HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com (David W. Tamkin)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: On Qadish
Date: 7 Sep 92 16:28:22 GMT
Organization: Contributor Account at ddsw1, Chicago, Illinois  60657
X-Disclaimer:  Material posted in this article is the sole responsibility of
                the poster and does not represent MCSNet or the system owners.

stephenp@cix.compulink.co.uk wrote in <memo.607842@cix.compulink.co.uk>:

| I've just returned from a visit to Schenectady N.Y. and the Rabbi of
| the Orthodox Shul (Congegation Beth Israel) told me that he was asked
| by his members to say Kaddish if no-one else was saying it. He balked
| at this as, Boruch Hashem, both his parents are still alive, and one
| should not say Kaddish in such circumstances without one's parents'
| express permission.

Then someone other than the rabbi, someone at the minyan who has lost at
least one parent, could say qaddish.  How often does their minyan have only
people with two living parents?

David W. Tamkin   Box 59297   Northtown Station, Illinois  60659-0297
dattier@ddsw1.mcs.com    CompuServe: 73720,1570    MCI Mail: 426-1818
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
From: gertler@ptms_dev.sbi.com (User - Don Gertler)
Subject: Re: Ba'al Tashchis & Electricity on Shabbos?
Originator: scj@israel.nysernet.org
Reply-To: <gertler@ptms_dev.sbi.com (User - Don Gertler)>
Organization: Nysernet
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 14:36:42 GMT

antony@netcom.com (Antony Landsman) writes:
> Someone recently pointed out to me that the use of a blech, and
> keeping a stove running on Shabbos ought to be considered Ba'al Tashchis 
> 
> Does anyone have any thoughts on reconciling this, or should one consider
> only eating cold foods on Shabbos?

It's interesting, but there are plenty of places where observance of
Shabbat will require "wasting" some resource.  As a striking example,
look at what happens when a building is on fire, and where there is
no potential danger to life.  The building should be left to burn.

I suppose that, were it not for Shabbat, leaving the stove running
could be Ba`al Tashchit.  But Shabbat is docha (supersedes) Ba`al
Tashchit.

One should consider having cold foods on Shabbat, because this will
cause one to look into the relevant halakhot.  But after considering,
one should reject this approach.  The reason for eating (at least one)
hot food (item) derives from a rift between those accepting the Oral
Law and those rejecting it.  To emphasize the relevance of the Oral
Law, we should (davka) partake of something hot.

If one doesn't like cholent but is not yet comfortable with his/her
familiarity with the relevant laws of cooking on Shabbat, he/she
could take at least a cup of coffee.

-Don Gertler
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
From: mer@zurich.ibm.com
Subject: Re: German and spanish speaking SCJ users!
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 07:54:15 GMT
News-Software: IBM OS/2 PM RN (NR/2) v0.11 by O. Vishnepolsky and R. Rogers
Reply-To: mer@zurlvm1.vnet.ibm.com
Organization: IBM T. J. Watson Research

In  <1992Sep8.201229.1779@cbnewsk.cb.att.com>  avigross@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (avi.e.gross) writes:
> Lyle Lexier expressed interest in the concept that there are Jews that
> speak German. I am curious what makes him suspect that no Jews would
> have such an ability or interest.

The language in use in Northern Switzerland is German. There are about 15,000
Jews living here.
--
Moshe Rappoport  (MER@ZURLVM1.BITNET)
Xref: sparky soc.culture.jewish:15589 soc.culture.polish:2475
From: chrisn@bohra.cpg.oz.au (Chris Novak)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish,soc.culture.polish
Subject: Re: Violent antisemitism?
Date: 9 Sep 92 03:08:16 GMT
Organization: Computer Power Software

aleks@cray.com (Aleksander Mazur) writes:


>>(30000 that year). Surprisingly, a few hundred people came back to Poland
>>from "Palestine"; their religion was not recorded, but is easy to guess.
>>
>>W. Dobosiewicz
>>

>I think that W. Dobosiewicz does not have precise data. Recently he did
>not notice immigration of Jews from Germany just before WWII. The same
>seems to be in place regarding number of Jewish students in prewar
>Poland, even percentage of Jewish population in 30's. How could that
                                                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>happen to somebody who owns Polish prewar Yearbook ? Very interesting
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>indeed.
^^^^^^^^

Mr W. Dobosiewicz, will you stop annoying Mr A. Mazur with precise data!
You are already seriously suspected of being part of the worldwide Jewish
conspiracy.

