TEFILA: The basics of the ‘amida

The ‘amida or Shemona-Esre –also called by our Rabbis “Tefila”– is the most important prayer. It is said every day, three times a day, morning, afternoon, and evening. When we pray the ‘amida we are talking directly to God. There is nothing more significant for a human being that communicating with his or her Creator.
FOCUS: We should not start praying the ‘amida unprepared or unfocused. The ‘amida requires ‘kobed rosh’, a serious effort of concentration. In preparation for the ‘amida we must visualize and internalize that we are standing in front of the King of Kings. Literally, ‘amida means: “The prayer which is said while standing”. In the Jewish protocol a servant stands in front of his King, with his feet together and keeping his head a little down as a sign of humility and submission to the will of the Monarch.
POSTURE: Strictly speaking, the posture we adopt in the ‘amida conveys: “I’m standing at Your service, waiting for Your command”. For this reason, many would recite the ‘amida with their hands together, on the chest, the right hand holding the left closed fist.
ARTICULATION: The ‘amida should be said articulating the words. Articulation -among other things- facilitates a better concentration (=kavana). We should say the ‘amida whispering it to ourselves (lahash). So low no one else could hear our voice, and loud enough we could hear our own whispering.
KAVANA: When saying the ‘amida, we should think and then delve into the meaning of every word. This mental exercise is called Kavana: consciousness / alertness. Distractions or even having a blank mind is not accepted. If we get distracted during the ‘amida, particularly while saying the first berakha, Magen Abraham, we should say the ‘amida again, provided we are sure that this time we will be able to concentrate properly.

 



Maimonides, ‘aboda zara, 11:11: The healing powers of words.

Last week we explained the idea of the hober, a wizard or enchanter who uses spells to invoke supernatural effects (seethis). By “spells” we mean words without any meaning or content, that presumably have a magic effect. 
Although Maimonides empathically rejects the use of magic spells, there is one instance in which something similar to a spell is allowed. The Talmud calls it: “lohesh ‘al hamaka” which means “whispering words to a wound”.  If somebody was bitten by a serpent or a scorpion Maimonides allows that someone else would whisper some words into the wound. Why would Maimonides allow this seemingly magical practice, so similar to spells? 
Maimonides explicitly recognizes that those words don’t have any magical power (and, by the way, for this practice to be permitted, the one who whispers must also believe that there is no magic in these words).  Maimonides understands that “whispering to the wound” has a psychological effect on the patient,  helping him or her to calm down and regain composure. This is critically important in the cases brought by Maimonides, when someone is bitten by a snake or a scorpion. In these cases the victim/patient is in a state of panic, believing that the poison will soon cause her death. In a state of panic his blood circulation will accelerate, and the poison would act faster. However, if at that time someone whispers some soft words, those word will have the effect of calming down the patient, until help or perhaps an antidote arrives.    
To better understand Maimonides idea let us see what the Psychotherapist Dr. Judith Acosta, an expert in neurobiology and the author of the book “Verbal first aid”, explains. Dr Acosta trains first responders in scenarios of car accidents, fires, acts of terror or natural disasters. She argues that the first words said to the severely wounded victims are crucial. Words can calm the patient and prolong or even save his life “With our words we can address autonomic function in ways that can help them [the patients] be calm, stop or slow bleeding, reduce an inflammatory response, lower their blood pressure or soothe a broken heart.” 
A last point.  Althought Maimonides authorizes “lilhosh ‘al hamaka” he strongly opposes and severely condemns whispering onto the wound words of Tora. Why?  We will see B’H next week. 
Dedicated to the memory of Dr Albert Moghrabi, Abraham ben Aida, z”l. 






SHABBAT: Removing snow on Shabbat

In most Israeli cities snow is not very common.  This year, however, there were large amounts of snow, especially in Yerushalayim, and many rabbis referred to the question of removing snow on Shabbat from our front doors, doorways or any other paths that need to be used on Shabbat.  This HOTD will review three of the main concerns discussed as possible reasons as to why one can/can’t handle snow on Shabbat. 
1. The first concern is muqse. Muqse, defines those elements which we cannot handle on Shabbat, even when we are not doing any forbidden action with them (examples: money, a cellphone, a Tefilin, etc.).    And why we could suppose that snow would be muqse on Shabbat? Because one of the categories of muqse includes nolad, (=a newborn thing). Something that was not there before Shabbat becomes automatically muqse on Shabbat. For example, if a chicken would lay an egg on Shabbat, that egg cannot be handled (tiltul) on Shabbat because it is muqse.  When it snows on Shabbat, it seems that the same principle should apply: we should not remove snow because it is considered nolad/muqse…   However, according to the Shulhan Arukh (328:8, 320:10-11 or Bet Yosef at the end of 310)  rain, hail or by the same principle snow, which falls on Shabbat, is not muqse. Because it is considered a natural extension of expected freshwater. So, from the point of view of muqse, it will be no problematic to handle snow. Additionally, and at least for those who would follow the ruling of the Rama (308:6), even if one would considered snow muqse (like Iggerot Moshe  23:36) it will be permitted to remove snow because for Rama it is permitted to remove a muqse that can become a potential hazard for the public.
 
