Ask The Rabbi 
24 October 1998 
Issue #210
Parshas Noach
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Researched at Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem 
This Issue Contains: 
1. Kaddish Without A Minyan	4. Swan Vs. Giraffe 
2. The Bible's Code 		5. Yiddle Riddle
3.  Shabbat Hospitality		6. Public Domain
4.  Who Knows Twelve?
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____Kaddish Without A Minyan____

Gary from NYC <garyl@uninet.net> wrote:

Dear Rabbi,

My mother died three months ago.  I am not affiliated with a synagogue.  I 
go to synagogue on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.  My children were bar-
mitzvahed and I have a deep feeling of Jewish identity.  I have been saying 
kaddish for my mother in the morning and evening alone in my house.  
Recently, some Torah-observant colleagues have attempted to explain to me 
that kaddish should be said in the presence of a minyan (ten  Jewish men) 
and I understand the reason for that.  However, I am not able to make the 
commitment to go to synagogue every day for a year, and generally feel 
awkward and uncomfortable walking into a synagogue as a stranger.  

Therefore I intend to continue to say kaddish for my mother in my house.  

My question is this:  Is saying kaddish in the house, not in the presence 
of a minyan, meaningless?  Thank you.

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

Dear Gary,

	Kaddish is the public sanctification of G-d's Name.  If kaddish is 
said in private, then by definition it is not kaddish.

	You say you are unable to attend synagogue every day for a year.  Can 
you go every other day?  There is tremendous value to kaddish even if it is 
not said every day.  You also mentioned that you have Torah-observant 
colleagues.  Can you gather ten such people at your home or work-place?  If 
so, then you can say kaddish for your mother without going to synagogue.

	On the days that you can't say kaddish with a minyan, you should ask 
someone who attends a minyan to say it instead of you.  You should tell him 
your mother's Hebrew name.  If you can't find someone locally, Ohr Somayach 
offers such a service.  Write to info@ohr.org.il for more information.

	Saying kaddish for a parent is a fulfillment of the commandment 
"Honor your father and your mother."  The soul of the parent is rewarded 
for having reared a son or daughter who continues in the proper path.  
Other commandments, too, are a merit for the departed parent.  So rather 
than recite kaddish in private, do a mitzvah; for example, say the daily 
Shema, give charity or do acts of kindness in her name.  These will serve 
as a merit for your departed mother's soul.  May the Almighty One comfort 
you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.


____The Bible's Code____

Aaron Hock <millyhock@aol.com> wrote:

Dear Rabbi,

What are the similarities and differences between the Code of Hammurabi and 
Jewish Law expressed in the Torah?  Thank you for any help you might offer.

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

Dear Aaron Hock,

	Hashem taught the Torah to Moshe on Mount Sinai; therefore, the Torah 
can't be compared to any legal code of human origin, even to legal codes 
which "predate" it as Hammurabi's does.

	That having been said, there are a number of differences between 
Judaism's legal system and the Sumerian Code of Hammurabi (18th century 
BCE).  For example:

* Hammurabi's Code is only consequential law; i.e., if you do X then Y 
will happen to you.  The Torah on the other hand gives moral 
pronouncements; i.e., "You shall not." -- as well as consequences.
* Hammurabi's Code contains no positive obligations toward others.  The 
Torah on the other hand is replete with directives of love, kindness, 
lending, charity, etc.
* Hammurabi's Code protects the nobility and land-owners as privileged 
classes.  The class of people "protected and favored" in the Torah are 
the widows, the orphans, the poor and the strangers.

	  Whatever similarity Hammurabi's Code bears to the Torah may be 
attributed to the following:  Before the Torah was given at Sinai, Mankind 
already had seven categories of laws in the "Noachide Laws" which G-d had 
commanded to Noach.  These laws were passed down from generation to 
generation, and these laws were the subject of study in the ancient Academy 
of Shem and Ever.  I once heard from Rabbi Simcha Wasserman, zatzal, that 
Hammurabi most likely absorbed some ideas from this academy.


____Shabbat Hospitality____

Noam from Columbus, Ohio <noam@primenet.com> wrote:

Dear Rabbi,

If everyone in Israel did teshuva [became Torah observant], then how would 
hospitals be run on Shabbat?

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

Dear Noam,

	Better than they are now.  You see, the Torah views the saving of a 
life as a mitzvah of paramount importance.  This is seen reflected in 
emergency health care services run by Orthodox Jews, which have a faster 
average response time than others.  In fact, there are already hospitals in 
Israel that are run according to Jewish law -- for example, Shaarei Tzedek 
Hospital in Jerusalem and Laniado Hospital in Netanya.

	The Torah commands us to break Shabbat in order to save a life.  
Therefore, there is no contradiction between working in a hospital on 
Shabbat and observing Jewish law.  Actions that do not pertain to saving 
life are done after Shabbat.  (For example, filling out forms.)