>A. Mazur

K. Novak
-- 
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
> Chris Novak                        | ACSnet:  chrisn@bohra.cpg.oz[.au]       <
> CP Software, 19 Cato Street,       | UUCP:  ..uunet!munnari!bohra.cpg!chrisn <
> Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, 3123| Phone: +61-3-8230222 Fax: +61-3-8220089 <
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish,soc.culture.polish
From: matthew@.cs.mu.oz (Maciek Blasikiewicz)
Subject: Re: Violent antisemitism?
Organization: Computer Science, University of Melbourne, Australia
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 04:59:03 GMT

jis@panix.com (Jack Szwergold) writes:

>Excuse me but you are wrong.  Stay comfortable in your academia please. 
>The people in Poland, for the most part, are anti-semetic.   The fact that
>the goverment is trying to stop certain anti-semetic leaders or potential
>leaders DOES NOT mean that it doesn't exist.  The jews that are still left
>there are old and shellshocked relics of an era that USED to be.  Most
>temples have bcome nothing more than old age homes and insane asylums at
>this point.....

>As for me not knowing anything about the Nazi era....
>EXCUSE me....
>I KNOW about what happened before the war..... and the ways the Nazi's
>wormed their way into people's fears and desires......
>I KNOW about how he jews were used as scape goats during WWI and prior...

>YOU on the other hand cannot see behind academia......
>Where were these bookstore you talk of?  Huh?
>Justify yourself......

>AND EXPLAIN TO ME WHY WHATEVER JEWS ARE LEFT THERE ARE LEAVING THE
>COUNTRY.....

>Or rather, write a book about it since that is the ONLY way you can
>justify things in the real world.

>Until then you are part of the problem. An americanized academic who can't
>see the forest from the trees.....

>jack
>jis@panix.com
>PS: Posting a lot doesn't make one an expert.  Take a hint. And as I said
>before I am not an academic, but if I need prove this I can.....

No need to foam at the mouth Jack, really. I am puzzled by your last
sentence. Is it grammatically correct? If you can "prove this", than I
would very much like to see you do it, whatever "this" is.

MB
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
From: ask@cbnews.cb.att.com (Arthur S. Kamlet)
Subject: Re: Synagogue Financing
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories,  Columbus, Ohio
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1992 02:58:33 GMT

In article <1992Sep15.214611.15921@sarah.albany.edu> mark@fenris.albany.edu (Mark Steinberger) writes:
>In article <FAIGIN.92Sep14093417@soldan.aero.org> faigin@aero.org (Daniel P. Faigin) writes:
>>I can think of a few. First of all, the Orthodox synagogues do not have to pay
>>the UAHC membership fees, which (from what I understand) can be quite high.
>
>And what is the justification for these fees? Surely not so that the
>UAHC can deliberate over halachic issues.
>
>Why do congregations maintain membership in such an organization if
>the fees are so steep?

I suspect one not insignificant reason is recruiting of rabbis.

The facts are that there are fewer rabbis around who could serve as
congregational rabbi of a reform synagogue than there are
synagogues.

If  a synagogue is looking for a rabbi, the good ones are probably
all taken or looking for jobs at the well known temples and large
cities.  If the temple is in NYC or LA or CHicago or even
Cincinnatti, it is easy to get rabbis there.

But there's a whole bunch of temples in Baton Rouge and Anchorage
and Boise, and nothing against these places, but how are they going
to get a good rabbi to interview:

Answer:  The UAHC (or USCJ for conservative synagogues) and their
rabbinical arms have an agreement to push - to very strongly
encourage -- good rabbis to look at smaller cities.

Now I happen to think Columbus is a fine city -- capital of Ohio,
home of Ohio State, and a fair sized Jewish population.  But about
10 years ago when we were looking for a rabbi, United Synagogue
was persuaded to send some good rabbis to interview with us, and it
turned out great.   I wouldn't underestimate  recruiting as one
reason.
-- 
Art Kamlet  a_s_kamlet@att.com  AT&T Bell Laboratories, Columbus
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
From: GRIMES_S@Eisner.DECUS.Org
Subject: Letter to rabbis on Somalia
Originator: scj@israel.nysernet.org
Reply-To: <GRIMES_S@Eisner.DECUS.Org>
Organization: Nysernet
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 22:22:53 GMT

My wife, Franca Brilliant, and I sent the following letter along
with a flier from Interaction listing private, voluntary
organizations (PVOs) collecting aid for Somalia, to rabbis in the
Washington, DC area.  We targeted rabbis because we saw them as a
way of leveraging our work and reaching a larger audience that is
likely to respond if we can get them to make a personal appeal to
their congregations.

