המעין

Table of Contents
"When the winds quieted down, the reed stood upright in its place… " /
Rav Yoel Catane                                                                                         3
Opposition to Printing the Works of Rav Yesha`yah Bassan and Further
Matters Relating to the Ramhal, as Evidenced in an Unpublished
Responsum of Rav Yitzchak Pacifico / Prof. Yaakov S. Spiegel        5
The Teaching of Re'iyah(Rav Avraham Yitzchak haCohen) Kook ZT"L
Regarding the Appropriate Age for Engaging in Secular Studies,
and its Implementation in the Torat Yerushalayim Yeshiva /
Rav Matania Ariel                                                                                        43
The Observance of Kashrut and the Unity of the Nation in the Rulings of
the Chief Rabbis Rav Herzog and Rav Uziel / Dr. Moshe Ehrenwald 58
A Practical Proposal for the Observance of Shemittah [Sabbatical
Year] by the Jewish Community / Dr. Moshe Zacks                              63

Responses and Comments
More on the Matters of Identical Parents and the Use of Electrical
Appliances on Shabbat / Rav Yaakov Ariel                                            73
Further to the Matter of Multiple-Level Burials / Rav Yaakov Ruza                75
Further to the Matter of the Shemittah Rulings of Rav Elyashiv ZT"L /
Rav Zeev Weitman                                                                                      77
More on the Song Upon the Salvation of the City of Worms /
Avraham Fraenkel                                                                                       80
Further to the Matter of Rabbenu Gershom's Mourning His Son Who
Converted / Gad Machta                                                                             82

About Books and Authors
Studies in the Mikhlol [Comprehensive Hebrew Grammar] of RaDaK
[Rav David Kimhi] / Rav Yehuda Landman                                            85
 The Structure of the Sefer ha-Terumah [Book of the Heave Offering]
and its Implication for Deciding the Halakha / Rav Yoel Friedman    92
Editorial Review of Recent Torani Publications / Rav Yoel Catane               100

Absracts

Prof. Yaakov S. Spiegel: Opposition to Printing the Works of Rav Yesha`yah Bassan and Further Matters Relating to the Ramhal, as Evidenced in an Unpublished Responsum of Rav Yitzchak Pacifico
Rav Yitzchak Pacifico, Head of the Rabbinical Court of Venice in the first half of the 18th Century, was among the strongest opponents of the Ramhal [Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto]. In his book of Responsa Mishpat Shalom [Judgement of Peace] – still in manuscript – is a lengthy responsum, published here for the first time, wherein it becomes clear that Rav Bassan, teacher and supporter of the Ramhal, wrote and made known publicly that the ban declared by the Venetian Rabbinate against the Ramhal had been rescinded, a detail for which we have no other source. In this extensive responsum, Rav Pacifico puts into writing seven halakhic reasonings as to why it is prohibited to publish Rav Yesha`yah's works even after his demise, since he was '[sequestered and] ostracized' and did not repent of his position until his passing. The responsum reveals details of the attempted publication in Venice of Rav Bassan's work while misleading the Venetian Rabbinical Court, as well as additional details connected with the Ramhal controversy. In a comprehensive introduction to the responsum, Prof. Spiegel writes on the history of the sages connected with the controversy, investigates the manner in which approbations by Venetian sages were written for the publication of works in their jurisdiction in those times, and more.

Rav Matania Ariel: The Teaching of Re'iyah(Rav AvrahamYitzchakhaCohen) Kook ZT"L Regarding the Appropriate Age for Engaging in Secular Studies, and its Implementation in the Torat Yerushalayim Yeshiva
Rav Kook ZT"L saw great value in secular studies, and the matter finds expression in many places in his writings. On the other hand, his guidance was that those beginning the study of Torah should engage in secular studies in an extremely limited fashion, only to avoid ignorance rather than to broaden education, and in order to make possible meaningful growth in Torah, the Rav advised putting off the acquisition of general education to a mature age, after a number of years of study in primary and secondary yeshiva, which would allow for the establishment of a meaningful basis in the knowledge of Torah and for proper spiritual development. Rav Matania Ariel, principal of the Derech Chaim primary yeshiva in Shaalvim, and among the vanguard of  Torani-National education al taharat hakodesh ['purely sacred' with no outside influences] has assembled testimony and documentation  representing the educational path of Rav Kook ZT"L on this subject, among them remarks in which he depicts the Torat Yerushalayim primary yeshiva which operated in Jerusalem under the guidance of the Rav ZT"L and has been all but forgotten in the course of time, and he adduces firsthand testimony regarding its educational path.