2. The next point is that according to some rabbis (leb abraham) clearing snow would be considered an strenuous physical effort which should be prevented on Shabbat. This argument can also be rejected because not every strenuous physical effort is forbidden on Shabbat. For example in case of need we could move a big table from one side of the room to the other side, etc.  
3. The last concern is that removing snow might lead to carrying outside (hotsa-a, ha’abara) in an area with no ‘erub.  This is probably the most serious concern because it potentially involves a Biblical (mideOrayta) transgression.  In any case, when there is no ‘erub, snow still could be removed from our doorways, etc., provided we would not be carrying the snow or the shovel for more than 6 feet (4 amot). 
NOTE: In our particular case (NYC) today, since it snowed on Friday, we obviously should not leave the removing of the snow deliberately for Shabbat.


Rabbi Ya’aqob Sasportas (1610-1698)

Rabbi Ya’aqob Sasportas was born in Oran, Algeria, in 1610. A prodigious child, at the age of eighteen he was elected as the Dayan  of the city Tlemcen, also in Algeria.  Later, he also served the communities of Fez and Sali in Morocco. In 1664 he was offered to be the rabbi of the newly established Portuguese community of London. According to the famous hebraist and poet David Franco Mendes, Rabbi Sasportas had accompanied Rabbi Menashe ben Israel to London in 1655 when the latter requested (and obtained) from Oliver Cromwell the permission for the Jews to reestablish themselves in England (In 1290, King Edward I issued an edict expelling all Jews from England. The expulsion edict remained in force until 1655). Rabbi Sasportas served as a rabbi in the Sephardic communities of Hamburg and Amsterdam, where he officiated also as the head of the Yeshiba Keter Tora and later on  of the famous Yeshiba ‘Ets Hayim.
Between 1665 and 1666 many (probably most) Jews believed that Shabbetai Zebi was the Messiah Jews were waiting for since the times of the destruction of the Bet haMiqdash. Althought it might be difficult for us today to believe, many Rabbis –Ashkenazim and especially Sephardim–naively supported Shabbetai Zebi’s claims. The Sabbetaian movement, needless to say, caused tremendous damage, financial, political and physical to the Jews and it resulted in a great Hilul haShem.  Some religious leaders were a little more cautious. The champion of the fight against the self proclaimed false Messiah was Rabbi Ya’akoq Sasportas (and Rabbi Moshe Hagez). Rabbi Sasportas denounced with very harsh words the falseness of Shabbetai Zebi. Especially by means of letters addressed to the Jews in Europe, North Africa and Middle East. In those letters he unmasked the impostor Mashiah and his entourage and warned the people against joining, supporting or believing in his claims.    Rabbi Sasportas died in Amsterdam in 1698.
Portrait of rabbi Ya’aqob Sasportas, by  Isaac Luttichuys
                       
 
 
 
 
 
 
Some of  his books are
  • Toledot Ya’aqob (Amsterdam, 1652), an index of Biblical passages found in the Talmud Yerushalmi. Similar to Aaron Pesaro’s “Toledot Aharon,” which indexes the pesuqim of the Babylonian Talmud.
  • Ohel Ya’aoob (1737), a book of rabbinical responsa, edited and prefaced by his son Abraham Sasportas;
  • Tsitsat nobel Tsebi (published 1737), a four volumes book denouncing the heretic ideas and practices of  Shabbetai Tsebi and his followers. 
We present  here the book : Kitsur Tsitsat Nobel Tsebi, a summary of the original book, composed by Rabbi Rafael Meldola (see this) published in Odessa, 1867. 



