Ask Judea Torah Show 10

[judeanoncapta]

Due to the overwhelming volume of questions last week, I must limit this week's show to 5 questions per person.

Even though I have been forced to limit questions, I still think that 5 is a good amount of questions. I hope you feel the same way.

Ask away!!!!!!!!

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Sarah's question from askjudea1.

What are some of the prophecies, in the Torah?
Other then that of the Jewish people returning to the Land of Israel.

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from a prev askjudea.

Do you feel that there is any way that the theory of evolution is compatible with Torah views?
yisrael

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I have found that many jews today they know of their roots in poland, russia or austria, but not before that..

In askjudea8 askjtf, you gave a mind blowing summary, along the lines of ashkenazim moved from  israel egypt italy germany france eastern europe

And, you mention examples of yerushalmi customs amongst ashkenazim.. showing origins of ashkenazim in israel. And were you suggesting that Sefaradi customs are more bavli oriented?

Can you give an overview of ashkenazi movements with years of moving to each country?

(so one can sit with a map and follow it according to key centuries )

your knowledge and clarity is mind blowing!

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hi

there is -so- much unwritten detail in the shul service.. besides variation from shul to shul.   It's a thing that people know visually, and from practice, and not from texts.

precisely when the ark is opened and closed can vary, but I would guess, that invariably, on shabbat morning, vayehi bimsoah aharon is spoken with it opened, if the chazzan hasn't made a mistake.

do you think that if it is not in texts, not in the talmud or shulchan aruch, then it has no basis?

clearly for pronunciation we go by living tradition(i.e. reasoning on who has the most accuarate one).
But Halacha we go by texts.
Only a small portion of the shul service is covered in the shulchan aruch. It's such a visual thing, I think people haven't bothered to document it properly. Siddurim don't document it fully, they just give brief pointers.

Do you think this is a problem? And does anybody e.g. does rabbi bar hayyim, just say "this is what the texts say the halacha is.. this is what the texts say the customs of minhag eretz yisroel is. And for everything else, do what you want".
--

[q_q_]

Isn't alot of the gemara, relying on chazal. Trusting Chazzal

Hillel and Shammai have tihs argument, which way to light the chanukiyah.  Really subjective really, but the halacha is then concluded to what it is.   

The rabbis say that verse/pasuk x teaches y. e.g. a verse that says   don't eat from a tree, teaches all the 7 noachide laws.   (it's a hint but they talk about it like it's derived, "from this we learn", why is that?). 
We certainly seem to have to trust chazal alot.

But rabbi bar hayyim, seems to agree with shabbetai ben dov, in pointing the finger at chazzal, and saying they didn't document the second temple era properly, they spun the story of rabbi akiva's students dying of a plague(contrary to the tradition from the Sherira Gaon, that they died fighting).  They didn't want to canonize Maccabees 1 and 2, and the only reason we have them is that monks preserved them.   All for their pacifist tendencies, and (perhaps rightly) so the jews would be passive.

The charedim have a concept of emunat chachamim.. I don't know if it has a basis. But even the modern orthodox tend to have it of chazzal.  Doesn't a lack of emunah in chazzal pull into question their statements in gemara, and put us on a really slippery slope. It's a very liberal attitude.


How can they even be trusted on halacha.
This calls into question the belief in the wisdom of Chazal, crucial for studying their words.

It's one thing saying they can make mistakes in science, but  on fighting and israel, this is in fundemantal ways that a jew should act.

Did any of chazal want to publish Maccabees? Even rabbi akiva(a fighter rabbi!) didn't.

And if we are to be liberal with the 3 oaths aggada,  because it's aggadic, then by that reasoning, we could be liberal with all agadah. Not taking it too seriously.

And if you want to say for an aggada, that it was only intended for then, then why was it written/included in the gemara.

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Dear Judea,

My friend at yeshiva said that after the "revelation of the zohar," there is no longer any need to study philosophy or any non-Jewish discipline.   He said this in the name of "great rabbis"   - whoever they may be.   Is this true?   Why would zohar eliminate the need to study other disciplines?   

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Judea,

You mentioned that not all rabbis accepted the zohar as authoritative (including for instance Rabbi Yacov Emden), but isn't it true and there is no way around this, that today the top rabbis all accept zohar in one fashion or another as having validity?   Both in the explanations of details of mitzvot and also deeper understandings of the world around us.....  It seems that every well-known Torah authority references, quotes, or relates in some way to the Zohar.   But is there a way to distinguish the valid material from some of the 'quasi christian' miraculous temple-falling-from-the-sky redemption or must one simply deny the work in its entirety in order to take a more Talmudic approach as opposed to kabbalistic?

