A little work never hurt

 

The Talmud (Yoma 86a) quotes the sage, Abayei, who interpreted the verse “And you shall love the Lord your God” to mean that “the Name of Heaven should be beloved because of you.” Our words and deeds should inspire people to come closer to God and Torah, not repel them from God and Torah.

The Talmud continues: “If someone studies Torah and Mishnah, and attends on the disciples of the wise, is honest in business, and speaks pleasantly to persons, what do people then say concerning him? ‘Happy the father who taught him Torah, happy the teacher who taught him Torah; woe unto people who have not studied the Torah; for this one has studied the Torah—look how fine his ways are, how righteous his deeds!’…But if someone studies Torah and Mishnah, attends on the disciples of the wise, but is dishonest in business, and discourteous in his relations with people, what do people say about him? ‘Woe unto him who studied the Torah, woe unto his father who taught him Torah; woe unto his teacher who taught him Torah!’ This man studied the Torah—look how corrupt are his deeds, how ugly his ways.”

From all of the above there are four words - just four - that at least suggest that a person must spend some time at work, a job of some sort.

Most of the Talmudic-era luminaries had a job of some type, even if only managing property (some were very well off); some made and mended shoes or carried water; still others made and sold beer.

These were the men whose names pop up multiple times in the Talmuds. Men respected not only for their wisdom but also because of their "down to earth" lives. Granted, there were a few equals to Rothschild and Rockefeller, but most were "everyday people."

They worked enough to meet the needs of their families rather than go begging or worse, sending their sons and daughters begging on their behalf.

A far cry from today where "boys" long past their youth sit in yeshivot and "study" while their wives go out to work when not taking a 3-day vacation to give birth to another child. What will thay do with their learning? Since they don't leave the confines of the cloister, they can't share what they learned - assuming they indeed learned something. Is this, then,. learning for the sake of heaven or learning to avoid work and responsibility?

There are hakhamim even today, but all together they could not fill a yeshiva. There are lesser lights that study and take what they learned out to the world to share in schools and congregations and kollels. They don't stop learning, they simply add kamak (flour) to Torah.

The thing that triggered the above was R. Marc Angel's weekly email. This week it relates to the double portion Aharei Moth-Kedoshim (http://www.jewishideas.org/angel-shabbat/image-and-reality-thoughts-aharei-moth-kedoshi) .

R. Angel notes that "Some years ago, the Jerusalem Post published results of a poll of Israelis dealing with attitudes toward Orthodox Jews. Respondents generally identified Orthodox Jews with religious coercion, distinctive clothing, political infighting, and with Hareidim who do not serve in the Israeli military and do not carry their weight in the Israeli economy. Only 19% of respondents identified Orthodox Jews as people committed to Torah and mitzvoth!"

He comments that "If the general public has negative or incomplete views of Orthodoxy, then Orthodoxy itself bears much of the blame. If the popular image of Orthodox Jewry conjures up religious coercion, political manipulation, and self-righteous isolationism, then Orthodoxy is failing in its mission."

But I would ask: Who is "Orthodox?"

I am shomer Shabat, shomer kashrut, and I put on tallit and tefflin. Does that make me "Orthodox"?

To a Reform Jew, and possibly even a Conservative Jew, I'm probably considered "Orthodox."

To a hareidi black hat from Mea Sharim or Bnai Brak, and even many Ashkenazi "Orthodox" rabbis, I'm not quite an epikuros, but I'm certainly a heloni because I am "not like them."

Within the Sephardi and Mizrahi worlds, there is no "orthodoxy"; not with a capital "O" and not with a lower case (small) "o." A Jew is a Jew is a Jew - some are more observant and some are less observant, but "a Jew is a Jew is a Jew."

I'll admit to having a problem telling a Jew driving by on Shabat "Shabat shalom," but maybe I ought to rethink that attitude. After all, "a Jew is a Jew is a Jew." Maybe next Shabat, having seen me make the trip on shank's mare, the person will decide to walk to a nearby congregation. If I say "Shabat shalom" or "Gut Shabbos" or just "Hello" maybe the person behind the wheel will think: "Gee, maybe all "Orthodox" Jews aren't that bad . . . maybe I'll see what it's like in that guy's shul."

But, as R. Angel contends, it's up to me to present more observant Jewery to the less observant Jew in a positive light. I know when I see an observant Jew in uniform my respect for that person's level of observance goes up. If I see an obviously "Orthodox" Jew serving his country or community (national service), my respect for that Jew goes up.

