Monday, October 26, 2009

Study too hard and your mind starts to wander

(Sung to Maria from West Side Story

The laws of a pot placed before Shabbat
Shehiya
Fully cooked is ok, partially is not
Sheihya

Shehiya - Shehiya Sheiyah Shehiya

Sheiya!
I've learned all the laws of Shehiya
And suddenly I've found
how a cholent can be browned
indeed
Shehiya
If its raw then its OK staying
Fully cooked and its ok remaining

Shehiya
I'll never stop learning shehiya

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Tales from HP 4

I was at a bar mitzvah yesterday at the local Sephardi shul. The BM did quite credibly, reading the entire parsha and doing the haftorah as well.

At the kiddush luncheon that followed, I was sitting with the shul rabbi. I mentioned that I was studying the laws of chazara (returning a pot to the blech on Shabbat) and had some questions. We had a nice conversation, with him mentioning at a few points where the halacha differed between Ashkenzaim and Sephardim. We left with a few unanswered questions, which I researched over Shabbat and was going to write him an email about.

This afternoon the Rabbi called me at home wanting to amplify and correct some of what we said, and also to fill in some of the unanswered questions. Remember, I'm not a congregant, not a regular at his shul, and don't take any classes of he offers. He had to remember my name, contact my teacher for contact information, all to just answer some casual questions someone asked at a kiddush.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

English source for halachic rulings about electricity

As always, ask your rabbi for actual piskei halacha, but this looks like an excellent study resource: Megavolt.co.il.