I'd be happy to send a copy of the Interaction flier to anyone who
wants one.  Please feel free to modify and use this letter as you
see fit.

Seth Grimes, jcipp@mcimail.com

----------------

September 9, 1992

Dear Rabbi,

     During this time of reflection and renewal in the Jewish
calendar, we ask you to consider how you and your congregation can
help the victims of the world's worst humanitarian crisis: the
hundreds of thousands of Somalis who face death from starvation and
disease over the next several months.  

     We have all seen pictures of skeletal Somali children dying in
their mothers' arms.  Relief workers estimate that over 1.5 million
people are at serious risk if Somalia doesn't get a massive
infusion of relief food and medical assistance.   Last week, the
Red Cross stated that it was burying over 175 people each day in
one town alone.  Unfortunately, fighting has made it difficult to
get supplies to people who need them, and governmental efforts have
been slow and inadequate.  According to the New York Times [Sept.
7], even "with a stepped-up United Nations effort, an American
airlift and planes from several European countries joining the
International Committee of the Red Cross ... the gap between what
is required and what is being offered remains large."

     As Jews, we have a special obligation to help feed the hungry
and heal the sick.  One of the most effective means of answering
this moral imperative is to assist the handful of private
organizations that have succeeded in distributing food and
providing medical assistance, despite the odds, where governments
have failed.  There are several ways to provide this assistance:

     -     Talk about the Somali crisis in a sermon and make the
           enclosed leaflet available to your congregation with a
           personal appeal to congregants to pledge financial
           support for relief programs.

     -     Work with your colleagues and congregation members to
           organize educational programs.  You can contact
           Interaction to request a speaker.
     -     Ask congregants to call or write President Bush to
           express support for continued high-level U.S. involvement
           in relief efforts.

     We urge you to take these steps to help the people of Somalia. 
Please get in touch with us if you have any questions or
suggestions. 

     Sincerely yours,
From: goldberg@techunix.technion.ac.il (Jacques Goldberg)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: Shwarma vs Gyros (Was: Mac David)
Date: 6 Sep 92 10:15:50 GMT
Organization: Technion, Israel Institute of Technology

shdan@tudorct.com (Dan Shimoff) writes:

>In article <185lgaINN449@darkstar.UCSC.EDU> sutin@helios.ucsc.edu (Brian Sutin) writes:
>>In article <92246.222444EXG106@psuvm.psu.edu> <EXG106@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:
>>Is there any difference between shwarma and gyros (the Greek version)?
>>

>In NY, Gyros are served with a sour cream based sauce on top (as seen
>in the pictures on many eateries in the downtown area).  Those who
>have eaten it tell of it tasting much better than a shwarma.

>Note:  Kosher shwarma or gyros are not available in the donwtown area,
>so this taste test is only WRT strictly non-kosher food.

>Disclaimer:  I did not eat or test this food, just spoke to office-mates
>about this.
   Question: can you trust them?
   Why the question? 'cause we all know the Gemara answer in the opposite
   situation of stuff being claimed tasteless ...

>Dan Shimoff
   Yaaqov Goldberg
From: jgoldber@todah.chem.utoronto.ca (Joel Goldberg)
Subject: Re: The Rebbe Rings Twice
Organization: University of Toronto Chemistry Department
Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1992 14:53:21 GMT

In article <2512@israel.nysernet.org> warren@nysernet.org writes:
>I have no objection whatsoever to the weekly appearance of L'Chaim on
>scj.  However, do we need two copies?
  It's a chumra, in case one of the readers is Israel's king.
From: baker@ROBOCOP.NYU.EDU (Jonathan Baker)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: On Orthodox Monopoly
Date: 14 Sep 92 22:08:10 GMT
Organization: Courant Institute, New York University

Rob Levene writes:

>  But the practical effect would be that outside Orthodox, few
>would understand why she wouldn't be able to do tasks limited to men,
>despite having the same title.

So how is that different from today, where the Orthodox don't understand
how Conservative can have women rabbis, except by claiming that 
the Conservatives reject tradition and Halacha (which is not true, according
to themselves)?