 

 



Modern Rabbis on celebrating New Year’s eve

We have written in previous HOTD about the views of modern orthodox rabbis regarding the celebration of different American holidays. We have seen that all rabbis are very strict in forbidding, for example, the celebration of Halloween; while most would not oppose (and some would even encourage) the celebration of Thanksgiving. The difference between Thanksgiving and Halloween is that the latter has a clear origin in pagan culture and that some of those idolatrous customs are somehow still practiced in its celebration today (see this). 
What about New Year’s eve?
According to Christian tradition, January 1st, is the day of the circumcision of Yeshu (the eighth day counting from December 25), when his name was given to him.  Five centuries ago, the rabbi Terumat Hadeshen and the Rama, both living in Christian countries, classified New Year’s day as a religious gentile holiday (Darkhe Moshe and Rama, Yoreh Deah 148:12). Terumat Hadeshen refers to January First as “the eighth day of Christmas.” He clearly viewed this holiday as ‘religious’ in nature.  For the Jews living in Christian lands Christmas and new Year were not very happy days.  One example:  on New Year’s Day 1577, Pope Gregory XIII decreed that all Roman Jews, under pain of death, must listen attentively to the compulsory Catholic conversion sermon given in Roman synagogues after Friday night services.  On New Year’s Day 1578, Gregory signed into law a tax forcing Jews to pay for the support of a “House of Conversion” to convert Jews to Christianity.  On New Year’s 1581, Gregory ordered his troops to confiscate all sacred literature from the Roman Jewish community. Thousands of Jews were murdered in the campaign (U.S. News and World Report December 23, 1996).
Despite all this, many modern American Rabbis have a more lenient view in regards to New Year’s day. In their opinion New Year’s today has lost entirely its religious overtones and can be rationally explained as a celebration of a new civil calendar’s year, which we all somehow follow, for example, for taxes purposes. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (Iggerot Moshe, Eben Ha’ezer 2:13) writes with regard to New Year’s: “On the question of celebrating any event on a holiday of Gentiles, if the holiday is based on religious beliefs [such as Christmas], such celebrations are prohibited …. even without [a religious intent] . . .  However, the first day of the civil year [January 1] and the day of Thanksgiving are not bound to this prohibition according to the letter of the law. Pious Jews [ba’ale nefesh], however, should be stricter [and avoid its celebration].”   Following Rabbi Feinstein, other rabbis assert that, since the status of New Year’s day has changed in the last three hundred years and in contemporary America there is no religious content on New Year’s Day, and while there might be many problems associated with the way New Year’s is celebrated (drinking, etc.) few would classify it as a religious holiday, since there is a clear secular reason to celebrate the beginning of the new calendar year. 
Most Rabbis I know will not promote and would actually oppose to any public or official commemoration of the New Year’s eve by their congregation.  At the same time, based on some of the above mentioned considerations, they won’t actively preach against its private and sober celebration by individuals, as they would do, for example, with celebrating Halloween.
READ two different opinions on celebrating New Year’s eve. 
Rabbi M. Broyde 
Rabbi Y. Hoffman 


READ
“Better a boycott than a rocket fire” 
Blasting ‘Western ignorance’ on region and questioning Palestinians’ desire for peace, Moshe Ya’alon lays out hard-line stance
By Stuart Winer, form the “Times of Israel”



Maimonides on ‘aboda zara: What’s wrong with Harry Potter?

MT ‘aboda zara 11:10:  “Who should be considered an enchanter? The one that cast spells [or pronounces words] that have nor meaning in a regular language, nor any intrinsic content, and he imagines that these [magic] words will have some effects [or powers]”.   
A spell, charm or incantation is a set of  unintelligible words or a formula used to invoke some magical effects. Magicians, heathen priests and wizards in the ancient pagan world would use spells to cure, to protect and to harm (remember Maleficent and the Sleeping Beauty?) . 
Casting spells was such a popular practice that you could hardly find the performance of any act of magic which would not involve the use of incantations. Magical speech was a ritual act of equal or even greater importance to the performance of non-verbal acts of magic. According to Bronisław Malinowski the pagans believed that  “the knowledge of the right words… gives man a power over and above his own limited field of personal action.” 
The Tora calls the person who cast magic spells hober (see Deut. 18:11) and this practice is one of the idolatrous crimes forbidden by the Tora.   Judaism believes that  nothing could be achieved by magic or supernatural means. Everything is regulated by the will of God. For Maimonides the enchanters were mere charlatans who deceived people (specially people in despair!) giving them false hopes and unrealistic expectations.
One might think that in our modern world incantations, as well as all other sorts of idolatrous practices, are not as popular as they used to be. That might be true in many areas of life except for the best selling book series in the history of humankind: “Harry Potter”. In Harry Potter, a children book, virtually all protagonists use spells, usually with the help of a magic wand, to acquire some sorts of superpowers.   As we explain, the performance of magical spells and other procedures was seeing by our Tora and our Prophets (see for example Eze. Ch. 13) as a distinctive sign of godlessness. From this point of view, Harry Potter might be a good educational tool for us and our children to illustrate, in an ingenuous background, the ideas and beliefs of ancient pagans, against which Judaism fought for centuries.  