The "bottom line" for R. Angel is "Until the entire population views Orthodox Jews in a positive light, we are failing in our religious responsibilities." He has some suggestions on how to do that in his weekly missive. this week at http://www.jewishideas.org/angel-shabbat/image-and-reality-thoughts-aharei-moth-kedoshi.

A ruling to excuse murder?

 

In R. Ya'aqob Menashe's daily email for Sunday, April 29, 2012 (http://www.atorahminute.com/2012-04-29), we are told that "Maran Yosef Qaro, z"l, states in the Shulhan 'Arukh that if one is drunk (and therefore unable to pray the "Amidah), and as a result misses the time for prayer, he is considered to be Anoos (that these were circumstances out of his control). He can, therefore, pray a make up prayer (Tashlumin) for the 'Amidah prayer that he missed." (Emphasis mine.)

By that logic, a person who gets drunk and drives a car into a group of people, killing and maiming them, should be given a pass; no penalty for what I would term premeditated murder. After all, the driver knew the probability of killing someone by driving under the influence before the first intoxicant was consumed..

Getting intoxicated normally is a voluntary thing to do.

Rarely is any one forced to drink intoxicating liquids or consume mind-altering drugs.

Most prescription and Over-The-Counter (OTC) drugs that might have an effect on a person's cognitive abilities are clearly marked with warnings not to drive or engage in any dangerous activity.

So how does Maran find a way to not only excuse a drunk's inability to say his prayers at a specified time but to provide the person with an excuse that these were circumstances out of his control?

At one point in my life I was a newspaper reporter.

I have seen, first hand, the effect a drunk driver has on the life not only of his (or her) immediate victim, but on the lives of the victim's family and community as well.

I see, all too often, judges who let impaired drivers off and I have seen drivers whose licenses are revoked leave a courtroom, get into a car, and drive away as if the court was a figment of my imagination.

Because I follow Moroccan traditions, I know there are times when Maran's decisions are set aside for another hakham's ruling. While I am not a rabbi - and certainly not a hakham - nor do I play one on tv, I think this is one time when Maran's ruling needs to be reconsidered.

Upside down, inside out world

 

As I read the news - from Israel and from around the globe I am left wondering:

What's going on?

An Israeli security guard fires his weapon into the air to frighten off a Moslem fire bomber who already had thrown seven fire bomb and the Israeli police take the security guard in for discharging his weapon - and possibly saving lives.

Settlers are allowed by build on Israeli - Jewish Israeli - land and then the man charged with the nation's defense (!) orders the homes bulldozed. Never mind a compromise had been reached with the government - but the minister apparently ignored this.

The Israeli prime minister kept quiet, sanctioning the abuse.

North Korea, a sovereign nation, fires a rocket that - fortunately for all concerned fizzled out - and the US condemns the country's leadership. Yes, North Korea probably has "The Bomb" and it is probably trying to develop a delivery system (shades of Iran), but shaking a finger at a country's leadership seems juvenile to me - and juveniles usually react to this by calling the other's bluff.

The U.S. president tells American Jews how much he's done for Israel and many, especially his Hollywood pals and other far-left liberals, bow to him as he bowed to a Saudi prince, not caring that it wasn't what he did FOR Israel but what he did TO Israel.

Israel defends itself and Obama criticizes Israel. Give more to the intransient Abbas, he tells Israel, ignoring the fact that Abbas & Company have brought nothing to the table since breaking the so-called Oslo agreement.

Has the world gone totally crazy?

The occupant of the White House has zero foreign experience - actually, the former governor of Alaska did have more experience; at least she could see Russia's distant shore. Yet, in his total ignorance of international realities he's running around like a Keystone Kop trying to make the world do his bidding.

America doesn't need a good 5-cent cigar; America needs honest politicians with America's best interests at heart - in the House, in the Senate, and most especially in the White House. Today we are "a house divided" by political extremism.

We need an honest president - who was the last honest president? Harry S? - who knows, like LBJ, "where the bodies are buried" to kick both houses in the posterior until they work together. If the president happens, like Reagan, to win with a mandate - Reagan had 525 Electoral votes and a popular vote of 54,455,075 compared to Mondale's 37,577,185 - a nearly 60% plurality, so much the better.

Obama is neither a Truman nor a Lyndon Johnson - he may be closer to Andrew Johnson who was impeached by the House. Likewise, he is no consensus builder like Reagan.

