Selling honors

 

I used to go to a synagogue that, it seemed to me, made selling honors a higher priority than prayers.

Case in point: For several years, a Board member auctioned off honors for Yom Kippor well into nightfall, pushing Kol Nidre into the dark.

All "orthodox" authorities that I know about insist that Kol Nidre be said BEFORE nightfall.

Literally hours were spent on bidding for honors.

I go to another synagogue now where things are run "by the clock," at least in following halakah.

It takes a little effort to make a "HaNetz" minyan - just exactly when do we start korbanote and, later, hodu? Juggling the time to arrive at the amedah at its earliest time can be challenging.

This congregation sells honors, but unlike the other congregation, it makes sure the prayers - after all, that's why we supposedly are present - are said at the proper time.

Admittedly, my previous synagogue has lots of overhead - more during the High Holy Days - and the new one is less burdened with debt.

The thing is, the old congregation could have sold honors AND started Kol Nidre before nightfall.

How?

Glad you asked.

PRE-SELL THE HONORS.

You know what honors are available.

List them and send the list to all members (even, or most especially, the 3-day variety).

List, if you wish, "suggested" starting bids and last year's winning bid. This sets the floor for this year's bidding without actually stating "Bids start at ..."

Give all congregants - and any bidders from previous years - a chance to bid on each honor. Allow two weeks to collect responses. (This also can be done via emailed response.)

The highest bid for this year becomes the BASE or FLOOR bid.

Before evening prayers, (about 90 minutes before Kol Nidre on erev Yom Kippor) sell the honors for the next day by announcing the base/floor bid and asking if anyone wants to top it.

This process eliminates the most of the small number bidding wars and greatly speeds up the sale of honors, letting us get to the prayers on time.

Another thought: You might ask for the bids to be accompanied by a check for the full amount. If the bid is topped by another bid, the checks can be returned. If not, the congregation has the check so there's no chasing after a promised donation.

First day Jews

 

It's a funny thing about us.

We have a one, maybe two, day participation span.

Sefardim started s'lihot on the 2nd of Elul.

The place was almost Standing Room Only, a precursor to Rosh HaShana.

The second day of s'lihot there were fewer people.

Lately we've had to "skip around" certain prayers - those in Aramaic and all the occurrences of ויעבור and all times when the sofar is blown.

Translation: Even though the start time is later - it's now close to 5:45 from the first day's 5:35 start time - we don't have a minyan until we are well into the s'lihot.

We recite what we can, and when we finally get a minyan we have to go back and recite the skipped prayers.

It used to be that the joke was about "three-day Jews," those folks who show up in a synagogue on the two days of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippor. Now for many - and I'm referring to "observant," sometimes known as "orthodox," congregations - it's two and a half days . . . maybe. The difference in attendance - never mind participation - between Rosh HaShana's first day and the second is sad.

Even Yom Kippor suffers. Pretty good turnout for Kol Nidre (when it's done at the proper time), but the "crowd" for korbanote the next morning is often "disappointing."

Maybe it's the interminable bidding; selling honors, especially to people rarely seen in the synagogue, is an unfortunate, albeit necessary, evil that helps empty out a building.

This is nothing new.

Years ago a Chabad rabbi in Sarasota arranged with the City to place a hanukiah on City land - it shared space with a decorated tree.

On the first night of Hanukah we had a good turnout.

The second night, there were maybe 4 or 5 present.

The third night, only one person showed, and that person was not the rabbi.

In truth, the small turnout may partly be attributed to the non-"orthodox" community which criticized, in the general media, the idea that some Jews had the NERVE to put up a hanukiah on City property. Never mind that the property was shared with a decorated tree and that these same Jews were paying the City to put up, maintain, take down, and store "seasonal" decorations; THAT was OK.

The same holds true for Pesach and Sukot; Shavuot, being only one day, is not a problem.

Pesach's first night usually is "thin." People are home with family and friends at the seder. The first morning the turnout is pretty good, but after that it's all down hill.

Sukot - likewise.

Everyone is willing to attempt to sit in the sukah the first night; fewer the second night, and during the intermediate days, חול המועד, the sukah often in occupied only by the ushpizin and bugs.

Getting up for s'lihot appeals to some folks, but for this scrivener, I'd rather sleep in (until 5 or 5:30).

