Parashat HashavuaSeries'LibraryPiskei Din (Hebrew)Test YourselfDo they resemble a 3-cornered hat Haman wore? What? He looked like Washington crossing the Delaware?! You think we should name a pastry after a Jew-hating maniac? What’s next: Apples Amalek or Khomeini Cookies?! Or is it Mahn-Tashen, "pockets" of poppy-seeds? Well, I don’t like poppy-seeds (& I hate when I think they’re chocolate & I take a bite!) so that’s out. (I actually like them with filled with peanut butter – try it!). Archeologist friend Simcha J. says it looks like dice from Babylonia’s Game of Ur (UR you kidding?!) & connects to Haman casting dice, not lots, to pick a date for our demise (lots to wonder about there). And why is it called Oznei Haman in Ivrit? Did the schmendrick have big ears? Or is it because an ear has 10 parts, & Haman had 10 sons? Or were Haman’s ears cut off before he was hanged? (according to Sefer Ha-Moadim). Our family tradition is to eat kreplach (connects to "crepes?") on Purim, plus of course quiche - in honor of Mordechai’s great-grandfather, whose name was......oh, look it up. PURIM SAMEACH!!
A wife stated that she cannot stand to remain together with her husband and gave strong reasons to support this. She told the regional beit din that she agrees to be categorized as a moredet (a wife who denies her husband conjugal rights) and thereby lose rights to payment of her ketuba in return for a get. The husband now is appealing beit din’s obligating him to give a get. [There is a financial dispute as well, which we hope to deal with next week.]
The Waqf have been constructing at Makom Hamikdash - our Holy of Holies, what are the Halachic implications of the finds? How does one regard the finds?
Not only was he versed, sharp, and innovative in the arenas of Talmud and Halakha, he was at home in all areas of Jewish thought – Bible, Midrash, philosophy, and mysticism. On top of all this he was unmatched in piety and righteousness.
: The Torah portions dealing with the Tabernacle dispel the mistaken impression that the Torah directs man to confine himself to an abstract spiritual world and that the entire aim of the Jew should be to occupy himself with Torah and commandments.