Hilkhot ‘aboda zara 11:8: Maimonides vs. Astrology

Astrology,  the supposed influence of the stars on human events, is alluded to in the Hebrew Bible more than once.  In Lev. 19:26 and Deut. 18:10 the Tora warns about idolatrous practices like theme’onen (=the seer of times).  The prophets of Israel were also aware of this very popular pagan practice among the Babylonians and virtually all other ancient civilizations, and they scoffed at the  “star-gazers”  or  hobere ha-shamayim, “The readers of heavens”. Isa. 47:13 and Jer. 10:2. 
In the Talmud astrology is called itstagninut. This is also the term used by Maimonides in Mishne Tora.  In Hilkhot ‘aboda zara 11:8 he writes: “Who should be considered a me’onen? The one that predicts the times, saying through astrology (itstagninut) such-and-such a day will be a good day… or a bad day, such-and-such a day will be auspicious for performing this task, and such-and-such a day will be bad for doing that task, etc.” It is forbidden by the Tora, as part of the prohibitions against idolatrous practices, to tell fortunes, to seek astrologers or fortunetellers and even worse, to act upon an astrological sign or warning.
To clarify even further Maimonides’ position on this matter I’m quoting his words in Perush haMishnayot, ‘aboda zara, 4:9: “Astrology… is not as some people believe, a credible science which the Tora wished to forbid. It is a nonsensical superstition… by which people attribute to the stars imaginary powers… [astrology] together with witchcraft, demonology, incantations, divination and summoning the spirits of the dead represent the essence of idolatry (‘aboda zara)”. 
Upon being asked by the rabbis of southern France whether it was possible to combine astrology with Judaism Maimonides replied that he had explored the principles of astrology and concluded that “[astrology]… is no science at all, but mere foolery and superstition …  I well know that you may seek and find in the Talmud and Midrashim isolated sayings implying that the stars at the time of a man’s birth will have a certain effect upon him… but this need not perplex you”.  The supposition that the fate of a man could be dependent upon the constellations was ridiculed by him. He argued, furthermore, that such theories were devised to rob life of purpose and to make people dependent on the whims of the readers of heaven.







The Tenth of Tebet and ezra haSofer

This coming Friday, December 13th we will observe the Tenth of Tebet, a fast day which remind us of three tragic events.  The main event we remember on this day is the onset of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuhadnezzar, the King of Babylonia.  But there are two other events that we also recall on this fast day. The translation of the Tora to Greek (which occurred on the 8th of Tebet,  see this) and the death of Ezra haSofer (9th of Tebet).  
 
Seventy years after the destruction of the Bet haMiqdash, approximately the year 516 BCE, the Jews were allowed to come back to Erets Israel by the Persian Emperor Cyrus. Roughly forty thousand Jews were led back to Israel by Zerubabel and years later  by Nehemia and Ezra the Scribe. 
 
Ezra had the tremendous responsibility of reeducating the Jews who, after two or three generations in exile without Jewish institutions (schools or synagogues) and living, and in many cases marrying, with the local population.  Most Jews had forgotten the Tora and its laws, and adopted many customs and values from the surrounding Babylonian culture. Ezra established  the Anshe Keneset haGedola, the first Jewish Parliament, composed of 120 scholars and prophets.  With the court that he presided, Ezra issued many new rulings to reclaim and revive Jewish values and reeducate the Jewish people.  He increased the days of public reading of the Tora,  composed the text of the Amida (main prayer), adapted the names of the Hebrew months and the fonts of the Tora-text, etc.  Ezra also had to make very tough decisions, like excluding the Samaritans, a semi-pagan mixed population living in Israel from the times of the destruction of the Bet haMiqdash, who reclaimed to be considered as Jews. Thanks to his wisdom and courage the Jewish people was able to survive and reestablish again in Israel as the Nation of God.  Ezra was also considered by the Rabbis as the historical link between the written Tora and the oral Tora, which was forgotten in the long Babylonian captivity and retrieved by Ezra the Scribe. Together with Nehemia, they also concluded the building of the second Bet haMiqdash and the protective wall around the city. Ezra died on a 9th of Tebet. He was regarded by our Rabbis as second to Moshe Rabbenu.
IMPORTANT NOTICE 
about the 
FAST DAY TOMORROW
The Tenth of Tebet is the only fast that might fall on a Friday. In NYC the fast will begin tomorrow morning, Friday Dec. 13th, at 6:16am.  We will be receiving Shabbat while fasting and we will break the fast with the Kiddush, which cannot be said before 4.49pm, NYT.  Minha service this Friday will probably be early than a normal Friday, because we will have Tora reading and birkat Kohanim.  Follow your community’s calendar and notifications.