But there's a minyan to be made and I consider it part of my "dues" to be a member.

Leaning toward Shamai

 

There's no question that I generally prefer Bet Shamai over Bet Hillel, halak over glat, and the JDL over the ADL.

Knowing that, it should come as no surprise that I am "suspicious" of kashrut agencies that tell me this or that product is kosher when I have reason to believe otherwise.

Something recently caused me to revisit liquor lists, in particular scotches, blended and straight.

Several of the kashrut agencies state that (while perhaps not recommended) all scotches, except those that clearly state on the label that they are aged in a former wine barrel, are "kosher."

Among the scotches that lack a statement about wine casks are Chivas and Johnnie Walker.

So, these are then "acceptably kosher" products?

I know some "orthodox" rabbis who drink both Chivas and Johnnie Walker.

If you lean toward Bet Shamai, neither scotch is acceptable.

But they don't state on the label.

Who am I, neither a rabbi or food chemist, to claim Chivas and Johnnie Walker are not suitable?

I am the guy who contacted the distilleries and got the information from the "horses mouth."

There was no problem. Everything was via email.

Chivas is a blend of scotches aged in wine and Bourbon barrels. How much of this and how much of that is a tightly guarded secret, so the Chivas people told me.

Johnnie Walker's people simply told me their product is not kosher.

My point is that if I can find out about a product with minimal effort, why can't kashrut agencies do the same.

The flip side of that point is, if they don't do it for scotch, what other products do they simply accept as "kosher" without bothering to actually check? Can we trust the kashrut agencies?

Several years ago, before Pesach, I asked a major certifying agency why some products, kosher for most of the year, suddenly were not K4P. There was no suggestion of kitniyot.

The answer was that "we're not sure" about some of the processes a thrice-removed ingredient went through. Translation for someone who "leans toward Bet Shamai" is that the kashrut agency really didn't know how the thrice-removed ingredient was prepared before being added to another ingredient.

Maybe the thrice-removed ingredient was cut with grain alcohol and that would make it unacceptable. But the kashrut agency was unable to tell me what made the final product unacceptable for Pesach.

I understand that to be in the kashrut business a person needs to be a food chemist. I understand why a person in the kashrut business must work with rabbinical authorities who both know, and care about, the Law with a capital "L."

I also understand that, apparently, some kashrut agencies are taking the easy way out. "If it doesn't say (something) on the label, then it's considered kosher."

In truth, the kashrut agencies should be warning "If it doesn't have a kosher label, assume it is not (kosher)." I know there are places where a kosher label is not "politically correct," but there are ways to advertise a product's kashrut status sans a kosher label on the product container.

In this day and age of emails and instant messaging, it behooves those of us to "lean toward Bet Shamai" to do our own research, at least for the major ingredients.

As the song asks: Who you gonna trust ? (http://www.lyricsmania.com/who_you_gonna_trust_lyrics_magnum.html)

Sinai

 

Tell me I have an Edward Bear mentality.

Say I'm a Pollyanna.

But there's a way to strengthen Israel-Egypt relations while removing terrorists from the Sinai.

Every year, countries have joint military exercises with their "friends" - even if the "friends" were former enemies.

Egypt claims to want the terrorists out of Sinai.

Certainly Israel wants the terrorists out of Sinai.

The Egypt-Israel truce calls for the Sinai to be a demilitarized zone.

But a truly demilitarized zone means freedom of movement for terrorists.

Israel apparently agreed to allowed a limited Egyptian army presence in Sinai.

Some Israeli politicians are claiming Egypt is sending in more troops and weapons that the agreement allows.

But if Egypt is doing the job of clearing terrorists from Sinai . . .

Israel worries that the military buildup in Sinai to oust terrorists if a facade to allow Egypt to station troops in the desert preparatory to an attack on Israel. It would not be the first time this happened.

But let's say, just for a moment, that Israel and Egypt participate in joint war games against the terrorists in the Sinai.

Better, let's embed IDF solders with Egyptian troops and let's move some Israeli forces into Sinai and embed Egyptian troops with the Israelis.

Given a common enemy, a common goal, and being in less than Five Star Hotel conditions, soldiers tend to bond.

