Talmud Bavli Hullin 127a-b - translation by Tzvee

D.            Or perhaps it is only [correct to interpret as follows]: “That creeps” — all [creatures] that reproduce, render unclean. [Creatures] that do not reproduce, do not render unclean. I will exclude from this a mouse, half of which is flesh and half dirt that does not reproduce by breeding.

E.            But it is logical [to argue that this is not the case as follows]: [The Torah] declared the weasel unclean and declared the mouse unclean. What is the case regarding the weasel? [The rule applies to] all that are called “weasel.” So too [regarding the] mouse [the rule applies to] all that are called “mouse.” I will include [on this basis] a mouse, half of which is flesh and half dirt.

Talmud Bavli Hullin 126a-b - translation by Tzvee

S.             [126a] And it was taught regarding this: R. Yosé declares clean. To which case does this apply? If you say to the case in the latter text, the first Tanna also declares it clean. Rather it applies to what the first Tanna stated: uncleanness is in it, the house is unclean either because [he held the view that] the way of uncleanness is to exude or because [he held the view that] covered uncleanness does break forth.

T.            And what R. Yosé said to him [was as follows], “What you stated, “the way of uncleanness is to exude” [does not apply] because one can remove it in halves or burn it in its place. And what you stated, “covered uncleanness does break forth” [does not apply because in fact] covered uncleanness does not break forth.

Talmud Bavli Hullin 125a-b - translation by Tzvee

                                                                         9:5

                A.            The marrow bone of the corpse [125a] and the marrow bone of [invalidated] consecrated animals —

                B.            he who touches them,

                C.            whether [they are] stopped up or hollowed out,

                D.            is unclean.

                E.            The marrow bone of carrion and the marrow bone of a creeping thing —

                F.            he who touches them,

                G.            [if they are] stopped up,

                H.            is clean.

                I.             [If they are] hollowed out in any amount at all —

                J.             they impart uncleanness to the one who touches them.

                K.            How do we know that also to the one who carries them [the marrow bones of carrion that they do impart uncleanness]?

                L.            Scripture states, “He who touches” and “he who carries” (Lev. 11:39, 40).

                M.           That which enters the category of touching enters the category of carrying. That which does not enter the category of touching does not enter the category of carrying.

Talmud Bavli Hullin 124a-b - translation by Tzvee

E.            R. Jeremiah objected: [As to] an oven which was made unclean — how do they clean it? One divides it in three [equal] parts and scrapes off the plastering [124a] so that it is on the ground. R. Meir says, “One does not need to scrape off the plastering, and not down to the earth. But one cuts it down [to] within four handbreadths” [M. Kel. 5:7 A-C]. But if he cuts it down [to] within four handbreadths behold it is clean! Why is this the case? Let him maintain that it is sturdy [and can be put back together]!

F.             Said to him Raba, “Consider the view of the rabbis that he scrapes off the plastering so that it is on the ground.” Rather said Raba, “Here is how you should state the matter: [As to] an oven which was made unclean — how do they clean it? All parties agree that one divides it in three [equal] parts and scrapes off the plastering so that it is on the ground.

Talmud Bavli Hullin 123a-b - translation by Tzvee

B.            Said R. Nahman bar Yitzhak, [123a] “Aybo said this. And he stated four [things in his list] and one of them was [the amount of trampling needed for] processing.”

C.            Said R. Yosé b. R. Hanina, “They only taught this rule [that he must go four miles out of his way] if that means he would have to go forward. But if it means he would have to go backward, then they do not make him backtrack even one mile.”

D.            R. Aha bar Jacob said, “Based on this [I would infer] that he does not have to backtrack one mile. Lo, less than one mile he would have to backtrack [for the stated purposes].”

Times: It is OK for Women to Sit in the Back of the Brooklyn Jewish Bus

We just continue to wonder why women sit in the back of the B110 bus in Brooklyn.

If we ran the world, the women would always sit in the front.


Bus Operator Denies Discriminating Against Women

By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY

 

"A bus company that transports primarily Orthodox and Hasidic Jewish passengers between Williamsburg and Borough Park in Brooklyn has denied that it discriminates against female passengers by compelling them to sit at the rear of the bus..."

"God's Favorite Prayers" where women sit in the front of the shul

New Yorker Blog: Elie Kaunfer Explains Digital Judaism

A New Yorker blog post (Screen Savers, posted by Macy Halford) has nicely surveyed the state-of-the-apps in the realm of religious practice.

In their sweep of the landscape they contacted Elie Kaunfer, who said some intelligent things:

...This is not to say that disputes about the value and use of digital texts do not arise. Rabbi Elie Kaunfer, the co-founder and executive director of Mechon Hadar, a traditional Jewish educational institute on the Upper West Side, said that arguments commonly arise in orthodox communities when congregants who are otherwise observant use their devices on the Sabbath. (There’s a term for this style of observance: “Keeping half-Shabbos.”) At Mechon Hadar’s yeshiva, where Kaunfer runs prayers three times a day during the week, he sees people use their devices to pray on: “It’s a little jarring,” he told me, “because you don’t know if they’re communing with God or checking e-mail.”

... many see seemingly negative effects of the digital era as evidence of spiritual vitality. Kaunfer, for instance, believes that the current revolution is not so very different from the one that occurred some seventeen hundred years ago, when the Mishnah (the Jewish code of law), hitherto communicated orally, was first written down. Then, he said, memory took a blow, and it has taken another one with the coming of the handheld device. But this isn’t necessarily bad: “In many ways, pulling text out of one’s pocket is truer to the way Jews experienced text in ancient times, when they pulled it out of their heads.”

Well said, and this latest revolution has just begun.

"God's Favorite Prayers" will revolutionize your spirit

Are the Kaifeng Chinese Jews Jewish?

Yes, Michael Freund believes that the Kaifeng Chinese Jews are Jews.

The LA Times reports, "Chinese Jews feel more at home in Israel. Descendants of Persian traders in Kaifeng, China, move to Israel with the help of a religious group and finally learn Jewish rules and traditions."

Hat tip to Barak for sending us the link.

"God's Favorite Prayers" will change your prayer life

Talmud Bavli Hullin 122a-b - translation by Tzvee

C.            [122a] In accord with which authority [did Huna state his view]? If we say in accord with R. Ishmael, lo he said that the hide does not nullify them [viz., “If there were on it two half-olive's bulks, it imparts uncleanness to the one who carries it, but not to the one who touched it,” the words of R. Ishmael (M. 9:4 C)].

D.            And if in accord with R. Aqiba, this is obvious. Lo he says [explicitly] that the hide nullifies them [viz., R. Aqiba says, “Neither to the one who touches it nor to the one who carried it...” And on what account does R. Aqiba declare clean in the case of hide? Because the hide nullifies them (M. 9:4 D-H)].

Haaretz: Abolish the Rabbinate in Israel

The official Israeli rabbinate is in trouble, and has been for years. Now there are new calls for altogether abolishing the bureaucracy.

We have had bad experiences with the rabbinate officials as recently as May 2011. We found that the rabbinate in Jerusalem's Maaleh Adumim is seriously out of line. And in keeping with the verse in chapter one of Ecclesiastes, which we just read in the synagogue, "The crooked cannot be made straight..." -- we agree with Haaretz and with many other voices on this matter.

The editorial "Israel's rabbinate must be stripped of its powers" is further headlined, "From every vantage point - social, civil and economic - it would be better to transfer the rabbinate's powers to local authorities that would serve the people based on the community's needs," and it concludes,

...The impression may be that only the silent secular public has been suffering from this poor combination of religion and state and that only this community must resort to steps circumventing the system, such as common-law marriage and a marriage ceremony in Cyprus. But it turns out that much of the national religious community is fed up too. For lack of any other recourse, they resort to steps such as private wedding ceremonies.

Such efforts to bypass the system reflect real distress, which raises a question: If most of the population is suffering from the dictatorship of halakhic bureaucrats who provide services that the ultra-Orthodox community does not use, who outside the religious parties still needs the rabbinate?

From every vantage point - social, civil and economic - it would be better to transfer the rabbinate's powers to local authorities that would serve the people based on the community's needs. Also, the Knesset must change the law and provide civil marriage to everyone, in addition to religious marriage. Israeli society has come out, albeit very politely, against religious coercion. The government must decide what is more important to it, its alliance with the ultra-Orthodox parties or the people's welfare.

Read it. Buy it. "God's Favorite Prayers"