 



The Tenth of Tebet and the Septuagint

This coming Friday, December 13th, we will observe the Tenth of Tebet, a fast day which remind us of three tragic events.  The main event we recall on this day is the onset of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuḥadnezzar, the King of Babylonia.  But there were other two events that we also remember in this day, the rendition of the Tora into the Greek language and the death of Ezra haSofer. 
On the 8th of Tebet (=today), approximately in the year 300 BCE, in Alexandria, Egypt, King Ptolemy ordered 72 Jewish scholars to translate the Tora (the five Books of Moshe or Pentateuch) to Greek. King Ptolemy sought to disprove the existence of an unified Jewish tradition to find an excuse to humiliate the Jews. The 70 scholars were placed in separate workrooms. Yet, they all translated the Tora in the same exact way.  
This translation of the Tora is known as the Septuagint. Although it was done by prominent Rabbis, the Septuagint is not considered a translation which follows necessarily rabbinical tradition. As explained in Talmud Yerushalmi (Megila 9) in many cases the authors of the Septuagint deliberately deviated from the traditional Jewish understanding of the Tora and adapted the Biblical text to the Greek mentality and sensitivities to please the king and avoid a situation of danger for the Jews 
As a whole, translating the Tora to Greek was considered a dark event by Jewish historiography. Why? Because the new Greek Bible was used to advanced the agenda of the Hellenist Jews who sought to syncretize Greek and Jewish values.  Eventually the Septuagint paved the way for the advancement of non-Jewish “Biblical” religions. Unlike pagan cults which were clearly antagonistic to the Tora, these new religions were now supposedly based on the Jewish Scripture.  The Bible was now reinterpreted and used to justify non-Jewish ideas or beliefs “in the name of the Bible”, all of which caused uncountable tragedies to the Jewish people. 
As Timothy McLay explains, “the Jewish Scriptures as they were known, read and interpreted in the Greek language, provided the basis for much, if not most, of the interpretive context of the New Testament.”
BTW, the official Jewish translation of the Tora is the Targum Onqelos (aka Targum Didan) done ca. 100 CE.



KASHRUT: Meat and fish together

Eating fish and meat together is not restricted by Biblical law. However, the Rabbis considered that mixing fish and meat together could be harmful for one’s health (סכנה).  The Gemara Pesahim (76b) is not explicit about the particular health hazard meat and fish together would trigger. It describes the problem as משום דקשיא לריחא ולדבר אחר . dabar aher, which literally means “something else” is a term which is usually used in the Talmud as a euphemism. It might be indicating thus that the rabbis were describing some type of disease which we are not able to identify today. 
Although Maimonides does not mention this prohibition, the shulhan ‘aruh does (Yore Dea’a 116:2).  Rabbi Yosef Karo writes about it in the chapter where he deals with hazardous foods.  Following Rashi’s opinion, Rabbi Yosef Karo identified the harm triggered by this mixture as tsara’at.  Now, we are not certain what type of disease tsara’at was. And although tsara’at is traditionally understood as a type of leprosy Maimonides explained that tsara’at should not be identified narrowly as leprosy but in a more broadly sense, probably as a general skin disease (MT Tsara’at 16:10). It is possible that eating fish and meat together might cause in some people an allergic reaction. Perhaps, as the famous commentator of the shulhan ‘arukh Magen Abraham said, in our days human nature has changed (נשתנו הטבעים) and people are not affected anymore by this mixture as they used to be affected centuries ago. 
Other rabbis have a completely different interpretation about the physical risks of eating meat and fish together. In their opinion it has to do with the possibility of swallowing a fish-bone hidden in a piece of meat.
In any case, and although contemporary rabbis have not reached a definitive conclusion as to what is (or what was) the physical danger caused by eating fish and meat together, we strictly uphold this restriction, following the rulings of the shulhan ‘arukh (קבלנו הוראות מר”ן).  It is important to clarify that unlike milk and meat, fish and meat may be eaten one after the other at the same meal as separate courses.