____Who Knows Twelve?____

Joyce Belford <joyce@sbetc.des.state.mn.us> wrote:

Dear Rabbi,

I am wondering if you could tell me what the meaning of the different 
numbers are, such as five, twelve, eight, nine...etc.  Actually, I am 
wondering about the numbers from 1-12.

Dear Joyce Belford,

	The answer to your question is found at the end of the Passover 
Haggada in the song "Echad Mi Yodea."  There, each number is related to a 
concept; each concept is the main principle symbolized by its co-related 
number.  In short:

1. The Unity of G-d
2. The covenant between G-d and the Jewish People.
3. The merit of our Patriarchs:  Abraham Isaac and Jacob. 
4. The merit of our Matriarchs:  Sara, Rivka, Rachel and Leah.
5. The Written Torah, expressed in the Five Books of Moses.
6. The Oral Torah, expressed in the Six Orders of the Mishna.
7. The Creation of the physical existence in seven days.
8. The spiritual sphere -- symbolized by circumcision.
9. Reproduction and fruitfulness -- expressed by the nine months of 
pregnancy.
10. The Ten Commandments -- an elaboration on the covenant between us and 
Hashem.  Ten generally symbolizes completeness, the unification of 
disparate parts.
11. The heavenly bodies.  As 10 represents completeness, 11 represents 
infinity, expressed by the seemingly infinite universe.  Eleven is also 
associated with the number of planets in our solar system, including the 
sun and  moon.
12. The Jewish People as expressed by the 12 tribes; the 12 tribes also 
parallel the 12 months and the 12 signs of the zodiac.
13. The 13 Divine Attributes of Divine Mercy.


____Swan Vs. Giraffe____

Harvey Margolin <ponytail3@juno.com> wrote:

Dear Rabbi,

Here's two "wildlife" kashrut questions:  Is the swan a kosher bird (if 
properly slaughtered)?  And what about the giraffe?  A chef whom I know, 
and who was born in Morocco but raised in Israel, has told me that the 
giraffe is a kosher animal but could never be eaten because the shochet 
(ritual slaughterer) would not know where to make the cut.  Does this make 
any sense at all?

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

Dear Harvey Margolin,

	The swan is kosher, provided it is kosher-slaughtered.  The giraffe 
is also kosher, in theory.  The reason we don't eat it is not because we 
don't know where on its neck to slaughter it; rather, we don't eat giraffe 
because there is no continuous tradition that giraffes have been eaten by 
Jews throughout the generations.

Source:

* Mazon Kasher Min Hachai, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Levinger pp.19,22

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Yiddle Riddle

Last week we asked:  What is the shortest word in the Torah?

Answer:  The word is "ha."  It is one letter, and appears in the book of 
Devarim 32:6.  In most texts of the Chumash the masoretic note in the 
margin reads "Hey rabasi, v'hee teiva l'atzma" -- "large hey, and it is a 
word unto itself."

* Riddle submitted by Shmuel Bendel <sybendel@hotmail.com>

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The Public Domain
Comments, quibbles, and reactions 
concerning previous "Ask-the-Rabbi" features


Re:  Which Way to Pray at the Wall (Ask #203):

	Regarding whether one should face the golden dome when praying at the 
Western Wall, I refer you to the illustrated Beit Hamikdash Hashlisli (The 
Third Temple) by Shalom Dov Steinberg.  The author brings very convincing 
evidence that the Beit Hamikdash did not stand on the present site of the 
golden dome, but rather was situated between the golden dome and the silver 
dome.  This area lies directly behind the Western Wall, so that by facing 
the Wall one is praying straight towards the Temple site.  Rabbi Moshe 
Sternbuch, shlita, in his responsa (3:39) agrees with this conclusion, and 
relates that the Belzer Rebbe, Reb Aharon, zatzal, when visiting the Wall 
would search for a certain protruding stone.  He would pray at that spot, 
explaining that his father, Reb Yissachar Dov, zatzal, had told him that 
this stone was directly opposite the Kodesh Hakodashim (Holy of Holies).

* Elozor Barclay, Neve Yaakov, Jerusalem


	Rav Moshe Sternbuch, shlita, proves that the site of the Kodesh 
Hakodashim was not, as is widely believed, under the Dome of the Rock.  One 
proof is from electro-magnetic scans under the Temple mount that reveal 
very deep hollows consistent with those described as having been under the 
Temple -- these hollows however are not under the Dome of the Rock, rather 
they are under the clear unbuilt section of the Temple Mount, directly 
behind where the Kotel now stands.  This was foreseen by the Zohar, which 
says that there will never be a building built on the site of the Sanctuary 
except for the Temple!  Rav Sternbuch concludes that the correct direction 
to face is forwards, directly towards the wall when standing in the open-
air Kotel-plaza.  By Divine Providence, this is the part of the Kotel that 
has been revealed to Jews, where Jews have prayed for centuries!

* Yitzchok Jaeger, Jerusalem

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