The whole "free world" seems to have gone crazy.

Friends are punished, enemies are courted.

People who try to protect us find themselves in trouble for doing their job while the provocateurs freely roam about, seeking new ways to abuse their freedoms.

It seems as if the inmates are running the asylum.

I won't ask "Where will it end?" because, frankly, the possibilities are frightening.

Scotty, beam me up.

Kashrut.com answers questions that you never thought to ask

 

Emails, I get emails.

I get emails from

  *  A Torah Minute/Midrash Ben Ish Hai

  *  Arutz Sheva

  *  Chabad

  *  Daily Halacha /R. Eli J. Mansour

  *  JerusalemOnline

  *  The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals/R. Marc Angel

  *  Torahweb.org/R. Yakov Haber (& one of his sons, R. Sender Haber)

But the one I always read first and the one I frequently share is from Arlene J. Mathes-Scharf 's Kashrut.com.

Most of what Ms. Mathes-Scharf presents on Kashrut.com is conveniently compiled from a multitude of other sources, mostly kosher certifying sources such as OU, cRc, OK, Star-K and regional kashrut agencies. She also brings in kashrut agencies in other countries, most often Canada, Israel, Mexico, and South Africa.

More than that, and for the careful eater, she also includes warning from the US FDA, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, among others. Is a product dangerous due to Cryptosporidium? She lets us know.

If a food or food-related product is recalled - such as wine cups that exceed FDA limits on leachable lead and cadmium - Kashrut.com lets subscribers know.

The Passover page doesn't list what's permitted and what is not; instead it provides links to certifying agencies (ibid.) and some of special interest on Passover such as JSOR and Seattle Va'ad, both of which are of interest to Sephardi/Mizrahi readers.

Ms. Mathes-Scharf rarely writes anything herself - she has experts to do that for her - but when she does, as with her Misc. Passover Product Information, she carefully cites her sources.

The list is free, both as an email with links to Kashrut.com and directly at Kashrut.com.

Ms. Mathes-Scharf lists herself as a Food Scientist - Kosher Food Specialist.

If you already are inundated by emails, I would strongly encourage you to cancel one and replace it with Kashrut.com. If kashrut or kashrus concerns you, get this email or remind yourself to visit Kashrut.com at least once-a-week.

Ozzie Guillen

Is this America?

 

We have, here in southeast Florida. a huge contingent of Cubans.

Many of the most vocal - albeit in Cuban Spanish not English -are only here until the Castro regime is replaced by a Cuban "democracy." I'll explain why the quotes in a moment.

The other day, Ozzie Guillen, the Cuban-American manager of the Miami - maybe "Florida" - Marlins, anyway, the local 9, made a statement that he appreciated Fidel Castro's longevity as a ruler. He may have said some other nice things about the dictator.

For his remarks, the Cuban community got up in arms.

"He can't say that!" they screamed.

They put so much pressure on him he was forced to apologize in all the media - local and national - for daring to speak his mind.

The Marlins' management, in its rush to be politically correct at the expense of First Amendment to the nation's Constitution SUSPENDED OZZIE GUILLEN FOR 5 GAMES! Perhaps the Marlins' management is unable to read simple English; the First Amendment clearly states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." How can some guests in this country do what an American Congress cannot - prohibit free speech?

THIS IS AMERICA??

What happened to freedom of thought and speech?

When did southeast Florida become Iran or Syria where freedom of speech is a crime.

Even in Cuba the Women in White hold their marches to protest the Castro brothers' policies.

But an American citizen, Ozzie Guillen - albeit a hyphenated American citizen - is punished for expressing an opinion in America? Not by the U.S. government, but by guests of this country and other similarly hyphenated Americans - people who CAME HERE FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. It's not Cuban Spanish, but the word CHUTZPAH comes to mind.

This country has had freedom of speech since before the British were encouraged to take their army and go home (c 1775).

OK, you can't yell FIRE! in a crowded theater (or theatre) and suggesting that someone ought to shoot a high government official can get you sent to gaol, but you may cast aspersions on that high government official's linage without fear of legal persecution.

These Cubans who were so upset about Ozzie Guillen's expressed opinion forget that they are, first of all, guests in this country. Secondly, they need to remember this is NOT Cuba. We have, and treasure, freedom of thought and speech here.