     ---+  ||  --+  --+
        |        '    '             Jonathan J. Baker
     ---+-                          baker@robocop.nyu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
From: sg04@ploni.gte.com (Yechezkal Shimon Gutfreund)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: Synagogue Financing
Date: 14 Sep 92 17:29:01 GMT
Reply-To: sgutfreund@gte.com
Organization: GTE Laboratories, Waltham MA

In article <2015@ceylon.gte.com>, sg04@ploni.gte.com (Yechezkal Shimon Gutfreund) writes:
|> I am part of a basement shtibl in Brighton/Boston where dues
|> have been $150 for several years. While we also get money
|> from donations and selling hakofot, I would not say it is
|> a tremendous ammount. Basically, there is just not that
|> much in costs if one does not need to hire a Rabbi and
|> are not into building glorious edifices.

Just a small follow-on:

Our major concern is not with the fee, but with getting
a higher percentage of compliance. I would say the majority
of people who use the shul are not paying dues - and this
seems to be an artifact of the open nature of this
shtibl/shul. Probably due to the perception that since
it is Chabad it is a free service. 

Also, men's mikva fees are seperate. $175 for daily mikva
use and $100 for shabbos & Yom Tov and $5 for single use.
[It happens to be a very nice recently renovated mikva].

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Yechezkal Shimon Gutfreund		 		  sgutfreund@gte.com
GTE Laboratories, Waltham MA			    harvard!bunny!sgutfreund
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
From: aryk@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca (A.J.S. Nusbacher)
Subject: Re: Theme bar/batmitzvahs
Organization: University of Toronto -- Hart House
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 20:07:08 GMT

In article <1992Sep14.173436.9364@umbc3.umbc.edu> shimoff@umbc4.umbc.edu (Eliot Shimoff) writes:

>Curiously, the Orthodox community has developed its own special expression
>of ostentation.
>
>When I was a kid, reading the entire Torah portion was rare; I did maftir
>(enough to learn trop, but no more) and the haftarah (a useful skill often
>used later in life), and served as sh'liach tzibur (chazzan) for musaph.
>
>Today, kids spend a year or more preparing the entire Torah reading,
>even though most will never use the skill again.  IMHO, it's an
>ostentatious waste of everyone's time.

I take the greatest exception to this.  Having the bar mizvah read only the
haftarah and the maftir is barely sufficient training to enable him to go on
and function as a competent ba'al koreh in the community.  Learning to read
an entire sedrah, on the other hand, provides a good grounding in reading,
and provides an opportunity to learn a great deal more about the art and
science of reading the Torah.  Having read an entire sedrah, the bar mitzvah
can look upon the job of the ba'al koreh as a chore which requires a good
deal of hard work, but which provides a great deal of satisfaction and service
to the community, instead of as a job that is only taken by one or two
people who have somehow gained the mysterious skill of preparing seven aliyot
instead of one.

Also, if displaying the skills of the ba'al koreh is "ostentation", then let
them indulge their ostentation!  This is the kind of ostentation the Jewish
community needs more of!

Aryk Nusbacher
<who wishes there were more ba'alei keriah around to share the work>

PS:  If you want ostentation, both I and Sandy Bodzin (who occasionally posts
to this net) read our haftarot from a scroll!  Ha!
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
From: stephenp@cix.compulink.co.uk (Stephen Phillips)
Subject: Re: Patrilineal Descent
Cc: stephenp@cix.compulink.co.uk
Reply-To: stephenp@cix.compulink.co.uk
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 20:39:00 +0000


> +From         : amir@leopard.gatech.edu (amir)
> 
> I don't understand the argument here. It seems that Orthodoxy also
> allows patrilineal descent if it comes with public confirmation of
> faith (before beit din, with tevila and mila as appropriate).
> 
> -- Ami

Not so. When a person converts to Judaism it is as if that person had
been born anew. We say "Ger shenisgayer kekoton shenolad dommi" [a
person who converts is like a new born baby]. Halachicly speaking the
person has no halachic relationship with his natural parents (even if
the father is Jewish), although he is still obliged to honour them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stephen Phillips                Tel: 44-895-442141
Burch Phillips & Co.            Fax: 44-895-421231
63a Station Road
West Drayton
Middlesex
UB7 7LR
United Kingdom                  stephenp@compulink.co.uk

Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
From: Larry Israel <VSLARRY@WEIZMANN.WEIZMANN.AC.IL>
Subject:      Isn't it wonderful
Originator: scj@israel.nysernet.org
Reply-To: <Larry Israel <VSLARRY@WEIZMANN.WEIZMANN.AC.IL>>
Organization: Nysernet
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 05:30:45 GMT

Warren says:

> Of course there are shuls where the situation of no avel never
> develops.  Whenever I drop into (or get pulled into) a shul in Israel
> for mincha on a weekday (I don't get pulled into shuls for shacharit,
> if I'm up at that hour I'm either on the way to shul already or
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> asleep.  Or still up from the night before), about half the
  ^^^^^^^
> congregants tend to be saying Kaddish. I suppose that some of these
> people wouldn't be going to shul if they weren't saying Kaddish and
> the others are saying Kaddish in place of friends, neighbors, or
> family (some other family member ought to say it, but doesn't).