Dr. Moshe Ehrenwald: The Observance of Kashrut and the Unity of the Nation in the Rulings of the Chief Rabbis Rav Herzog and Rav Uziel
Dr. Ehrenwald, of the Carmei Tzur settlement in Gush Etzion, researches primarily the history of the beginning days of the establishment of the State.  He has found that, with the approach of the establishment of the Jewish State in the land of Israel, and immediately following its establishment, Chief Rabbis Herzog and Uziel saw great importance in the unity of the people, fully aware that a portion of them were not particular in the observance of mitsvot. In their rulings regarding the military, they insisted on observance of kashrut in all army kitchens even when there were substantial difficulties in maintaining such observance. Even during the period when Jerusalem was under siege during the War of Independence, when serious shortages of food for soldiers and civilians were prevalent, the Rabbis opposed opening military kitchens which would provide unkosher food for non-observant soldiers, and they were ready to permit use of unkosher food only for casualties who from a medical point of view were required to eat meat – and that only within clearly defined parameters. Their determined stand on these principles at the outset of the State and its army formed the basis of the unified standard of kashrut observed to this day in the army and in public kitchens. The article contains hitherto unpublished documents and correspondence from that era.

Dr. Moshe Zacks: A Practical Proposal for the Observance of Shemittah [Sabbatical Year] by the Jewish Community
The agronomist Dr. Moshe Zacks, a member of Kibbutz Shaalvim, is among the foremost researchers of the Jewish and halakhic view of agriculture in the State of Israel. The crowning glory of his activities is connected to strengthening the observance of the Shemittah without using the heter mechira [sale to ameliorate restrictions on working the Land] in the footsteps of the rulings of Rav Avraham Yesha`ya Karelitz, author of the Hazon Ish – the accepted practice of settlements founded by Poalei Agudat Israel. The principle alternative to enabling the minimal observance of agricultural activities during Shemittah is the approach of otzar bet din [court storehouse], and Dr. Zacks describes with dismay the severe difficulties encountered in operating the otzarot bet din in recent Shemittot, principally the failure in the attempt to foster partnership between the observant and the haredi [pietist] community of consumers in supporting the otzar bet din. He is convinced that if the Hazon Ish were alive today, he would have undertaken the requisite responsibility of creating a general otzar bet din acceptable in the opinion of the vast majority of the community. Dr. Zacks proposes a complete program in this vein, and attempts to enlist broad support for his proposal for halakhic and agricultural revision in the application of the principle rulings of the Hazon Ish, in a fashion that would preserve the agricultural sector on the one hand – and be acceptable to the community of observant consumers on the other, and thus perhaps mitigate the divisions which have so severely impacted the observance of Shemittah in the Land of Israel in recent years.

Responses and Comments
This issue contains five rejoinders responding to articles published in previous issues: Rav Ariel, Rav of Ramat Gan, notes, in reaction to the article dealing with the parents of a rebellious child in the previous issue, that one should not compare people with animals regarding external similarities between them. In further remarks he is decidedly opposed to Rav Fixler's approach that the halakhic system in our day can afford to be more lenient in the matter of using electronic devices on Shabbat - indeed he claims the opposite, that specifically in our day, in a world inundated with electronic appliances and devices, the inclination to be lenient will turn our Shabbatot into completely mundane days. Rav Ruza, a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council and the Rav of the Tel-Aviv Burial Society, takes exeption to the remarks of Rav Levinger in the previous issue to the effect that the Rabbinate is opposed to multi-level burials. Rav Weitman, Rav of Tnuva [the National Dairy and Food Cooperative] notes that one should proceed with caution in accepting testimony obout Shemittah rulings of Rav Elyashiv ZT"L, and that one must investigate the details of each enquiry and the context in which each halakhic ruling was received. Avraham Fraenkel supplements and corrects his article in issue 208 regarding the piyyut composed on the occasion of the deliverance of the city of Worms and the piyyut Maoz Tzur. Gad Machta delves once again into the conflicting reports regarding the mourning of Rabbenu Gershom for his son who had converted, and reaches the conclusion that there is no prohibition to mourn the death of a child who converted, Heaven forefend.