There are many things said and done in this country that I find offensive - having all signs in Spanish being one, burning the flag being another. But these are protected by law. Unlike painting a swastika on a synagogue or herding pigs through a mosque, these are not classified as "hate crimes" nor do they, in most places, "incite to riot."

Obviously these Cubans and hyphenated Americans are not ready for "American-style" democracy.

Which brings me back to my Cuban "democracy" remark.

Cubans on the island have several times been handed "democracy" by Americans. Each time, within a generation the people reverted to a dictatorship.

I am not condemning dictatorships; some people - Cubans as examples - cannot adapt to democracy and must have a strong leader who is not easily deposed; in other words, a dictator. There ARE benevolent dictatorships and there are malevolent dictatorships. And there are some that go from one type to the other.

But southeast Florida is NOT Cuba and we - Americans who lost our hyphenation a generation or more ago - should not tolerate a dictatorship in a U.S. state.

We - Americans - have surrendered enough of our rights already; we should be, we must be, vigilant to protect our remaining freedoms.

Permitting foreigners to punish someone - even one of their own - for speaking his mind should not, must not, be tolerated. It is not "the American way."

I am ashamed that the commissioner of the all-American sport of baseball should cave to foreigners and - at best - nouveau-Americans, all of whom fail to respect American democracy on American soil - Miami still was part of the United States the last time I checked

I grew up in "Greater" Miami. back then it was a more tolerant society; hardly perfect, but "better" than what I see happening now.

The self-imposed Cuban ghetto is called "Little Cuba" and apparently the residents of this area want Cuban rule on American soil.

That's not right. They didn't like Castro's dictatorship so they want to impose a different, albeit as obnoxious to Americans, dictatorship in Miami.

Someone needs to remind these people that boats go both ways. If they cannot adapt to "the American way," let them go back to Cuba and try to enforce their brand of dictatorship on the island.

How many tzit-tzit for the Shema ? ?כמה ציציות ביד במשך השמע

A break from Pesach thoughts

 

I buy sedurim more for the "instructions" (הוראות) as much as anything else.

My favorite sedur is Shlom Messas' וזרח השמש and although I have several copies, I now keep the large-print version for Shabat-only use. (My Syrian brother-in-law [once removed] insists I need bigger print. I don't, but he's a super guy so . . . )

My "daily" sedur is Avotanu (אבותנו), also large print. It's pronunciation guide is better, but more importantly, it has many, many more instructions and comments.

Both follow one of the Moroccan traditions. (Like the US, there is a difference between "northern" Morocco and "southern" Morocco or perhaps between formerly "Spanish" Morocco and formerly "French" Morocco. Even pronunciation varies - one is closer to "modern" (Israeli) Hebrew, the other not so much.) I have some other sedurim, even an Ashkenazi one, and one, in a protective wrapper, titled "Prayer Book, Abridged, for Jews in the Armed Forces of the United States" issued c WW 2. It's in the same wrapper as the one from צה''ל . I have another sedur - also in a protective wrapper - that my Father-in-Law, Eliyahu ben Zohara z"l (or a"h if you prefer) saved from the trash and gifted to me. Thank you, Rahel, whoever you are, for tossing out your sedur . . . I used it for many years. Since it's close to Pesach, perhaps I should mention my Union Haggadah, Revised, also a gift and also in a protective wrapper. (In southeast Florida, the humidity and bugs are book killers, ergo the wraps.)

Enough asides.

Most of us, when we come to the Shema (שמע) take all four tzit-tzit in our hand.

Tzel HeHarim, an excellent book in English* on tzit-tzit by R. Hertzel Hillel Yitzhak with approbations from Mizrachi and Ashkenazi rabbis in Israel and New York, advises that "According to Kabbalists, when one reaches the statement מארבע קנפות כל הארץ (in the אהבת עולם prayer before the Shema) he should gather the ritual strands of all four corners. . . and place the strands between his "pinky" (little finger) and his ring finger." (Chap. 10, Pg. 240)

In Footnote 9 on Page 240, R, Yitzhak notes that the Vilna Gaon only held the front strands, added that Hakham Ovadia Yosef "often" would gather only the front strands.

The sedur אבותנו agrees with the timing, but then parts company with R. Yitzhak's book by stating, in Footnote 34 on Page 161 that we take the front two tzit-tzit and wrap them around the middle (צרידה) finger. This instruction is repeated immediately before the Shema's third paragraph (דבר אל-בני ישראל). Hakham Messas' sedur is, unfortunately, silent on how many corners to hold.

