Ask The Rabbi
14 June 1997 
Issue #153 (Parashat Naso)
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This Issue Contains:
1.  Fingernails
2.  Answer to Yiddle Riddle
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Alan Zukerman and Scott Shapiro <kgir@netvision.net.il> wrote:

>Could you provide some background on the very perplexing warning that a 
>pregnant woman who walks on a fingernail clipping is in danger of 
>miscarriage?

Wilfred Schuster <wschust@ibm.net> from Toronto wrote:

>What is the origin of the habit of burning one's nail clippings or 
>disposing of them with care?  Is there a source for this in the Tanach or 
>in the Talmud?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Dear Alan Zukerman, Scott Shapiro and Wilfred Schuster:

The ruling that one should carefully dispose of fingernail clippings is 
found in the Talmud and is cited in the Shulchan Aruch.  The reason the 
Talmud gives for this `very perplexing ruling' is that a pregnant woman who 
steps on a fingernail clipping is in danger of a miscarriage.  What is the 
idea behind this?

According to Kabbalah, Adam was created with a hard shiny membrane covering 
his whole body.  When he ate from the forbidden tree Adam lost this 
covering, but it remained on the tips of his fingers and toes.

This concept is a metaphor for a very deep idea:  Every person is 
intrinsically immortal due to his spiritual soul.  However, by attaching 
himself to the physical world through improper actions (Adam's sin) a 
person becomes vulnerable to death and material destruction (loss of 
protective covering).

The concept of a fingernail harming a pregnant woman is based on the 
following idea:  The nail, which is dead matter, represents death and the 
mortality of the human being.  The pregnant woman represents creation, life 
and immortality.  In mystical thinking, objects contain `sparks' of the 
ideas which they symbolize.  Opposite `sparks' brought together can cause 
harm on the spiritual and physical level.  Hence, the fingernail, death, is 
kept away from the pregnant woman, life.

Sources:
o  Moed Kattan 18a, Nidah 17a
o  Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 260.
o  Ibid., Be'er Heteiv

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Yiddle Riddle

Last week we asked:

Explain how the following situation could occur:  You take a certain item 
and before deriving benefit from it you say the required blessing.  One 
minute later you take the exact same item and derive the exact same type of 
benefit from it.  However, this time the blessing beforehand is a different 
blessing.  (The item contains no grain.  The item undergoes no change 
whatsoever.)

Answer:  Smelling fragrant spices after Shabbat.

There are different categories of fragrant spices.  Each category requires 
a different blessing.  For example, for spices that grow on trees the 
blessing is "Blessed are You Hashem ...Who creates fragrant trees."  For 
spices derived from herbs which do not grow on trees, the blessing is 
"Blessed are You Hashem ...Who creates fragrant herbs."

However, at the `havdalah' ceremony after Shabbat a different blessing is 
said.  At `havdalah' the blessing is always "Blessed are you Hashem ...Who 
creates various types of fragrances."  In essence, this blessing is for a 
mixture of spices, or for spices of unknown nature.  But at havdala, this 
is the standard blessing regardless of the type of spice.  This avoids 
confusion, since often it's difficult to identify a given spice, its 
origins and proper blessing.  (This is according to the Ashkenazic custom.  
Sephardic Jews say the precise blesssing.)

So, let's say you use a myrtle branch for the havdalah ceremony (intending 
to smell it only once).  You say:  "Blessed are You ...Who creates various 
spices."  Then, immediately after havdalah you decide to smell the exact 
same myrtle branch.  This time, the blessing is "Blessed are You ...Who 
creates fragrant trees."

Ideally, you should use for havdalah a spice whose proper blessing is 
"various spices"  The Mishna Berurah suggests cloves.

Sources:
o  Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 217
o  Ibid., Mishna Berurah 5, Sha'ar Hatzion 6
o  Aruch Hashulchan, Orach Chaim 297:4
o  Mishna Berurah 297:1

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