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Are you familiar at all with the book "the Unheeded cry" by Rabbi Michael Dov Weissmandl?   If you have read this, do you have any comment on it?

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

1.  I recently heard from a haredi rabbi that the Warsaw ghetto uprising was a mistake because it was wrong to do in that circumstance.  He also made a point of saying he doesn't judge the people that did, but clearly his point was that it was a mistake and that it's wrong to celebrate it as heroic or good.   His reasoning was that in hindsight, when the allies liberated the ghetto, that of all places it had the highest percentage of people that didn't survive, compared to the other camps, etc.   I think he also said that the rabbis opposed fighting because of more global considerations (ie, the Germans will react harshly and kill more Jews).    I disagree entirely with the logic of the second half (they didn't need any provoking and they were murdering as many of us as possible regardless).  But I'm wondering about the first part.   I haven't researched the Warsaw ghetto so I'm wondering your take and is that point relevant that a large percent didn't survive because of the revolt?   Did the uprising have any positive effect?  Or aside from tangible affects, was it good at all by its nature?

2.  The rabbi also asserted to us that the rabbis opposed all the revolts against the Romans (ie masada).   I brought up Rabbi Akiva, but then he said before that, all the hundreds of years before the destruction of the temple, the rabbis opposed fighting against the Romans in a revolt that, according to this rabbi, they deemed impossible to win.   In other words, all the fighting was done against the instructions of the rabbis, and that is why the Temple was destroyed.   But how can the cases of Rabbi Akiva and the Maccabbees fit in with this view as if the Rabbis looked at the global picture and said "oy we are outnumbered by the huge Roman empire, if we try anything, the empire will send in massive force to crush us and therefore it will only get us into worse trouble. so, keep quiet."  ?   Does this really fit what happened?  Additionally, why is the historically proven effectiveness of guerilla warfare (even against superior and larger armies) ignored in this case?

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

Can you talk about the Biryonim.

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

Explain the history of the fast of Gedaliya. Why is it soo significant that it has become national fast day?

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

What do you know about Yitzhar (the town)? What type of residents live there? (Askenazi? Sefardi? Haredi? Chabad? Breslov? Religious Zionist? Or pure Kahanists?)
  I think it is a true center for the revolt agains't the Hellenist state. I was just wondering about the demographic population and their affiliation.

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

What do you think is a good (or the best) English speaking Yeshiva once can be at in Israel?
Also Hebrew speaking? (I mean seperate places).

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

 I was told (not by my Rav yett, but someone else, I will ask later) that a Sukkah's walls canot move more then 3 Tefachim (Fist sizes) at either directions. I was also told that a possible solution to this would be to have rope or strings or anything else that wont easily break, to be built all around the Sukkah up to 10 Tefachim (I believe) high, and not 3 Tefachim apart from eachother (If I rememered correctly). And that technically one can have a sukkah that is built in such a way, even without other walls. (which would be bassically ropes going around and Scah on top- out in the open). What do you think of this? Im asking becuase you dont concider the Eruv's of today as real eruv's , soo I am asking this becuase it might be similar.

[Zelhar]

Shalom rav JNC,

Do you know who/what were the "Am Haaretz" who were mentioned in the Mikra, for example 2 Kings 24:

כד  וַיַּךְ, עַם-הָאָרֶץ, אֵת כָּל-הַקֹּשְׁרִים, עַל-הַמֶּלֶךְ אָמוֹן; וַיַּמְלִיכוּ עַם-הָאָרֶץ אֶת-יֹאשִׁיָּהוּ בְנוֹ, תַּחְתָּיו.    24 But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

And one more question if I may- is it appropriate to course evil kings like Menasseh or Amon ?

And a 3rd question I have: What is the halachic opinion regarding supernatural interventions that are storied in the Talmud. I can think of two examples:
1. 'תנורו של עכנאי' (Achnai's Oven),this case is easy because the deduction is that the halacha is to be ruled according to the Torah and not according to supernatural signs. But still, is this story merely allegorical ?
2. The story of the execution of Rabbi Khanina ben Teradion רבי חנינא בן תרדיון there is a voice (בת קול ) which declares that R' Khanina  and his Executioner have earned life in the world to come (I recall that similar voices appear in the stories of other 9 slain rabbis עשרת הרוגי מלכות ) whose/what is that voice ?

Thanks,     
          Zelhar

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

Who is Rav Kanievsky? And do you think he is a true Gadol, or someone who is overpraised? I happen to hear his name pop up a lot expecially on the subject of giving people blessings.

[Tzvi Ben Roshel1]

Do you manage speaking english a lot of the time, or do you mostly speak Evrit now? ( I mean with your surroundings, job, etc. - In general- living in Israel)

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Do you manage speaking english a lot of the time<snip>

I can see you don't. He did say 5 questions!

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