When they go home, the bond remains; perhaps at a lesser level, but an understanding is achieved.

It would be a win-win for both countries.

Israel would know what Egypt is up to and would be able to roam the Sinai looking for terrorists before they get within rocket range of Israel. Egypt would know its activities in the Sinai would not provoke an attack by the IDF.

The Sinai is a big place; it's hard to police, and Egypt still has enough civil unrest that it cannot deploy all its forces into the area. At the same time, Israel is nervous that Egypt is pushing the agreement by sending in armored units and more soldiers than initially agreed.

Let the top commander be Egyptian, but his Executive OfficeR will be from the IDF.

All prisoners are handed over to the Egyptians . . . they know how to deal with their fellow Moslems and the world will turn a blind eye to Egyptian interrogation "methods."

Selihoth vs. S'lihot

 

Because or many years I only had Ashkenazi synagogues and Chabad Houses nearby I collected some Ashkenazi documents, one being the Philip Birnbaum Selihoth from the Hebrew Publishing Company. Mine is © 1952.

Now that I'm close to Sefardi congregations I have a small book of s'lihot from the Sucath David publishing house with a © of 1993.

There are some differences between the two approaches to s'lihot.

The most obvious is that Sefardim and Mizrachim recite s'lihot from the second day of Elul until the day before Rosh haShana, Shabatot excluded. For Ashkenazim, according to the Birnbaum book, the custom is to begin recital of selihoth Saturday night midnight, four days before Rosh haShana unless the first day of Rosh HaShana falls on Monday or Tuesday, "it is customary to begin a week earlier." Four days is the Ashkenazi minimum.

The Birnbaum Selihoth jumps right into the service, starting off with ashri with no mention of ברכות השחר that opens the Sucath David book.

The Sfardi book continues with the tikunim (Rachael and Leah) for tikun hatzot which I find a bit backward, at least for most U.S. congregations that don't start s'lihot until about an hour before dawn. It finally gets to ashri after ברכות השחר, תקון חצותת, פתיחת אליהו, וקדיש על ישראל.

S'lihot traditionally are said before dawn. In some places, a 4 a.m. start time is customary, and in these places, tikun hatzot after ברכות השחר might work out OK.

The Sucath David is considerably longer than the Birnbaum s'lihot, even excluding ברכות השחר, תקון חצותת, ופתיחת אליהו This may be a bit misleading since I notice that the Birnbaum is "selihoth for the first day." I wonder why I only have Day 1. Sucath David covers all the days of the week - Sunday through Friday - but does identify a block of six prayers by day-of-week. Sucath David also includes התרת נדרים, תפילות בית עלמין, השכבות, בקשות and ודוי גדול .

Monday we'll start s'lihot at 5:35 a.m.

The funny thing about s'lihot is that you see people at the "early" service who rarely show up for a weekday שחרית minyan.

It's serious business, s'lihot, but at the same time there is a "flavor" - at least among the Sefardim and Mizrachim - that make it enjoyable.

It may be hard to open the eyes at such an early hour, but it is worth it for the soul.

Political Red, Blue, and Medicare

 

It is a given that Medicare is on life support.

It can stay "as is" and run out of money" in a geezer's lifetime.

It can be sustained by adding taxes on the middle class who pay the most taxes.

It can be revamped for those less than 55 years old.

I am a geezer.

My children are in the under 55 group.

I used to be an honest newspaper reporter - like Jack Webb and Dragnet, all I wrote were "just the facts." Not always popular or politically correct, but accurate and unbiased. (I won't, however, claim responsibility for some of the headlines over my copy.)

Paul Ryan is chair of the House Budget Committee (see bio at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ryan).

He made a presentation to POTUS that compares the Democratic approach to Medicare funding vs. Ryan using Congressional Budget Office (CBO)figures; the presentation is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPxMZ1WdINs&feature=player_detailpage .

The GOP is proposing to revamp Medicare.

The Democrats seem to be in favor of a tax increase, albeit not under the "Medicare" label, but by shifting tax revenues from one fund (e.g., Social Security) into Medicare.

MY personal opinion is to dump Medicare and raise taxes to provide a universal healthcare for all LEGAL citizens. But then while I am a fiscal conservative, I am a social liberal.

