Courting Disaster
The Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to recognize Reform and Conservative conversions in Israel is really about recognizing Reform and Conservative Judaism as legitimate voices of Torah from Sinai.
But they aren’t, and they don’t even pretend to be. In Queens County, NY, you can view the results of their bankrupt doctrines in the dozens of Conservative and Reform Temples that have been sold to Asian churches. The Jews who built and flocked to these temples in the 1950s and 1960s have seen their children intermarry at a catastrophic rate.
But considering the times we’re living in, those seeking to live in Israel don’t even have to seek a Reform or Conservative conversion. All they have to do is self-identify as Jews and demand citizenship. After all, self-identifying is all it takes these days for a boy to be declared a girl.
David Ferster
He Sounded a Different Tune Back Then
Governor Cuomo doesn’t exactly practice what he preaches. He’s asking New Yorkers now not to pass judgment on him until State Attorney General Letitia James completes her investigation of sexual harassment charges leveled against him.
But remember the Supreme Court hearings of Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh? Cuomo was not so charitable then.
Larry Penner
Great Neck, NY
Blind Sheep
Rabbi Shmuel Butman is spot on in writing that “our neshomos and all spiritual affairs can never be subjugated in exile.”
We must remember to whom we bow, whom we fear, and whom we obey. In that vein: Until when will people unthinkingly accept the lies they are fed by “experts” on Covid-19?
When abortion clinics are open for business but houses of worship are not; when large franchises are deemed essential but small businesses are not; and when a man I know is intubated after testing negative and awakens to find the plug has been pulled on his respirator – it becomes patently clear that the fascistic restrictions imposed on us have nothing whatsoever to do with a virus whose chances of survival is above 99 percent for almost everyone.
We need more people like Mordechai today before Moshiach’s arrival when the Gemara (Sotah 49b) says truth will be hidden, with the Maharsha commenting that people of truth will live secluded, away from others.
I thought we Jews were the people of the book and welcomed intelligent discussion of differing views. Instead, we have become people who follow government orders and enslave our neshamos.
Yisroela Joran, PhD
Mistaken Minhag?
In his February 19th “Business in Halacha” column, Rabbi Meir Orlian notes that Yoav, King David’s general, killed every Amalekite male while sparing the females. Confronted by David, Yoav explained that his teacher had (mistakenly) taught him “timcheh es zachar (the males of) Amalek,” rather than “timcheh es zeicher (the memory of) Amalek.”
This aggadah appears in Bava Basra 21a, and while Rabbi Orlian’s presentation of it is common, I believe it raises a serious question. Yoav’s teacher could hardly have been an ignoramus, so how could he have confused “zachar” and “zeicher” – two words that sound quite different from one another? Moreover, the expression “zachar Amalek” is grammatically clumsy.
There is an alternate interpretation of this Gemara, which I believe is more reasonable. The Gemara is not printed with nekudos, so it seems likely that Yoav’s teacher didn’t mispronounce “zeicher.” Rather, Yoav mistakenly heard his teacher say “zecher,” which sounds very similar to “zeicher.” (Indeed, today’s Sefardim don’t differentiate between a segol and a tzeirei.)
Why would hearing the word as “zecher” lead Yoav to kill only the males? Because if we take a noun such as “ashan” (smoke) and connect it with another word, it becomes “eshen” (see Shemos 19:18 – “eshen hakivshan“). Similarly, “zachar” (male) connected to another word likely would become “zecher.” Thus, Yoav, thinking that his rebbe said “zecher,” thought he should kill only the males.
Many synagogues read the word “z-ch-r” in Parshas Zachar twice, first as “zeicher” and then as “zecher.” But if the above analysis – which is advanced by Rav Meshulam Roth, zt”l, in his Besoret Eliyahu – is correct, by saying “zecher,” we are changing the meaning of the verse to Yoav’s incorrect understanding of it!
Additionally, it’s clear that the traditional way of pronouncing this word is “zeicher” and that the Ashkenazic custom to repeat this word as “zecher” is of fairly recent vintage. I would therefore humbly recommend that shuls that repeat this word reconsider their practice.
Avi Goldstein
Far Rockaway, NY