Monday, October 6, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser - Day 7
What is the purpose of a rainbow? What should one walk away thinking upon seeing a rainbow?
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser - Day 6
If one is davening in Shul and a friend comes and tells him that there’s a rainbow outside, should he go out and make a Beracha?
Monday, August 25, 2008
Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser - Day 5
If a rainbow appears twice in one day, at two different instances, does one have to make a Beracha twice?
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser - Day 4
If one sees a rainbow in the sky, should he tell his friends that are with him?
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser - Day 3
If one sees a rainbow reflected in the water, does he still make a Beracha?
Friday, August 22, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser Part II
A young man approached Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser with an interesting sheiloh. He davens at a certain shul that has benches with an open compartment all along the back where people put away their chumashim and siddurim when they are done using them. Naturally, a number of the seforim are invariably put in upside down. Is he obligated to stop by each one and turn them right-side up. There are occasions when it can take a considerable amount of time to walk through the bais medrash fixing each sefer.
Is a person mechuyav to check all the seforim, or can one merely avert his gaze and not look for problems as he walks through the bais medrash?
When a person finds a sefer that is turned upside down, he should reverse it to its proper position. When the Maharil would find a sefer turned wrong side up, he would turn it around and kiss it.
Even if it will take some time for him to complete the task, he should still do it, because it is considered kovod haTorah.
It is interesting to note that it is not permitted to turn a sefer over on its pages. The Chidah writes that he has seen a number of people who, upon getting an aliyah to the Sefer Torah, turn over the Chumash that they’re reading on its face. He states “heim asidim litein es hadin – in the future they will be judged concerning this.”
If a number of seforim fall to the ground at once, a person should first pick up all the seforim and then kiss them, so that the seforim should not remain on the floor even for an extra moment.
One should be careful with seforim and siddurim that were not printed under Jewish auspices. Many have suggested that these seforim should not be used. certainly not a sefer or siddur that had been printed on Shabbos.
The Igros Moshe addresses books that were printed by missionaries that contain pesukim. These should be discarded and not be allowed to remain in the house even temporarily.
The Chayei Odom cites that a sefer should not be bound by using pages of old seforim. I was once learning these halachos with a young man who could not understand how a sefer could be bound in this way. I then reversed the Sefer Chayei Odom that I was learning, showed him the binding inside the spine of the sefer and, lo and behold, there were pages from an old sefer used to bind that copy of the Sefer Chayei Odom!
Concerning utilizing seforim for other purposes, the Avnei Nezer writes in his teshuvos on Yoreh Dei’ah, that a person has to be careful not to use the pages of sifrei kodesh for any mundane function. Sometimes an individual may be looking for a place to hide something valuable or important, and it would seem as though an obscure sefer on the top shelf would be the perfect place. This, of course, is not permitted.
The Kaf HaChayim writes that a person should not hide a pen or other object in seforim. If a person is correcting the print in a sefer, then it is permissible to leave a knife, pen, or ink on the sefer in order to have the materials necessary to correct it in an efficient manner.
Some have the practice of placing hairs of their beard that have fallen out between the pages of the sefer. The Sheilos U’Teshuvos Torah Lishmoh writes that it is a bizoyon, an embarrassment, to the sefer to do so. The next person who opens the sefer and finds the hairs will be repulsed by it -- the exact opposite reaction that one should have when opening a sefer. He includes in this even one’s personal seforim, private property that is used exclusively by the owner himself. The Torah Lishmoh states that a heilige sefer is not a sack of genizah. The Sheilos U’Teshuvos Bais Yisroel relates a maaseh in which a niftar appeared in a dream to his son and cautioned him to gather all the hairs that he had placed in his seforim.
One should not write or doodle on the margins of the pages of the sefer, unless they are chiddushim or writing that has to do with their learning.
It is certainly permissible to use a “bookmark” and leave it in a sefer so that a person will remember where he last left off. The bookmark should be plain, however, without any type of secular message.
If one receives a sefer in the mail that was not requested, he is not obligated to pay for it. The Maharsham paskens in his Sheilos U’Teshuvos that the recipient is not even obligated to pay the return postage for the sefer. It is known that when HaGaon HaRav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt”l would receive a sefer in the mail, he would inquire as to its cost, record the amount inside the sefer and make sure that the mechaber received the money.