The bottom line as this geezer views it is that "The Republicans will eliminate Medicare" is a Democratic untruth and scare tactic. It - along with all negative ads from all parties - should count AGAINST the party placing the advertisement. (OK, a PAC placed the ad and the party in theory but NOT in fact has no control over its supporters. I don't hear any candidate denouncing an ad denigrating the opponent.)

I'm not sure I like either candidate; perhaps I'll vote "for the lesser of two evils" or, maybe, I'll vote for all races BUT the White House.

Unlike some - perhaps many - I am not a single-issue voter.

I am concerned about health care.

I am concerned about illegal immigration.

I am concerned about sending jobs across our borders and bringing in people to do jobs Americans are well equipped and willing to do.

I also am concerned about foreign affairs - political, financial (gifts), and military (mis)adventures. Have we STILL not learned that we can't BUY "friends?"

And for me, the last campaign's "It's all about the economy" still is an issue that concerns me.

As a social liberal I should be concerned about women's rights.

I am, but I know a president's powers are limited - by congress and by the courts. I don't believe a president can, by fiat, overturn a court decision (Roe vs. Wade) or any education-related decisions from Brown vs. Board of Education onward. In other words, if the GOP prevails, women's rights hardly are likely to be curtailed.

I'm glad presidential elections only come once in four years, and I'm glad to live in a country that can survive even 8 years of any presidential fool - Democrat or Republican.

Perhaps Diogenes the Cynic can loan me his lamp as I go in search of honest politicians willing to consider compromise.

סליחות

 

This is the time of year when many Sefardim and Mizrahim would gladly changes places with their Ashkenazi cousins.

During the entire month of Elul - which begins this year on Friday, 17 August - Sefardim and Mizrahim are privileged to get up between "midnight" and "dawn" to recite s'lehot. Ashkenazim only recite s'lehot from Rosh HaShana. (But then, Sefardim and Mizrahim enjoy a broader diet during Pesach, so maybe it evens out.)

There are a few general rules for those who stagger out of bed in the dark. The following is a sampling from a few sources.

No one dons a tallit during s'lehot; not the hazan and not the congregation. Tallit and tefillin are worn for morning prayers as usual.

הוד יוסף חי קלב ע''מ 170

Unless it is the minhag of the congregation, עננו אלהא דמאיר עננו is not said.

הוד יוסף חי קלג ע''מ 171

During the month of Elul, those studying Torah (), those teaching children, and those whose work would suffer if they got up to say s'lehot can be excused. It is better if they do join others in s'lehot. Everyone is expected to participate in s'lehot from Rosh HaShana to Yom Kippur.

ילקוט שמ''ש קנט ע''מ 120

Both minyans and individuals recite s'lehot in Aramaic except for the 13 attributes . Individuals omit בדיל ויעבור< and instead simply say :amen."

דברי שלום ואנת א ע''מ 97

The following are general minhagim of Mizrahim

The minhag is to get up and start s'lehot באשמורת, that is, the night watch, before dawn

קיצור שולחן ערוך של רפאל ברוך תולחדאנו ספר ב'' תיד (א) ע''מ רעז (277(

The person who leads the s'lehot and Rosh HaShana services should be a Torah scholar, a person who performs the mitzvot, and who is at least 30 years old.

יצור שולחן ערוך של רפאל ברוך תולחדאנו ספר ב'' תיד (ב) ע''מ רעח (27)

The following are footnotes in קיצור שולחן ערוך של מרדכי אליהו

The Sefardi minhag is to recite s'lehot from the 2nd of Elul before morning (לילה באשמורת), but not before the middle of the night (apportioned hours; currently about 1:30 a.m. - dawn is about 5:40 a.m.). Check a calendar for exact times for each day. There is a tradition to blow the shofar when the 13 attributes (י''ג מדות) are recited. Theree also is a minhag for some to blow the shofar during the kadish before תענו ותעתרו.

ב'' ע''מ 421

A brief history of the "kitzur"

Yosef Caro's Bet Yosef was condensed by the author to become the Shulhan Aruk, or Ready Table.

The Shulhan Aruk went to Europe where Ashkenazi traditions were overlaid as a table cloth (mappa) on the table (shulhan) by R. Moses Isserles, the Rem"a.

