to avoid the issue of actual acquisition on Shabbat.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" face="georgia" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: georgia;"><o:p></o:p>While beyond the scope of this study, modern sources also consider the issue of enticing another Jew to sin and the concern that trading in a technically permissible manner degrades the sanctity of Shabbat.<span style=""> </span>However, while there is indeed room for concern that internet trading interferes with the sanctity of Shabbat, even when no humans are involved, many modern halachists have adopted a lenient stance.<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><o:p><br /></o:p>Sources<o:p></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><o:p></o:p><span style="font-size:85%;">The rabbis forbade many things on Shabbat, some because they resemble Biblically prohibited acts and others because they may lead to committing a Biblically prohibited act. (Rambam, Laws of Shabbat 21:1)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p>Re: the sale of an item on Friday for money on the condition that it becomes your property the next day, such that the acquisition is concluded on Shabbat. Is it permissible, as no prohibited act takes place on Shabbat since the acquisition happens automatically, or forbidden, as the acquisition is concluded on Shabbat? It is forbidden. (Responsa of Rabbi Akiva Eiger 1:159)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p></o:p>The purchaser transgresses by acquiring title to an item on Shabbat, even if the contract was made on Friday… (Responsa Har Zvi, Oreh Hayyim 1:126)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><span style="font-size:85%;"><o:p>I</o:p>n conclusion, when one fulfils all the conditions: the machine is not in a Jewish place and located such that no-one can identify the owner and all the preparations are made before Shabbat… there is room to permit its use. (Responsa Minhat Yitzhak 3:34)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;"><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">A version of this article first appeared in the Jewish Chronicle. It is republished here with permission.</span><br /><i><o:p></o:p></i></p>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29900295.post-55058226411811802792008-01-24T18:31:00.004+00:002008-03-09T18:45:43.646+00:00So... Can You Write God’s Name On A Computer?<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style="">Does Jewish law allow one to erase God’s name from a computer disk or monitor?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style=""><o:p></o:p>When I first encountered this question, I assumed that it was a joke. What if the response were negative? <span style=""> </span>Would one have to bury old computer disks?<span style=""> </span>What if God’s name appears on a computer monitor?<span style=""> </span>Would one then have to avoid deleting it and instead of switching off, hope for a power cut?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style=""><o:p></o:p>In a passage dealing with the requirement to eradicate idolatry from <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the Torah urges us to ‘eliminate their name from that place’. (Devarim 12:3).<span style=""> </span>This is followed by the warning, ‘do not do so to the Lord your God’. (ibid. 4)<span style=""> </span>The Talmud and the legal codes understand this to constitute the Biblical prohibition of erasing any of God’s names (Sifri Devarim 61).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style=""><o:p></o:p>This has many applications: most notably the prohibition of destroying a text in which God’s name appears.<span style=""> </span>In religious circles, people avoid writing God’s name in full (at least in its original Hebrew form) so that they can later dispose of the text.<span style=""> </span>And every Jewish community has a ‘genizah’, where items containing God’s name, such as worn-out Mezuzot and Siddurim are stored until they can be buried.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style=""><o:p></o:p>But would Jewish law allow one to erase God’s name when it appears in a readable or audible form, although not actually written or printed?<span style=""> </span>May one, for example, dispose of a tape recording of God’s name, or record something over it?<span style=""> </span>What is the status of text stored digitally: for example, a word-processing document saved on a computer’s hard drive?<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style=""><o:p></o:p>This question was first addressed in reference to the forerunner of the gramophone – the phonograph, a device in which a needle detected grooves on a revolving foil or paper sheet, amplifying them into sound.<span style=""> </span>In a landmark responsum, Rabbi Z.P. Frank ruled that the markings on the paper are not actually letters (as they can’t be read or even seen) and so the prohibition of erasing God’s name does not apply to smoothing out the paper.<span style=""> </span>He notes that the great Rabbi Shmuel Salant only prohibited this because he didn’t understand how the phonograph worked!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span dir="ltr" style="font-size:10;"><o:p></o:p></span><span lang="EN-US">Rabbi Moshe Feinstein takes a slightly more circumspect approach to tape recordings: in a responsum dated 1963, he acknowledges that there are no real letters and hence no clear prohibition of erasing the tape, yet he feels that it is improper to erase the tape directly.<span style=""> </span>He recommends an indirect approach (presumably recording something over the name of God, rather than merely wiping the tape blank).</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>While there are more stringent views, it seems that these rulings can also be applied to magnetic storage devices such as computer hard drives, which may be erased irrespective of their content.<span style=""> </span>However, how would halachah address God’s name displayed on a computer monitor, when one can actually read the letters?</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>In the case of a CRT monitor, electrons are fired at the inside of the screen, forming light patterns that can be seen from the front.<span style=""> </span>They are constantly refreshed, but at a rate that the human eye cannot detect: in reality, therefore, each letter is formed from a series of pixels (dots) each of which only appears on the screen for a moment before being replaced by another.<span style=""> </span>Rabbi S.Z. Auerbach is quoted as ruling that since no complete letter ever actually exists, this does not constitute ‘writing’; it follows that deleting God’s name from this type of screen cannot be prohibited.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p>More modern TFT LCD monitors operate in a different way: the pixels forming the letters are all lit at once.<span style=""> </span>The RJJS Journal quotes a Rabbi Hecht who was once asked about installed light bulbs that spelled out the name of God, would it be permissible to unplug them?<span style=""> </span>He responded positively: since the lights are constantly ‘rewriting’ God’s name, cutting off the electric supply does not delete the name, but prevents it from being written.<span style=""> </span>This reasoning, together with other principles, will suffice to allow us to delete God’s name from a computer screen, since anyway, the erasure is performed indirectly.<span style=""> </span>What a relief!</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style=""><br />Sources<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span><span style=";font-size:85%;" >Someone with a Divine name written on his skin may not wash nor stand in an unclean place.<span style=""> </span>Should he be obliged to immerse in a mikveh, he should do so normally, as only direct erasing is prohibited. (Shabbat 120b)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style=";font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p>But for a non-obligatory purpose, even erasing the name indirectly is prohibited, for there is no greater shame than causing God’s name to be erased. (Noda BeYehudah 2:OC:17)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style=";font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p>One who erases one of the God’s holy names transgresses a Biblical prohibition.<span style=""> </span>(Rambam, Yesoday HaTorah 6:1)</span><span dir="rtl" style=";font-size:85%;" lang="HE" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style=";font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p>With respect to a phonograph: if one smoothes out the wrinkles on the paper so that the impression is lost and one can no longer hear the sounds… there is no issue of erasing God’s name… for in reality, there are no actual letters.<span style=""> </span>Even though Rabbi Shmuel Salant wanted to be stringent, it seems that he wasn’t properly aware of how the device works.<span style=""> </span>(Har Zvi, OC 1:280)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style=";font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p>With respect to tape recordings, there is no prohibition of erasing God’s name as there are no real letters.<span style=""> </span>Nonetheless, it is improper and one should try to do it indirectly.<span style=""> </span>(Iggrot Moshe YD 2:142)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;"><span style=";font-size:85%;" ><o:p></o:p>Shooting electrons is not considered by the Torah as writing, but storing those letters on the diskette may be considered to transgress the Shabbat prohibition of ‘building’... (Nishmat Avraham, quoting Rabbi S.Z. Auerbach)</span><i><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:georgia;" >A version of this article first appeared in the Jewish Chronicle. It is republished here with permission.</span>Rabbi Harvey Belovskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03923233054253028316noreply@blogger.com0