From: MASH@WEIZMANN.WEIZMANN.AC.IL (Michael Shimshoni)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish
Subject: Respect for others, A Torah Perspective
Date: 12 Aug 92 13:13:31 GMT
Organization: Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

In: <1992Aug09.214130.308252@locus.com>
hayim@locus.com (Hayim Hendeles) tells a story with a lesson to it:

The  story as  such shows  much compassion  of an  important Jerusalem
Rabbi.  I have just a few comments on the way the story is told, and I
assume that the wording is Hayim's:

>I thought I would share the following story with my net friends ...
>
>This story goes back about 75 years ago, to the early religious
>settlements in Jerusalem. The leading Rabbi at the time was
>Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld.
>
>A certain person, whom we might refer to him today as an ultra-fanatic
>Jew (no labels please) happened to be discussing a well known
>irreligious Jewish figure who was extremely anti-Torah and anti_Jewish.
                                                            ^^^^^^^^^^^

Here I wish to protest against the use of the term "anti-Jewish" for a
person  (and  I  do  not  know  who  was  meant)  who  supposedly  was
irreligious, and  perhaps even anti  religious (although this  was not
said).  Why  would this description not  be enough, why call  him anti
Jewish.  I  know that  Hayim has  not invented this  usage, but  it is
indicative of a great hatred of those O who use it towards Jews who do
not share the Orthodox theology.

>This fanatic added the phrase "Yimach Shmo" - (lit. may his name be
>erased, a well known curse) after the name of this figure.

The  fanatic of  that story  is not  alone.  I  was told  that certain
fanatics in  Jerusalem refer to  the Herzl Boulevard there  as "Yimach
Shmoinick Gass" (the street of the one who Yimach Shmo).

>To which Rabbi Sonnefeld responded sharply and critically: "Don't
>say such a thing."
>
>Why not - after all this figure did all these evil and attrocious acts?
>
>So Rabbi Sonnefeld said: Look, if this guy would have died without
>children, and he would have had a brother, would there be a Mitzvoh
>of Yivum? (where the brother marries the childless widow of his dead
>brother, in order to preserve the memory of the deceased)
>The answer is, of course, most certainly yes - there would be a Mitzvoh
>of Yivum. Therefore, concluded the Rabbi, here the Torah states
>specifically "lo yimache shmo byisroel" (may is name NOT BE erased
>from the Jewish people), and here you are going around stating the
>exact opposite that his name SHOULD be erased?
>
>Hayim Hendeles
>
>P.S. BTW, we no longer perform Yivum nowadays due to a Talmudic injunction.
>Instead, we opt for Chalitza, which is a procedure the Torah gives
>when the couple choose not to marry.

Two comments here.  Rabbi Sonnenfeld  asked this question on Yibum and
said that it  would have been done  so the memory even  of that sinner
should be preserved.  R.  Sonnenfeld did not address the fact that, as
Hayim correctly  said, that  these days one  never performs  yibum, so
this leaves the  question open how come  one now lets the  name of the
dead brother be  erased? This is not  a question for Hayim,  as he did
state the  correct facts as they  stand in Orthodox usages  now.  I do
not agree with Hayim's saying: "when  the couple choose not to marry".
The Chalitza was for the case  when the *brother* refused to marry the
widow, the *widow* had no option (see Dvarim 25, 7-10).

Michael Shimshoni

P.S.   In  order   to  avoid  confusion,  I  usually   do  not  change
transliterations  of those  on whose  articles  I comment,  even if  I
normally would have used a different transliteration.  Some may wonder
why I  use yiBum instead of  Hayim's yiVum.  The reason  is that there
*is* a "dagesh'  in the letter beit  of the word, and so  it is yiBum.
Hayim may have been mislead to his  form of writing by the tractate in
the Talmud YeVamot  which deals with this topic.  There,  no dagesh is
in the letter beit (veit) and thus it is yeVamot.  I will not bore you
any further with  the reasons for this difference caused  by the rules
of Hebrew grammar.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.jewish