Also included in kovod seforim, one is also obligated to restore seforim lying around, or those outside of the bais medrash, to their proper places.
When a sefer has not been used for a period of time dust will gather. One should try to gently remove the dust from the seforim. When one returns a sefer to the shelf one should do it in a gentle and refined manner, not throwing the sefer back onto the shelf. Anyone who is mechabed the Torah, will himself be honored by the briyos.
On Erev Rosh Hashonoh 1940, the Nazis y”s entered the city of Kamenitz, where Reb Boruch Ber Leibowitz lived. It was well known that the first people to be rounded up would be the roshei hayeshiva and the rabbonim. One of the talmidim of the yeshiva was able to persuade a local official to allow the rosh yeshiva to escape. They found R’ Boruch Ber at his home, in his room together with his seforim. The talmidim rushed in and told the rebbi that they had secured his safe passage and he must leave at once. Reb Boruch Ber heard them, but he was unable to leave. It was pikuach nefesh, a matter of life or death, He asked the bochurim to please allow him to sit alone with his seforim just for a short while. He looked at his seforim with great love, every sefer – how he had pored over it, and how he gained chochmas haTorah from them. How was it possible to leave his seforim? He rose from his seat. He took out the Rashba and started turning the pages of the Rashba. He looked at the letters, the chiddushim, the foundations of Shas. He took out the Rambam, the Tur, the Ketzos HaChoshen, the Ritva. How could he possibly tear himself away from them? Half an hour passed. The talmidim came knocking at the door. There was no answer. They opened the door slightly and they saw the rebbi longing for his seforim. The talmidim said to him, “Rebbi, we have to go!” He answered, “I’m not able to.” A strange silence prevailed in the room. The talmidim said to each other, “This is pikuach nefesh. We must take our rebbi.” The talmidim stood on either side of their rebbi, lifted him slightly, and then led him gently away, while tears flowed freely from their eyes.
Is a person mechuyav to check all the seforim, or can one merely avert his gaze and not look for problems as he walks through the bais medrash?
When a person finds a sefer that is turned upside down, he should reverse it to its proper position. When the Maharil would find a sefer turned wrong side up, he would turn it around and kiss it.
Even if it will take some time for him to complete the task, he should still do it, because it is considered kovod haTorah.
It is interesting to note that it is not permitted to turn a sefer over on its pages. The Chidah writes that he has seen a number of people who, upon getting an aliyah to the Sefer Torah, turn over the Chumash that they’re reading on its face. He states “heim asidim litein es hadin – in the future they will be judged concerning this.”
If a number of seforim fall to the ground at once, a person should first pick up all the seforim and then kiss them, so that the seforim should not remain on the floor even for an extra moment.
One should be careful with seforim and siddurim that were not printed under Jewish auspices. Many have suggested that these seforim should not be used. certainly not a sefer or siddur that had been printed on Shabbos.
The Igros Moshe addresses books that were printed by missionaries that contain pesukim. These should be discarded and not be allowed to remain in the house even temporarily.
The Chayei Odom cites that a sefer should not be bound by using pages of old seforim. I was once learning these halachos with a young man who could not understand how a sefer could be bound in this way. I then reversed the Sefer Chayei Odom that I was learning, showed him the binding inside the spine of the sefer and, lo and behold, there were pages from an old sefer used to bind that copy of the Sefer Chayei Odom!
Concerning utilizing seforim for other purposes, the Avnei Nezer writes in his teshuvos on Yoreh Dei’ah, that a person has to be careful not to use the pages of sifrei kodesh for any mundane function. Sometimes an individual may be looking for a place to hide something valuable or important, and it would seem as though an obscure sefer on the top shelf would be the perfect place. This, of course, is not permitted.
The Kaf HaChayim writes that a person should not hide a pen or other object in seforim. If a person is correcting the print in a sefer, then it is permissible to leave a knife, pen, or ink on the sefer in order to have the materials necessary to correct it in an efficient manner.
Some have the practice of placing hairs of their beard that have fallen out between the pages of the sefer. The Sheilos U’Teshuvos Torah Lishmoh writes that it is a bizoyon, an embarrassment, to the sefer to do so. The next person who opens the sefer and finds the hairs will be repulsed by it -- the exact opposite reaction that one should have when opening a sefer. He includes in this even one’s personal seforim, private property that is used exclusively by the owner himself. The Torah Lishmoh states that a heilige sefer is not a sack of genizah. The Sheilos U’Teshuvos Bais Yisroel relates a maaseh in which a niftar appeared in a dream to his son and cautioned him to gather all the hairs that he had placed in his seforim.