In Tzel HeHarim we are told that we kiss the tzit-tzit each time they are mentioned in the Shema's third paragraph (דבר אל-בני ישראל), and that we are to look at the stands when reciting וראיתם אותו.

Sedur אבותנו, on the other hand, tells us to take the tzit-tzit across our eyes twice at וראיתם אותו and at ואחרי עיניכם to pass them before the eyes once again and then to kiss the tzit-tzit.

* Feldheim Publishers, ISBN 1-58330-292-1

הריני מקבל עלי מצוה עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, והריני אוהב כל אחד מבני ישראל כנפשי ומאודי

Marriage by any other name

 

According to Merriam-Webster online, "marriage is defined as

(1) : the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law

(2) : the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage {same-sex marriage}

Emphasis mine.

This rant is not about Biblical prohibitions against same-sex copulation.

This is not a tirade about homosexuals or bisexuals or any other *sexual that is considered "deviant."

It is about a word.

Marriage.

I don't care if Female A cohabits with Female B (or even Females B, C, and D), nor do I care if Male Z cohabits with Male Y and, like the females, Males Y, X, and W. Given the AIDS/HIV situation I would hope the relationships are monogamous or at least that "safe sex" is practiced, but frankly, Scarlett . . .

But the word, marriage, for a "non-traditional" arrangement bothers me.

Grant all the privileges of wedlock to a same sex partner, most especially in a medical (hospital) setting where empathy and sympathy are critical healing factors. Employer recognition of the "permanent partner" should be a given.

But don't call this relationship "marriage."

Marriage is a relationship that, to my mind, ought to remain in the traditional sense - a man and a woman.

Call homosexual lasting liaisons "partnerships" or "couples, or just "lovers." Allow the government to sanction these arrangements as it sanctions traditional marriages. If a church or mosque or an ashram wants to create a ceremony to sanctify the relationship, so be it.

But don't call it "marriage."

I suppose with the divorce rate being what it is - for "married" couples as well as "permanent partnerships" - maybe the whole concept needs rethinking.

But until that day, let the definition of "marriage" remain the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law and let everything else be called something else - anything BUT marriage.

Muslims were Muslims Before Mohammed's birth?

 

According to

YouTube - the source of all knowledge - Mohammed, not Moses, led Islamists, not Jews, out of Egypt.

David of Israel was not the David of the Koran, nor was Saul. Islam's Saul, not Israel's Saul, slew Goliath.

Since Mohammed had not yet been born - and therefore Islam had not yet come on the scene, I suppose an earlier Islam was Judaism in a parallel universe.

Muhammad (ca. 570–632), received his first revelation in 610, according to a history Web site (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/isla/hd_isla.htm. That's 610 CE, a/k/a AD - 610 years AFTER Jesus is alleged to have been born.

Rabbinical tradition states that we - Jews - left Egypt in 1313 BCE (a/k/a BC); others date the exodus from 1600 BCE to 1145 BCE. No matter HOW the exodus is dated, there is no way a Moslem could have been in the crowd crossing Yam Suf.

If Islam was indeed in a "parallel universe, when it joined the universe we know today, it failed to make any human rights advances since the Torah was given to Moses - the Jewish Moses - at Har Sinai. Islam still stones women for being raped - for BEING RAPED the victim is murdered! - it still beheads people for blasphemy - insulting Mohammed. Can you imagine anyone losing their head for insulting the memory of a Jewish "hero," - Moses, Abraham, David, Solomon, or even a current leader such as Israel Meir Lau or Ovadia Yosef? I'm sure there are those who might LIKE to impose that punishment, but the death penalty, at least for a violation of religious law, has been mitigated out of existence. Not so Islam.

But then, the Moslems are claiming to have settled Haifa and built Tel Aviv. The DID build a mosque on top of the Temple's ruins, a forerunner of what they do to synagogues today. Even valuable "leave behinds," the hothouses of Aza, were destroyed simply because they were left by Jews. Never mind that the hothouses had proven profitable and that the new owners could also have made a profit from them.

The Arabs DID give us algebra.

The Arabs DID have wonderful navigation skills.

But they did NOT create Tel Aviv not did they build modern Haifa or Yameet or Rehovot. Yavne dates back to the Roman occupation - some 500 years before Mohammed was born. Zefat and Bet Shean date back to at least Roman times; neither was, or is, an Arab town. Will the Moslems claim them, too? (The North Africans who make up the majority of Bet Shean's residents might strongly object to that.)