Hungary's Solomon ben Joseph Ganzfried laid out a "short" (kitzur) version of the Shulhan Aruk with Mappa and most kitzurim follow R. Ganzfried's order.

R. Rabbi Raphael Baruch Toledano's kitzur follows a different path but, like R. Ganzfried's kitzur, condenses the Shulhan Aruk.

R. Eliyahu's kitzur aligns with R. Ganzfried's kitzur and in fact IS the Ganzfried kitzur with R. Elihu's modern Sefardi "adjustments" as footnotes.

About the rabbis cited above

Rabbi Yosef Messas (הוד יוסף חי) - see http://www.jewishideas.org/articles/rabbi-joseph-messas

Rabbi Shalom Messas - (לקוט שמ''ש and דברי שלום ואנת) see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalom_Messas


To be fair, דברי שלום ואנת is not by Shalom Messas. However, the majority of the opinions in the work are his.

Rabbi Raphael Baruch Toledano (קיצור שולחן ערוך של רפאל ברוך תולחדאנו) - see http://www.sephardiclegacy.com/pdf/november2008.pdf

Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu (קיצור שולחן ערוך של מרדכי אליהו) - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordechai_Eliyahu

Best of enemies

 

Sometimes, when a person is elected to high office, "strange things" happen.

When Lester (Axe Handle) Maddox was elected governor of Georgia the liberal world was shocked. How could a dyed-in-the-wool segregationist who most perceived as a hater of blacks (no, I don't capitalize "whites" either) turned Georgia's racist prison system into a model of equality for all races and generally improved the system for all.

Axe Handle turned out to be one of Georgia most progressive governors.

Now we have Mohamed Morsi - a leader of the Islamic Brotherhood - as president of Egypt.

After decades of suppression by Egypt's previous strongman rulers - from Farouk to Mubarak - Morsi takes over in the country's first free election in years.

While he threatens to "reexamine" the treaty with Israel, so far he has shown every inclination to support the peace by putting down terrorists regardless of their origin.

Admittedly, some terrorists from Aza made the fatal mistake of attacking an Egyptian police outpost and killing a number of officers. The Egyptian army - long the power-behind-the-throne - reacted in kind and apparently with Morsi's consent.

When terrorists were roaming the Sinai threatening the border with Israel, Morsi sent Egyptian troops to eliminate the problem.

There are "rumors" that there is quiet Israeli-Egyptian cooperation; if Israelis who venture into Egypt's Sinai "happen upon" suspected terrorists the terrorists are delivered to an Egyptian police or military outpost.

Likewise, Morsi has increased Egyptian military presence in the "demilitarized" Sinai, generally with Israel's awareness.

The terrorists of Aza assumed - wrongly it appears - that because Morsi is a member of the Islamic Brotherhood and because the Islamic Brotherhood has close ties with Aza's Hamas, that the terrorists would have freedom of movement between Aza and Egypt's Sinai, and from there to attack Israel. They also assumed Morsi and Egypt would allow less-or-more open transport of weapons in to Aza for use against Israeli civilians.

Instead, they learned at Morsi is shutting down - destroying - the tunnels the terrorists use to smuggle weapons into Aza.

I am reminded of the old express: Don't listen to what he says, watch what he does.

Morsi isn't waving a flag for Egypt-Israel peace - if he did he probably would be deposed by the radicals - but he is showing a willingness to at least reduce the threat of terrorism against Israel from Egyptian controlled territories.

Given that there is agitation in Jordan against a weak monarch and that Syria's despot if about to run to a foreign sanctuary with his tail between his legs, having a quiet - or at least quieter - border with Egypt should be welcomed.

Perhaps Morsi will bring a true Islamic "spring," one that will begin a change, however slow, in Arab attitudes toward Israel.

הכל בידו

The people's language

 

The other evening, at סעודת שלישית I was asked a question and I answered in Hebrew. (It was a simple question and an equally simple answer.)

The gentleman who asked was dressed in rabbinical black-and-white, had a nice white beard, and two children - his or his grand-kids - with payot and flying tzit-tzit. He read his prayers from a Hebrew-Hebrew sedur.

He told me "I don't speak Hebrew."

Not "I don't KNOW (comprehend) Hebrew," but I don't SPEAK Hebrew.