One should not write or doodle on the margins of the pages of the sefer, unless they are chiddushim or writing that has to do with their learning.
It is certainly permissible to use a “bookmark” and leave it in a sefer so that a person will remember where he last left off. The bookmark should be plain, however, without any type of secular message.
If one receives a sefer in the mail that was not requested, he is not obligated to pay for it. The Maharsham paskens in his Sheilos U’Teshuvos that the recipient is not even obligated to pay the return postage for the sefer. It is known that when HaGaon HaRav Yaakov Kamenetsky zt”l would receive a sefer in the mail, he would inquire as to its cost, record the amount inside the sefer and make sure that the mechaber received the money.
Also included in kovod seforim, one is also obligated to restore seforim lying around, or those outside of the bais medrash, to their proper places.
When a sefer has not been used for a period of time dust will gather. One should try to gently remove the dust from the seforim. When one returns a sefer to the shelf one should do it in a gentle and refined manner, not throwing the sefer back onto the shelf. Anyone who is mechabed the Torah, will himself be honored by the briyos.
On Erev Rosh Hashonoh 1940, the Nazis y”s entered the city of Kamenitz, where Reb Boruch Ber Leibowitz lived. It was well known that the first people to be rounded up would be the roshei hayeshiva and the rabbonim. One of the talmidim of the yeshiva was able to persuade a local official to allow the rosh yeshiva to escape. They found R’ Boruch Ber at his home, in his room together with his seforim. The talmidim rushed in and told the rebbi that they had secured his safe passage and he must leave at once. Reb Boruch Ber heard them, but he was unable to leave. It was pikuach nefesh, a matter of life or death, He asked the bochurim to please allow him to sit alone with his seforim just for a short while. He looked at his seforim with great love, every sefer – how he had pored over it, and how he gained chochmas haTorah from them. How was it possible to leave his seforim? He rose from his seat. He took out the Rashba and started turning the pages of the Rashba. He looked at the letters, the chiddushim, the foundations of Shas. He took out the Rambam, the Tur, the Ketzos HaChoshen, the Ritva. How could he possibly tear himself away from them? Half an hour passed. The talmidim came knocking at the door. There was no answer. They opened the door slightly and they saw the rebbi longing for his seforim. The talmidim said to him, “Rebbi, we have to go!” He answered, “I’m not able to.” A strange silence prevailed in the room. The talmidim said to each other, “This is pikuach nefesh. We must take our rebbi.” The talmidim stood on either side of their rebbi, lifted him slightly, and then led him gently away, while tears flowed freely from their eyes.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
HALACHOS B’CHOL YOM
Recently a father asked Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser the following sheiloh. He was sitting at the Shabbos seudah with the family gathered around the table. As he started singing lively zemiros, he began to tap on a sefer that was on the table in front of him. His young son, 4-1/2 years old, looked up at him in wonderment, and said, “Totty, the sefer is heilig!” It didn’t seem right to the son that the father was tapping on a sefer.
The father repeated the story to Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser and asked whether his young son had indeed raised a valid point.
Kovod seforim is something of major import. The kovod that one has for a sefer is really the kovod that one has for limud Torah, for talmidei chachomim, and even the Torah itself! The basis of our halachos is derived from Mesechta Eruvin 98a:
Hoyoh korei b’rosh hagag … if one was reading on top of a roof, which is a reshus hayachid (a private domain), and one end of the book rolled from his hand into the reshus harabbim (the public domain) below … he should turn it over on its written side so that the lettering is not exposed.
Rashi says because it is an embarrassment for the sefer to lie open and be exposed to the streets, therefore he should turn the side with the letters to the wall.
The Gemara asks: Is it permitted to turn sifrei kodesh on their written side? The Braisa teaches us that those who write Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzos were not allowed to turn the writing face-down. But rather, a person should spread a garment over it. The Gemara answers that it was not possible to cover this particular sefer because there was no garment readily available that was large enough. Therefore, in order to avoid disgrace to the sefer, it’s better that he does not leave the writing face-up.
In Yoreh Dei’ah Siman 277 we learn that if a person wrote a page in fresh ink and he wants to leave it to dry, he should not turn the page with the writing side face-down, even though his intent is that dirt should not come upon the writing. It is nevertheless considered to be degrading and therefore one should rather place a covering on the page for protection.
