Ask The Rabbi 
21 November 1998 
Issue #214
Parshas Toldos
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Researched at Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem 
This Issue Contains: 
1. Hard Work on Shabbat	5. Death Penalty - a Capital Idea?
2. Sister Marry 	6. Yiddle Riddle
3. Charming Amulets 	7. Public Domain
4. Retiring Women
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____Hard Work on Shabbat____

Email@Withheld wrote:

Dear Rabbi,

Our family has a kid-related problem every Shabbat.  It starts out great 
with family activities together and with my husband and I taking turns with 
the kids, aged 9 and 3.  But I suffer from a painful chronic illness that 
requires rest.  By about 2 o'clock on Saturday afternoon I am exhausted and 
need about 3 to 4 hours sleep.  My husband finds it difficult to keep the 
kids occupied for this amount of time with acceptable Shabbat activities 
such as books, blocks, and playing in the yard or going for walks.  At 
most, this amuses the kids for an hour or two.  There are no other Shabbat 
observant families nearby and we cannot afford a baby-sitter.  Do you have 
any ideas to help us with shalom bayit (household tranquillity) under these 
circumstances?  My husband suggested that we turn on a small TV in an out-
of-the-way spot before Shabbat and that we let the kids watch without 
changing the channel during the time that is difficult for him.  But 
somehow this doesn't strike me as kosher.

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

Dear Email@Withheld,

	I sympathize with you in what sounds like a difficult situation.  And 
I agree that letting your children watch TV on Shabbat is "not kosher," as 
you wrote.   The analogy may sound harsh but if your children were a little 
hungry you wouldn't feed them non-kosher food.  Shabbat is soul "food" and 
shouldn't tainted, even if your kids are a little bored.

	But what to do?  As a parent, my experience is that children don't 
need to be entertained every moment of the day.  Perhaps your husband is 
spending too much energy in trying to keep your children entertained.  I 
think they would entertain themselves if he also had a rest.  I realize 
that your children's ages are too disparate to allow them to really play 
together, but, nevertheless, children have a tremendous talent to adapt 
themselves to different situations.

	Try to think creative solutions.  Offer your nine-year old a special 
prize or privilege for "baby-sitting" the three-year old for an hour or so.  
Keep favorite toys and books separate and make them available on Shabbat 
afternoon when you want to nap.

	May Hashem grant you a complete recovery, and may your children be a 
source of constant joy to you and to all the Jewish People.


____Sister Marry____

Email@Withheld wrote:

Dear Rabbi,

Is it halachically permissible for a man to marry the daughter of his 
mother's husband from a previous marriage?

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

Dear Email@Withheld,

	Marriage between a step-brother and a step-sister is permitted, and 
such is accepted practice.  The Chafetz Chaim, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, 
married his mother's husband's daughter.  I personally know a couple like 
this who have been happily wed for the past 30 years.

	According to Tzava'at Rabbi Yehudah Hechasid step-siblings should not 
marry.  However, this ruling seems not to have been accepted even by those 
who generally adhere to the other rulings of Tzava'at Rabbi Yehudah 
Hechasid.

Sources:

* Shulchan Aruch Even Haezer 15:11
* Sefer Shmirat Haguf v'Hanefesh 178


____Charming Amulets____

Helen Block <hblock@fm.ucsf.com> wrote:

Dear Rabbi,

I am intrigued by the age-old use of kemiot (amulets), particularly ones 
with the human hand.  Apparently the Persian Jews especially used to employ 
quite a variety of kemiot for protection in marriage, childbirth etc.  What 
is the halachic and rabbinical positions on these?

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

Dear Helen Block,

	Amulets or kemiot are mentioned in the Talmud in many places and are 
not forbidden as superstitious.  The amulets mentioned in the Talmud were 
parchments with prayers in them written by pious scholars, and they are 
like continuous prayers.  An amulet which is just a symbol or hand, while 
not forbidden, does not have the same impact.  Nevertheless they can serve 
to remind a person of Divine Protection and Providence (the `Hand of G-d') 
and to focus on G-d.  As Maimonides states in the Guide for the Perplexed, 
"The degree of Divine Providence is directly proportional to the degree of 
attachment of the person to the Divine."

	It's said that the towering sage Rabbi Akiva Eiger once wrote a very 
effective amulet.  Curious about what mystical letter permutations or 
Kabbalistic incantations lay within, someone opened the scroll.  What did 
he find?  A single paragraph of Tosefos's logical, straightforward 
commentary to the Talmud!  The amulet was "powered" simply by the merit of 
Rabbi Eiger's sincere Torah study.


____Retiring Women____

R. Berzack <robert.berzack@pixie.co.za> wrote:

Dear Rabbi,

I'd like to know the details of the commandment of the bedtime shema 
regarding women's obligation.  I've heard that you are not allowed to talk 
after you have said it, is this true?  And what about reading a book 
afterwards?

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

Dear R. Berzack,

	Women should recite shema and the hamapil blessing immediately before 
retiring at night.  Married women customarily say the blessing with their 
hair covered.