I didn't challenge him WHY he didn't speak Hebrew; it was, after all, still Shabat. But I started to wonder.

I know there are people who won't use Hebrew as a living language because they feel it is "lashon haKodesh" (לשון הקודש) - the holy language reserved strictly for prayers and study.

In Northern Europe Yiddish was spoken, with Hebrew reserved for prayers. In other parts of Europe it was Ladino. Women were almost never allowed even to learn Hebrew.

In ancient Israel, Aramaic was the linga franca; it is the language of the talmuds and was the language of the amay haaretz - the "common folk" as defined by the rabbinical authorities. Aramaic was, I'm told, a "bridge" language between Hebrew and Arabic.

Was Hebrew never used? That would be hard to believe given that so much was written - beyond the Torah - in Hebrew. All of the Tanak - Torah, Prophets, Writings - is in Hebrew so it seems obvious to my simple mind that Hebrew was, at least at one time, indeed a viable, in-use-by-the-masses, language.

Granted, Hebrew language development took a several century hiatus.

But with the aliyot to Israel, and the likes of Eliezer Ben Yehuda (see end note) Hebrew was brought into the "modern" age.

Ben Yehuda developed new words based on words found in Tanak. Hebrew developed from Hebrew that could be used in every day conversation. Ben Yehuda's Hebrew became, like Arabic, an official Israeli language.

Since Hebrew's revival it has been - as are most languages - inundated with foreign words such as "telephone" and "check" and "special" albeit with an Israeli twist.

The bottom line, since 1948, there has been NO reason for Yiddish or Ladino or any other "Jewish" language; Hebrew is, as it once was, the language of ALL Jews no matter where they lived in the world. Hebrew IS the (Jewish) people's language.

It seems to me that if a person can read and even generally comprehend Hebrew that person should be able to speak the language. I wonder if the gentleman who "didn't speak Hebrew" simply didn't WANT to speak the language.

I made an effort to learn Hebrew so I could read books on Jewish law written by contemporary authorities, authorities who write - and one presumes speak - Hebrew.

Ovadia Yosef most assuredly speaks Hebrew (as well, I suppose, as Arabic or Farsi).

The Rabbis Messas wrote in and spoke Hebrew as well as Moroccan Arabic.

My favorite Ashkenazi Big O rabbi speaks Hebrew, albeit not "Israeli" Hebrew.

I always thought that as a Jew with at least survival level Hebrew I could go anyplace in the world and find someone with whom I could talk. Just like the old fashioned Catholics could survive on church Latin.

Most Jews who read and comprehend Tanak can understand spoken Hebrew. Granted sometimes it is difficult to "see" a Hebrew word's root in the spoken word, but written or spoken o-kel אוכל (vs. o-hel אוהל) means "food" - o-hel means "tent." Both words are found - often - in Tanak.

It is fine by me if someone wants to study Yiddish or Ladino or any other "Jewish" language for its literary value, but to fly in the face of reality and avoid SPEAKING Hebrew seems a denial of the State of Israel and the millions of Jews who live there, never mind the millions more who have Hebrew as a living, functional, day-to-day language, THE language all Jews universally can use to communicate with their fellow Jews.

I suspect - I hope - more and more families are like the rabbi's where I make minyan: Hebrew is the family's first language, with English a very close second. I don't think Hebrew needs to be the "first" language anywhere but Israel, but it should not be relegated to a language reserved for Tanak.

Hebrew is a living language, and while I don't like to hear "telephone" in Hebrew, that's the price we pay for an integrated world. By the way, there IS a Hebrew term for "telephone"; it is שח רחוק. The reason Hebrew uses "telephone" is, I was informed, because Hebrew is a VERB-BASED language and how could I make a verb out of שח רחוק? A verb family can be, and was, created from "telephone."

Hebrew is the universal language of Jews. Now if I could just get my favorite Ashkenazi rabbi to do as I do - follow the transliteration of Hebrew with the word in Hebrew characters - I could better understand what he's trying to convey. Matos or masos when written in Hebrew מטוס is still an airplaneץ

ABOUT ELIEZER BEN YEHUDA, see

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/ben_yehuda.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliezer_Ben-Yehuda

http://www.zionism-israel.com/bio/E_Ben_Yehuda_biography.htm