Monday, July 31, 2006

More Interesanter Shticklach from R' Chaim Kanievski II

RCK says the famous legend about the fellow who had a hard time finding his daughter a shidduch, came to the Steipler, who asked him if he made a kiddush when the daughter was born, etc. is "sheker." And that he himself did not make kiddushim for most of his daughters.

My Belzer chevrusa (we learn "Sidduro shel Shabbos" together) told me, however, that they say over the same ma'aseh concerning the previous Belzer Rebbe. More tzugepast.

Friday, July 28, 2006

More Interesanter Shticklach from R' Chaim Kanievski

1. The Chazon Ish held that b'zman ha'zeh a husband need not light and extinguish the Shabbos candles for his wife - since our candles burn fine without preparation.

2. Some Mekuballim will not use a pen as a placeholder in a sefer because of "Lo sonif aleihem barzel."

3. RCK said that it may be proper to put labels on products that say "Birchaso She'Ha'Kol" and the like in Genizah (I guess that means disposal b'derech kavod, but he is very machmir in this area), since this is a halachah.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Inyana d'Yoma: Without Comment

I haven't seen this Mishnah cited concerning Inyana d'Yoma - the Artscroll translation, plus some of the two notes, are below. One additional note: The Rishon l'Tziyon on the mishnah notes that in Yehoshua 13:6 23 find Eretz HaGavli, and he takes that as the Gavlan. The Da'as Mikrah identifies that as Jbail - modern day Byblos in Lebanon - but perhaps Bint Jbail...?

In the period which will precede the coming of Moshiach... and the Galilee will be destroyed and the Gavlan* desolated, and the people who dwell on the borders will wander about from town to town,** but they will not be succored.

* The name of a place (Rashi to Sanhedrin ibid.). Psalms 83:8 mentions Geval among the lands that border Eretz Yisrael to the south...

** The borders will be attacked intermittently at various points, so that the inhabitants of border towns will be driven from town to town. Maharsha to Sanhedrin ibid. suggests an alternative translation: the people of the provinces. The term is often applied to Eretz Yisrael outside of Jerusalem. [Thus, the northern and southern environs of Eretz Yisrael will be utterly barren, while the inhabitants remaining in the inland area will wander as exiles in their own Land.]

The Power of a Beis Din to Create a Halachic Metzius

The shul in which I daven in the morning has a copy of the "banned" sefer of R' Chaim Kanievski's often one word answers to the many questions some fellow directed at him - it's called "Doleh u'Mashkeh." One of the very interesting responses was to the question of the status of a person condemned by a Beis Din to death who himself knows that he did not commit the crime in question. Is this person allowed to turn around and kill the Shaliach Beis Din who comes to execute him? R' Chaim responded that in Sanhedrin 82a we only see that in the case of Zimri (Bo'el Aramis) would he have been justified in killing Pinchas - the inference being that all other Chayavei Misos Beis Din are not allowed to kill their executioners. In response to a follow-up question, R' Chaim acknowledged two sevaros at work here: "Chiyuv mechudash," and "Rodef b'ones" (the author questioned the second sevara on the basis of the case of a fetus that is being rodef the mother, ach yesh l'yashev). The first pshat is very much in line with my contention in the question of the permissibility of killing lice on Shabbos: Chazal are kovei'a the Halachic Metzius.

Monday, July 24, 2006

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Tuesday, July 18, 2006

"Gedolah Melachah"

Dvar Hashem me'Yeurshalmi
Ma'asros 11b

From the Kav v'Naki Biurim ad loc.

May the zechus of learning Yerushalmi protect the residents of the north, the area in which it was written and redacted.

Here, R' Shimon bar Yochai says: "Work is great – for the generation of the flood was only eradicated because they were not productive and turned to theft, yet a worker working in the field is exempt from the prohibition of theft." In the Bavli, Nedarim 49b and in Mechilta d'Rashby, Yisro 20:9, in different contexts, RSBY also says: Gedolah melachah.

The Maharatz Chajes to Nedarim loc. cit. asks: Is this not a contradiction to RSBY's opinion in Berachos 35b that work is only the lot of the Jewish people when they are not fully fulfilling Hashem's will, but that when they are in full fulfillment of Hashem's will their work is performed by others?

The Sdei Chemed (Ma'areches HaVav #15 d.h. V'Li HaDal) asks a related question: Is RSBY's statement in Berachos not a contradiction to his statement in Menachos 35b that one fulfills Lo Yamush Sefer HaTorah HaZeh MePicha by reading Keri'as Shema twice daily?

He answers that the statement in Berachos was made by RSBY upon emerging from the cave the first time, before the bas kol said to him "L'Hachriv Olami Yotzasem? Chizru L'Me'araschem!" The statement in Menachos, on the other hand, was made after he emerged from the cave the second time. The Kav v'Naki proposes that this is the resolution of the contradiction between our Yerushalmi and the Bavli in Berachos as well.

Sunday, July 09, 2006