	One shouldn't interrupt between the hamapil blessing and sleeping.  
Therefore, one should not eat, drink, or talk after saying hamapil.  Some 
even have the custom to omit hampil altogether, or they say it but omit G-
d's Name and the phrase "King of the universe," out of concern that they 
will converse afterwards.

	If one says the bedtime shema and then has difficulty sleeping, he 
should keep repeating the first paragraph of the shema or other 
supplicatory verses until sleep overtakes him.  Thinking Torah thoughts is 
also permitted, so reading a sefer, a book of Torah thoughts, is okay.

	Rav Yehuda Segal, the late Rosh Yeshiva in Manchester, used to 
actually fall asleep while reciting the bedtime shema, and he would wake 
from time to time and carry on exactly from the place he left off!

Sources:

* Shulchan Aruch 239:1
* Mishna Berura, ibid. 4,7
* Halichos Bas Yisrael 2:40, Rabbi Y.Y. Fuchs

____Death Penalty - a Capital Idea?____

Saul "The Maven" Caplan <Maven@donet.com> wrote:

Dear Rabbi,

In the Reform High Holiday services we repeat several times that it is not 
the death of sinners that G-d wants, but that they should turn away from 
their unholy ways (this may be part of the Orthodox and/or Conservative 
services, too).  Is there any scriptural basis for that statement, or is it 
just part of the prayer writers' rhetoric?  If there is scriptural basis, 
it seems to me that it would be a good rebuttal to those who claim that 
capital punishment is Biblically mandated.

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

Dear Saul "The Maven" Caplan,

	The phrase you mentioned is from a verse in Yechezkel (Eziekiel 
33:11).  In context, this passage doesn't contradict the Biblical death 
penalty but rather supports it.

	Here's the context:  In the previous verses (7-10) G-d tells the 
Prophet Yechezkel to warn the wicked people to repent or die; if Yechezkel 
fails to warn them then he will be blamed for their death, but if he does 
warn them, then their death will be their fault.  Why?  Because "I don't 
desire the death of the wicked person; but rather that he return from his 
ways and live."  That is, the death penalty is not that G-d wants revenge, 
but rather it is a warning to repent before it's too late.  (This shows the 
danger of taking an isolated verse without studying the context.)

	The Biblical death penalty is mentioned explicitly several times 
throughout the Torah, however it was very rarely performed (less than once 
every 70 years).

Sources:

* Tractate Makkot 7a

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Yiddle Riddle

Last week we asked:  Twin brothers are born from the same mother on the 
very same morning.  Both are perfectly healthy.  Yet, the proper day for 
one's brit mila is 8 days later, while the proper day for the other one's 
brit mila is not until the 9th day.  Why?

Answer:  The babies are born Shabbat morning.  The first one is a normal 
birth, and the second one is born by cesarean section.

	Brit mila on the eight day from birth supersedes Shabbat.  However, 
this is only true of a natural birth.  Brit mila after a cesarean section 
does not supersede Shabbat.  Hence, the first baby has his brit eight days 
later, on Shabbat, while the second one must wait till the ninth day from 
birth, Sunday.

Source:

* Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De'ah 266:10

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

Re: Internet New Under the Sun? (Ask #211):

	In a recent Ask the Rabbi, a reader, Gaon <gaon@earthlink.net> wrote:
"What on earth was the wisest of the wise thinking when he said, `There's 
nothing new under the sun?'  I wonder if King Solomon would have said the 
same thing if he had had Internet access."

	The Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin) was once asked this 
question:  How could Koheles write that there's nothing new under the sun, 
when we have such new creations as the phonograph, electricity, and the 
telescope?

	The Netziv answered that their potential existed ever since the  time 
of Creation, but were only revealed in modern times.  So, you see, even 
Gaon's question isn't new!  The Netziv also goes on to give Torah Sources 
for the use of a telescope (Tractate Eruvin 43b), a lightning rod (Tosefta 
Shabbos 7:10), and a phonograph (Mechilta Parshas Yisro 18:19).  Rabbi 
David Koppelman writes this story about the Netziv in his excellent book, 
Glimpses of Greatness.

* An Ohrnet Reader <lightsd@mail.internet-zahav.net>

**********

Re: Sherlox:

	Please publish a Sherlox book.

* Dede Toledano-Efromson <dedeef@internet-zahav.net>

**********

Re:  Vegetarians (Torah Weekly, Parshas Noach):

	Your wrote that before Noach everyone was vegetarian, yet in Gemara 
Sanhedrin 59b it says that Adam ate meat.  Also, the Tosefos on 56b clearly 
points out that people were allowed to eat an animal that dies of its own 
accord.  Were people really vegetarians before Noach?

* Ken Siegel, Lannet, Israel <ksiegel@lannet.com>

Ohrnet responds:

	The Talmud implies that Adam ate heavenly meat roasted for him by the 
angels in the Garden of Eden, whereas our article was post-Eden.  Regarding 
animals that died on their own, while they may not have been strictly 
forbidden, being that the ancients understood the spiritual cleanliness and 
uncleanliness imparted by food, we assume that at least the righteous 
people (everybody who's anybody) avoided such meat. 

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