And if he's not up at that hour?
From: dic5340@hertz.njit.edu (David Charlap)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: What is chalitza?
Date: 15 Sep 92 17:16:14 GMT
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.

In article <88784@netnews.upenn.edu> weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener) writes:

>...chalitza....


What is chalitza?
-- 
David Charlap         |"there aren't 50,000 things for which it's worth writing
dic5340@hertz.njit.edu| software; and the computer industry doesn't have enough
----------------------+ programmers to create that much good software.
Therefore, most of it must be worthless" -- Boris Beizer "The Frozen Keyboard"
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
From: esafern@shearson.com (Eric Safern)
Subject: Re: Torah In A Torah Context (was Re: more
Reply-To: esafern@shearson.com
Organization: Lehman Brothers, Inc.
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 16:50:44 GMT

In article CzF@mentor.cc.purdue.edu, hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Herman Rubin) writes:
...<Sorry, stuff deleted>...
>But a history book, or a science book, does not deliberately include as
>facts things which are known to the author to be false.  If we assume
                                                          ^^^^^^^^^^^^
>that the Written Torah is the literal word of God, we should be able
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>to assume that every word is literally correct.  Here we have two
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>extensively described rivers, which we cannot find, and two barely
>described rivers, which "everybody" knows.  Now I have no problem with
>accepting that the extensive description is there because good geography
>books did not exist in those days, but the description should fit SOME
>rivers arising in those mountains of southeastern Turkey.
>-- 
>Herman Rubin, Dept. of Statistics, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette IN47907-1399
>Phone: (317)494-6054
>hrubin@pop.stat.purdue.edu (Internet, bitnet)  
>{purdue,pur-ee}!pop.stat!hrubin(UUCP)

Herman,

	Generally well reasoned arguments.  But this sentence seems to be
a leap.  "Literally the word of God" - this means it *really, really* is the
Word of God - no kidding, no doubt.  "every word is literally correct" - no
falsehoods - God does not Speak un-Truth. This seems to be a reasonable
expectation for an Omnipotent Being.

	However, does it follow that on Omnipotent Being cannot Speak in
Metaphors??

	Certainly some of the Sages felt that some of Bereshit was metaphorical.

	Does a logically consistent picture of an Omnipotent Being preclude
His Speaking in Metaphors?


---
							Eric Safern
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Internet: esafern@sisyphus.govt.shearson.com   ...!uunet!sisyphus!esafern
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
From: gertler@ptms_dev.sbi.com (User - Don Gertler)
Subject: Re: Yom Kippur and Tu b'Av
Originator: scj@israel.nysernet.org
Reply-To: <gertler@ptms_dev.sbi.com (User - Don Gertler)>
Organization: Nysernet
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 18:16:21 GMT

ask@cbnews.cb.att.com (Arthur S. Kamlet) writes:
	But, on the other hand, I thought Yom Kippur is one of the days we
	do not get married, because we would then be mixing happiness with
	happiness, and the happiness of the holiday would detract from the
	happiness of the wedding day.  (I'm not talking of the marriages
	which would or do occur immediately after Yom Kippur.)

Since the wedding day is considered a personal Yom Kippur for the
chatan and kallah (bride and groom), all Jewish weddings are held
immediately after YK.

-Don Gertler
From: dic5340@hertz.njit.edu (David Charlap)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Re: Dvar Torah -- Parshas Ki Tetze -- Rabbi Alter -- Yeshiva Migdal Torah
Date: 9 Sep 92 20:34:07 GMT
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.

In article <KRULWICH.92Sep8112634@zowie.ils.nwu.edu> krulwich@ils.nwu.edu (Bruce) writes:

>This distinction between the righteous desire of chashak and the animal desire
>of chafetz...

Are you sure you have these right?  It certainly makes the book title
"Chafetz Chayim" sound pretty vulgar!  If your translation is proper,
why didn't he (was it R. Yosef Caro?) call the book "Chashak Chayim"?

-- 
   |)  David Charlap           "LECTURER, n.  One with his hand in your pocket,
  /|_  dic5340@hertz.njit.edu   his tongue in your ear, and his faith in your
 ((|,)                          patience."
  ~|~                              --- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary