Purim 2004
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Edited by Eli D. Clark
To the Editor:
Thank you for your article on the halochos of dental floss. Having grown up in Lincoln, Nebraska with three other Jews (two of them named Homer), I never knew the Torah had so much to say about oral hygiene. I was especially moved by the gematria about gum disease.
David Kaufman DDS
Route Canal, Mississippi
The author responds: I hope you will also enjoy my upcoming essay, ''Footcare and Faith: What's Good for the Sole is Good for the Soul''.
To the Editor:
I was shocked that a respected Torah publication would print an article about the toevoh called the I------t. What next? Television? Ballroom dancing? Tending bar in Kyrgyzstan?
The Gedolim have spoken with one voice about bringing the World Wide Web into a frum home. Not only is ADSL a clear issur D'Orayso, but even a conventional dial-up connection violates rabbinic prohibitions (a case of modem D'Rabbanan).
We need to destroy this new yetzer hora before it destroys us. As the snake once tempted Adam and Chavah with forbidden fruit, so the mouse now tempts us with an Apple (or Dell) that promises us knowledge of good and evil, not to mention online shopping.
The problem is not that computers can be infected by a virus – the computer itself is a virus. Once infected, your spiritual hard drive may be damaged permanently. The time has come to press ''Shut Down'' once and for all. AOL is not AOK.
Velvel H. Gates
[email protected]
The author responds: Who could argue with such a letter? You are a potent reminder of the undying spirit of intolerance and obscurantism.
To the Editor:
Yasher koach for publishing another amazing, unforgettable piece from the gifted pen and astounding mind of R. Avraham Galadriel Guttmacher, a true oker harim whose words never fail to inspire, delight and illuminate.
Fayge Guttmacher
Brooklyn, NY
The author responds: Thanks Mom.
To the Editor:
Your excellent article on ''Gedolim in the Old West'' was the final word on a fascinating topic. Allow me to add a few additional points.
The original kollel in Deadwood, South Dakota did not close down because the Rosh Kollel, R. Lazer Glazer lost the kollel's money playing craps. R. Lazer was indeed an inveterate gambler, but he almost always won, owing to his steel nerves, keen mind and a pair of loaded dice. (When asked about the halochic problems associated with gambling, R. Lazer explained with a grin, ''That's only if you might lose!'') Unfortunately, R. Lazer ''the Blazer'' (as he was known to the locals) also had a weakness for drink which led to his disappearance on Shushan Purim 1871. According to rumor, he was abducted by a tribe of Sioux, who renamed him Running Commentary.
Another important figure was ''Deadeye'' Dovid Fruchtfresser, who started the first milk cow gemach in the State of New Mexico. The sources suggest that R. Dovid was a leading expert in the laws of mamzer, having fathered several. A devoted collector of wild ferrets and Rosh Av Bes Din, R. Dovid arranged the conversion of a showgirl named Maria Rodriguez, whom he later married. About four minutes later. Maria – now Miriam – raised nine children and 47 goats and made the best kreplach in the Southwestern United States.
Finally, your readers should know about R. Horowitz Horowitz Horowitz. A chasid born in Gebrokts, Hungary, he arrived in Nebraska in 1876 and dubbed himself the Omahaer Rebbe. Speaking in heavily accented Yiddish, he was slow to draw a following among his Dutch and Swedish neighbors. But he earned their respect as a holy man surrounded by religious books and glittering chandeliers. His most enduring legacy was a captivating niggun he composed to the words of Yekum Purkan, which was later incorporated into the score of ''Cats''.
Aharon Fleigelfeld
Tombstone Yeshiva, Arizona
The author responds: Your insights are appreciated. Perhaps you can help me in a related area. Sadly, during my researches, I was unable to obtain the famous account of the San Francisco Earthquake by R. Yekutiel Scandaletsky, ''The Quaking of a Gadol.'' Do you know where to obtain a copy?
To the Editor:
R. Spivak's article on Hallel quotes a Ran quoting Ramah as brought down in the Shitoh Mekubetzes on Brachos. But a famous Chasam Sofer in Chullin seems to be cholek, based on the Rema and the Levush. Similarly, the Maharal in Gevuros Hashem hints to the Arizal's view, which the Chida also brings down, as the Sedei Chemed points out, but maybe only for Chol HaMoed. The Raavad and Baal HaMaor reject this chiluk, but the Mechaber paskens like the Ramban and the Rosh. The Magen Avraham is machmir, so is the Bach, and there is no Mishnah B'rurah on it.
Michoel Spew
The Mir
The author responds: Thank for your learned if incomprehensible letter. You make an irrefutable argument for the need of yeshiva jungerleit to learn how to speak in complete sentences.
To the Editor:
I enjoyed your article on Yeshiva University, but it left open a few minor questions: How did the author know that the founder's decision to offer secular studies as part of the daily curriculum was made ''at a moment when the Satan's blandishments overcame his yetzer hatov''? Do we have solid evidence that, on the day Yeshiva College opened, ''the Vilna Gaon was spinning in his grave''? I was also wondering: Which leading rebbitzen said that she would sooner send her daughters to the Convent of St. Mary's than to Stern College?
I was very impressed by the author's thorough research. It must have taken months to discover that ''Six out of ten YU students marry non-Jews'' and that a leading YU Talmud professor admitted in a public lecture that his true aim was ''to undermine students' faith in Halochoh.'' I was also surprised to learn that, as a young child, the first President of YU ''delighted in mocking the unfortunate, terrorizing the infirm and stealing the canes of blind men.''
The article also helped explain many other YU phenomena, such as Catholic clergymen turning up in the YU bais medrash, important roshei yeshiva defecting to Touro College, and ''chicken surprise'' being served by the cafeteria every Tuesday and Thursday evenings since April 1957.
Sabba Kronspiegel
Flatbush
To the Editor:
The article ''Mechitzoh at the Shabbes Table – An Idea Whose Time Has Come'' was a timely and forceful argument for the adoption of a novel and necessary chumroh.
The logic is compelling: if one needs a mechitzoh in shul to avoid distractions during davening, then so too at the Shabbes and Yom Tov table, where one makes kiddush and birkas hamazon and gives divrei Torah. And where, if someone sneezes, one says ''G-d bless you''.
We also know that the table is compared to the mizbeyach. In fact just last week, my wife totally burned the roast, the contemporary equivalent of a korban olah. Since the original mizbeyach had a mechitzoh to prevent kalus rosh (see Sukkoh 51b), we should certainly have one at our table.
(My rebbe once suggested that the term kalus rosh, usually understood to mean silliness or frivolity, should actually be read kalos rosh – the end of the head, signifying where a person's thinking ends and his emotions take over or, in other words, chasidus.)
The article does not, however, address, certain practical problems: in small homes or apartments, it may not be possible to build a full-sized mechitzoh in the dining room, and the women will need to be restricted to the kitchen or the hallway. But then how will they serve and clear up after the men?
Some people may ask a different question: if the mechitzoh is so necessary, why did our parents and grandparents never adopt this sensible enhancement of the seudoh? The first answer is that previous generations were on a much higher level than we are, and, at those spiritual altitudes, men were too absorbed in Torah to notice the presence of women or other mundane sights, such as ''No Parking'' signs. Second, we know from the Gemara in Pesachim 86b, that they would erect a mechitzoh between two groups of eaters to prevent intermingling from one chaburoh to another. If they could do it then, we should certainly do it now, especially in a generation where women wear flavored lipstick and go to aerobics classes. And they smile too much. Third, most of today's chumros were completely unheard of a generation ago. My Zaide olov hasholom learned in Slobodka and Telz. You think that at Seder he would eat four and half matzos in 73 seconds?
R. Zelig Zilgmor
Lakewood, NJ
To the Editor:
I subscribe to your publication and read every issue cover-to-cover. However, it has been at least three issues since you published an article on lashon hora. What's happened?
Suri Shtussheim
Monsey, NY
The editor responds: Very true. Our next issue includes a five-article symposium on the topic, ''Shemiras HaLashon al Ha-Mitah– How to Make Sure you Don't Speak Lashon Hora in Your Sleep''.
To the Editor:
I found your article ''Eretz Yisroel -- Time to Move?'' very troubling. The author strongly implies that a complete Torah life is possible only in Eretz Yisroel. Has he never walked down 13th Avenue?
The author also repeatedly refers to ''gashmiyus'' as if it were something bad. Besides, I can attest that the frum community stays in America, not because of the high incomes, the gorgeous homes, the fancy cars, the beautiful clothes, the exclusive neighborhoods, the elegant restaurants, the incredible shopping, the level of comfort, the atmosphere of complacency or the emphasis on indulgence. We stay in America only because Hashem put us here. Who are we to flout His will?
I am so tired of people who act like Eretz Yisroel is on some higher level of kedushoh. I say: if you want kedushoh, go listen to chazoras hashatz.
And what of the Gedolim? Do they encourage moving to Eretz Yisroel? Even in the years before the Holocaust they advised people not to go to Eretz Yisroel. (Okay, maybe that wasn't such great advice, but my point stands.) Even the Gemara was written outside of Eretz Yisroel! (I know about the Yerushalmi; but tell the truth: do you know anyone who can make heads or tails of it?)
In short, I don't want to hear any more sanctimonious words about moving to Eretz Yisroel. If Hashem really wanted us all to live in Eretz Yisroel, why would He let people there build hotels?
Name withheld upon request
(But we'll tell you anyway. His name is: Daryavesh Dickstein)
The author responds: The story is told of an aged talmid chochom who boarded a ship to Eretz Yisroel. As the ship left port, a fellow passenger congratulated him on his decision to move to the Holy Land. The old man looked up, startled. ''You mean it's not a cruise to Puerto Rico?''
© Eli D. Clark
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