The Taz in Yoreh De’ah Siman 271 makes a strong statement concerning kedushas haseforim. “Whoever is lenient regarding this matter, in the future will have to give din v’cheshbon.”
In the Sefer Maavir Yabok it is written that seforim that are published have the kedusha of a sefer that was written with a quill. Furthermore, a person should not do anything in the room where there are seforim that would be considered disrespectful to the seforim, unless the sefer is enclosed in a kli toch kli – in two coverings -- or if there is a mechitzah of 10 tefochim between the person and the seforim.
The Sefer Yeshuas Chochmah writes that there are those who are noheg to put a sefer on top of an open sefer when they wish to interrupt their learning. He writes that this is forbidden and cites the Pischei Teshuvah in Yoreh De’ah Siman 282, in the name of the Chamudei Daniel, that it is forbidden to put a sefer into another sefer in order to hold one’s place so that he will not have to find it at a later point.
Some say that if closing the sefer will cause bitul Torah then it may be possible to utilize another sefer to keep one’s place.
This is according to the Taz in Yoreh De’ah 282 that forbids putting a sefer on top of another sefer in order to elevate the sefer, for that is making mundane use out of a sefer, as if it were a piece of wood or a stone.
However, the Mogen Avrohom writes that it is permissible to take a sefer and put it under another sefer to raise it.
If the sefer was already on the table and the person places his sefer on top of it in order to elevate his sefer, then it’s permissible. However, one should be careful about actually taking a sefer to place it underneath.
In general, one should be careful about leaving a sefer open when he leaves the room where he is learning. In the Sefer Zikoron of HaGaon R’ Chaim Kanievsky, shlita, he writes that leaving a sefer open is one of the things that a person should be careful about because it can bring a person to shichecha – forgetfulness. Therefore, a person should remember to close the sefer, or at least to cover it, when he is going to take leave his sefer. This accomplishes two things: (1) It is proper kovod for the kedusha of the sefer and (2) it will not cause forgetfulness.
It is written in the Sheilos U’Teshuvos of the Yaskil Avdi that it is forbidden to leave a sefer open even for a short time. He writes that this is even for the amount of time that it would take ink to dry. He cites the Shach that there is a malach named Shomer Dafim that is appointed over those who leave a sefer open, who causes one to forget. It would seem as though this malach looks for opportunities to fulfill his mission. And as soon as he sees it, he recognizes his opportunity to act.
There is a question as to when this particular din applies. Is it merely if a person needs to leave the room for a moment, and he will certainly return immediately? What if he merely needs to get up to search for a different sefer? Or is it if he goes outside of the bais medrash?
The Aruch HaShulchan writes in 277 it’s specifically when a person goes out to the street. Then a person needs to cover the sefer or close it. However, a person who goes from room to room, or even from the courtyard to the street, not for an extended period of time, does not have to worry. It depends upon what the person is going to do when he leaves the sefer, i.e., he is leaving only for a few moments, and his intent is to come back and resume his learning.
Before the fame of the great tzaddik, the Rebbe R’ Elimelech of Lizhensk, had spread throughout the world, a man who had just finished davening took a seat at a small desk on the side of the bais medrash. These were the old-fashioned desks that used to have a compartment underneath the seat. The man noticed what looked like a sefer sticking out from under the seat. He took it out and looked somewhat skeptically at the new sefer. What is this Noam Elimelech? “Who is the one who wrote it?” he asked one of the talmidei chachomim who happened to be passing by. The talmid chochom answered him, “If you would know who the Noam Elimelech is, you would put the sefer on top of the chair, and you would crawl into the compartment!”
The father repeated the story to Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser and asked whether his young son had indeed raised a valid point.
Kovod seforim is something of major import. The kovod that one has for a sefer is really the kovod that one has for limud Torah, for talmidei chachomim, and even the Torah itself! The basis of our halachos is derived from Mesechta Eruvin 98a:
Hoyoh korei b’rosh hagag … if one was reading on top of a roof, which is a reshus hayachid (a private domain), and one end of the book rolled from his hand into the reshus harabbim (the public domain) below … he should turn it over on its written side so that the lettering is not exposed.
Rashi says because it is an embarrassment for the sefer to lie open and be exposed to the streets, therefore he should turn the side with the letters to the wall.