I wouldn't mind the Muslim delusion so much were it not for the fact that the liberals of the world, including those who by an accident of birth claim to be Jewish, accept the Islamic revisionism as truth.

Judaism is wrong.

Israel is racist and apartheid. Quick question: Then why do so many Arabs - Moslem and non-Moslem alike - insist on living in Israel rather than emigrating to "Palestine" or Jordan or Egypt or Saudia or even once tolerant Lebanon. Iran and Iraq will welcome them; ditto Turkey, the UAE, Algeria, and Libya. They will be welcomed as cheap hired help, not as new, fully endowed citizens, but after all, isn't that better than living in racist Israel? (That's why the UN camps still exist - the residents' "brothers in Islam" don't want them in their countries.)

The Islamists may try to rewrite the Torah, but archeology will continue to prove to anyone who has eyes to see that Jews have been in Israel long before Mohammed was born; that Jews, not Moslems, exited Egypt; that Moses, Saul, David, Solomon are historically Jewish - not Moslem - figures.

When you have so very little to point to with pride, you (try to) steal someone else's achievements.

Which is why some Muslims are disgracing their religion by revising the Koran and claiming impossibilities.

I'd pity them, but it's hard to pity someone sworn to kill me.

חג פסח כשר ושמח

הריני מקבל עלי מצוה עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, והריני אוהב כל אחד מבני ישראל כנפשי ומאודי

Speed reading

 

The congregation with which I currently hang my kippa lets young boys lead the korbanote (קורבנות) and parts of Pesukai deZimrah (פסוקי דזמרה).

It's great to see the kids' enthusiasm, but it is obvious that most know the words "ba'al pei" - by heart.

Being who I am, I read along with the boys since their prayers - they not being bar mitzvah - cannot count on my behalf.

That's OK; I need to do my own thing anyway.

But I am disturbed by the "speed readers." Especially on the psalms (תהלים).

The fellow who gets them excited to read for the congregation is a great guy, one of the best, and he works with the kids on other things as well. Best of all, they respond positively to his leadership.

The only thing he failed to teach his young charges is punctuation.

Now that may seem a small thing, especially if you're used to folks who literally try to set new speed records for the prayers - yeshiva students as examples.

But the sidurim have punctuation and that punctuation is there for a purpose.

As a simple example:

הללויה | שירו ל'' שיר חדש תהילתו בקהל חסידים:
ישמח ישראל בעשיו בני-ציון יגילו במלכם:

The " | " tells the reader to briefly pause.

The " : " is the sedur's period ( . ).

If someone reads - as many do,

הקהל חסידים ישמח ישראל

the meaning is changed. It seems that the hasidem (חסידים ) are making (the people) Israel (ישראל happy. I'm sure the hasids' praise in the end adds to Israel's happiness, but that is not what the psalmist intended,

As in English and "regular" or "everyday" Hebrew, punctuation - be it written or verbal - is there for a reason.

Like the trope (תעם) for the Torah and haftarot, there is a reason for the punctuation - it is an instruction on how to say the word groups.

When I hear someone race through the prayers, paying no heed to the punctuation, I suspect these are people who, while they can read the letters and sound out the words, have little or no idea what those words mean.

The funny thing is, some of these young people speak Hebrew, better in some cases, than they speak English. But their vocabulary, their knowledge of what the words mean still is developing. The question is: Will they ever learn the word's meaning? If they practiced the punctuation, would that help there understanding? (I suggest it will.)

As with many "orthodox" congregations, we have a number of men who can read Hebrew, but they don't understand what they are reading.

Frankly, I am not much better. There are many, many words for which I lack a shoresh translation. (I'm better at reading Hebrew than hearing it since I usually can pick out the shoresh - root letters - of a printed word.) Still, I'm equipped with disctionaries and 501 Hebrew Verbs, so I can usually define a word I didn't know.

There's not much that can be done for the geezer set - my set - but I think whoever is teaching the children Hebrew today needs to spend a little more time developing an understanding of the words and how punctuation helps the understanding of word groups, a/k/a sentences, thoughts.

If we are going to have tomorrow's Rashi, today's children need to learn more than just how to read words in the sedur (and humash and the Talmuds).

חג פסח כשר ושמח

הריני מקבל עלי מצוה עשה של ואהבת לרעך כמוך, והריני אוהב כל אחד מבני ישראל כנפשי ומאודי