The things that bring us together

Jews and Muslims unite against Jerusalem Museum of Tolerance

Korach question

Why were the tests Moshe specified for Korach to participate in (the 12 staffs, the earthquake) not invalidated because of the principle of lo bashamayin hi?

An apt rejoinder

Rabbi Avraham Sherman is at it again, questioning the motives of all potential gerim in Israel, who are overwhelmingly Russian. My favorite response to the article was in one of the comments: Dear Rabi Sherman: In Olam Habah, gerim nullify you.

Out of town will save us all?

From a beliefnet article by David Klinghoffer

Excerpt:

Most Jews who know anything about Orthodox Judaism associate it with major population centers like New York, Baltimore, Miami, etc. The truth is that almost all the negative stereotypes linked with traditional Judaism stem from such places. Yet there exists a whole alternative universe of Orthodox Judaism in traditional communities in other places, provincial localities like Seattle where I live, but others as well: San Diego, Portland, Sacramento, Atlanta, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and other relatively small American cities. The Orthodoxy in such places is quite different from what you find in New Jersey, Long Island, and so on. It is thriving and dynamic, accepting and diverse, enthusiastic for tradition in surprising ways, and largely undocumented. It's also a lot more attractive, at least to me.

Anyone from the provinces care to speak up?

Tales of HP

Another example of why I love this town. Letters are boiled down and not acutal quotes. Rabbi Sephardi is not the head of the local Sephardi shul.

From: me
To : Rabbi Ashkenazi, Rabbi Sephardi
Subject: Eruv Tavshilin

Can I make an eruv tavshilin using a baked food and a roasted food, rather than the traditional baked food and boiled food?

From: Rabbi Ashkenazi
To : me
Subject: Re: Eruv Tavshilin

After the fact it is ok, but if you haven't made it yet you should use a boiled food rather than a roasted one.

From: Rabbi Sephardi
To: me
Cc: Rabbi Ashkenazi
Subject: Re: Eruv Tavshilin

According to the Rambam [detailed cite], an eruv tavshillin may be made with boiled, fried, pickled or even salted foods.

20 minutes later:

From: Rabbi Ashkenazi
To : me
Subject: Re: Eruv Tavshilin
After getting Rabbi Sephardi's email I checked the Shulchan Aruch. He is correct and I am therefore changing my psak - roasted food is ok to use in the eruv even l'hatchila.

Mazel Tov to Professor Charlie Hall

Since I know he's too modest to promote himself, I'll quote Professor Hall's Daily Kos column:

Twenty years ago next month I set out to apply to graduate school in an attempt to have a career in academia as a professor. Last week I was informed, first by telephone calls from the department heads from each of my two departments, and then by a letter from my dean, that I am going to be promoted from Associate Professor to full Professor effective July 1.

Schrodinger's Chicken

This scenario came out of yore deah class tonight. Imagine that you strap a chicken into a Schrodinger's box before Shabbat starts. Seal the box closed. If something is emitted by the radiation source in a fixed interval before Shabbat the chicken dies, otherwise it lives. Because you've read too many comic books, you're worried the radiation may cause the chicken to acquire superpowers. As a result, you've equipped the interior of the box with a spring loaded kinfe that will decapitate the chicken and push the head outside the box when you pull a catch, which purely mechanically releases the knife.

No it is Shabbat evening and your whiney adorable child wants to play with a ball, only he doesn't have one. Can you decapitate the chicken, thus both giving him a ball and ensuring a lifetime of therapy bills for the poor kid?

Note: There are probably lots of shabbat violations in this setup. I'm interested in them, but the key issue I'm focused on is the following: We don't know whether the chicken is alive or not. Assuming decapitating a dead chicken is not a Shabbat violation, may we pull the catch or not?

I'll offer analysis later, but let's see what people say first.