The Gemara asks: Is it permitted to turn sifrei kodesh on their written side? The Braisa teaches us that those who write Torah, Tefillin and Mezuzos were not allowed to turn the writing face-down. But rather, a person should spread a garment over it. The Gemara answers that it was not possible to cover this particular sefer because there was no garment readily available that was large enough. Therefore, in order to avoid disgrace to the sefer, it’s better that he does not leave the writing face-up.
In Yoreh Dei’ah Siman 277 we learn that if a person wrote a page in fresh ink and he wants to leave it to dry, he should not turn the page with the writing side face-down, even though his intent is that dirt should not come upon the writing. It is nevertheless considered to be degrading and therefore one should rather place a covering on the page for protection.
The Taz in Yoreh De’ah Siman 271 makes a strong statement concerning kedushas haseforim. “Whoever is lenient regarding this matter, in the future will have to give din v’cheshbon.”
In the Sefer Maavir Yabok it is written that seforim that are published have the kedusha of a sefer that was written with a quill. Furthermore, a person should not do anything in the room where there are seforim that would be considered disrespectful to the seforim, unless the sefer is enclosed in a kli toch kli – in two coverings -- or if there is a mechitzah of 10 tefochim between the person and the seforim.
The Sefer Yeshuas Chochmah writes that there are those who are noheg to put a sefer on top of an open sefer when they wish to interrupt their learning. He writes that this is forbidden and cites the Pischei Teshuvah in Yoreh De’ah Siman 282, in the name of the Chamudei Daniel, that it is forbidden to put a sefer into another sefer in order to hold one’s place so that he will not have to find it at a later point.
Some say that if closing the sefer will cause bitul Torah then it may be possible to utilize another sefer to keep one’s place.
This is according to the Taz in Yoreh De’ah 282 that forbids putting a sefer on top of another sefer in order to elevate the sefer, for that is making mundane use out of a sefer, as if it were a piece of wood or a stone.
However, the Mogen Avrohom writes that it is permissible to take a sefer and put it under another sefer to raise it.
If the sefer was already on the table and the person places his sefer on top of it in order to elevate his sefer, then it’s permissible. However, one should be careful about actually taking a sefer to place it underneath.
In general, one should be careful about leaving a sefer open when he leaves the room where he is learning. In the Sefer Zikoron of HaGaon R’ Chaim Kanievsky, shlita, he writes that leaving a sefer open is one of the things that a person should be careful about because it can bring a person to shichecha – forgetfulness. Therefore, a person should remember to close the sefer, or at least to cover it, when he is going to take leave his sefer. This accomplishes two things: (1) It is proper kovod for the kedusha of the sefer and (2) it will not cause forgetfulness.
It is written in the Sheilos U’Teshuvos of the Yaskil Avdi that it is forbidden to leave a sefer open even for a short time. He writes that this is even for the amount of time that it would take ink to dry. He cites the Shach that there is a malach named Shomer Dafim that is appointed over those who leave a sefer open, who causes one to forget. It would seem as though this malach looks for opportunities to fulfill his mission. And as soon as he sees it, he recognizes his opportunity to act.
There is a question as to when this particular din applies. Is it merely if a person needs to leave the room for a moment, and he will certainly return immediately? What if he merely needs to get up to search for a different sefer? Or is it if he goes outside of the bais medrash?
The Aruch HaShulchan writes in 277 it’s specifically when a person goes out to the street. Then a person needs to cover the sefer or close it. However, a person who goes from room to room, or even from the courtyard to the street, not for an extended period of time, does not have to worry. It depends upon what the person is going to do when he leaves the sefer, i.e., he is leaving only for a few moments, and his intent is to come back and resume his learning.
Before the fame of the great tzaddik, the Rebbe R’ Elimelech of Lizhensk, had spread throughout the world, a man who had just finished davening took a seat at a small desk on the side of the bais medrash. These were the old-fashioned desks that used to have a compartment underneath the seat. The man noticed what looked like a sefer sticking out from under the seat. He took it out and looked somewhat skeptically at the new sefer. What is this Noam Elimelech? “Who is the one who wrote it?” he asked one of the talmidei chachomim who happened to be passing by. The talmid chochom answered him, “If you would know who the Noam Elimelech is, you would put the sefer on top of the chair, and you would crawl into the compartment!”
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