About Books and Authors
Rav Yehuda Landman: Studies in the Mikhlol [Comprehensive Hebrew Grammar] of RaDaK [Rav David Kimhi]
Radak  [Rav David Kimhi] was a unique grammarian and biblical commentator, comprehensive and multifaceted. He synthesized the teachings of the East and the West, the perfection of Iberian Hebrew grammar and the aesthetic of midrashic [homiletic] commentary, the philosophic approach of the Provencal sages and the literalism of the sages of Northern France, the rich homiletic tradition of his family and his unique, versatile creativity. This article focuses on the lesser known part of his oeuvre: the two sections of his book of comprehensive grammar "Mikhlol". Rav Landman, an avrekh who hails from Bnei Brak, is a researcher at the Shlomo Aumann Institute, in which capacity he is preparing a new, student-friendly edition of the Mikhlol. In this article he shows the importance of the Mikhlol as a complementary source to the teachings of the Kimhi family in the exegesis of Scripture, and discusses as an example thereof the enigmatic explanation of RaDaK's father, Rav Yoseph Kimhi, on the difficult verse in the Book of Psalms 80:6 vatashkemo bidma`ot shalish (=80:5 "…and gives them tears to drink in great measure"). Among three possible explanations for the term "shalish",with the help of renewed enquiry into the Mikhlol, Rav Landman demonstrates that in his homiletic interpretation Rav Yoseph Kimhi intends the third of the explanations, which alludes to the difficulties of exile until the coming of the redeemer.

Rav Yoel Friedman: The Structure of the Sefer ha-Terumah [Book of the Heave Offering] and its Implications for Deciding the Halakha
Rav Dr. Yoel Friedman, a senior researcher at Machon HaTorah veHaAretz, has been working for many years on preparing a new edition of  the Sefer ha-Terumah [Book of the Heave Offering] by Rav Baruch ben Rav Yitzchak Sir Fontaine, which is one of the most important halakhic works from the period of the baalei hatosafot [medieval Talmudic glossators]. Rav Friedman wrote a doctoral dissertation on this book, and he presents here the essentials of the structure of the work. He demonstrates that the book is composed of three levels: the hibbur ha'arokh [extensive composition] which is an in-depth discussion of legal topics presented according to the approach in studying and in ruling of the ba`alei hatosafot, the p'sak [rule] which decides the halakha in practice for each topic, and the simanim [content headings] which constitute a précis of the p'sak section, which headings were all moved early on to the beginning of the book. Rav Friedman demonstrates out of an understanding of the structure of the Sefer ha-Terumah that the legal decisions of the author Rav Baruch are reflected principally in the p'sak and the simanim sections, while in the hibbur ha'arokh his opinion is at times expressed as 'and it is possible to say', in the manner of the ba`alei hatosafot in explaining the Talmud. This fact is important regarding the feasibility of depending upon Rav Baruch's opinion in the Sefer ha-Terumah concerning Shemittah: unlike many later authorities, who have claimed that Rav Baruch remained uncertain regarding his innovative opinion that acquisition of land in Israel in our times by a non-Jew exempts the area from its sanctity – from his remarks in the p'sak section it is clear that in practice he decides in no uncertain terms that in our times within Israeli land owned by a non-Jew there is no prohibition of performing melakhot [activities] forbidden during Shemittah and its produce does not have the sanctity of shevi`it [the seventh year].
The issue closes with a review of new Torani books by the editor.
We all hope and pray that the three kidnapping victims, one of whom is our neighbor from Nof Ayalon, will return quickly and safely to their homes with Gd`s help.
                                                                                                                                    Y.C.