המעין

HAMA`YAN

Table of contents:

`Four Craftsmen` / The Editor …………………………………………………………………….……...2
The Last Two Letters Which the Hazon Ish z.t.l. Sent to Rav Kalman
Kahane z.t.l. / Rav Avraham Yesha`ya Karelitz z.t.l. …………………..…………. 4
The Shelah (Rav Yesha`ya Horowitz) and His Relationship to the
Land of Israel / Rav Kalman Kahane z.t.l.…………………………………..………..…6
Further Remnants from the Table of My Father Rav Kalman
Kahane z.t.l./ Rav Binyamin Zeev Kahane ……………………………………..…….…27
Reminiscences, Reflections and Thoughts in the Wake of the Shoah /
Shemuel Emanuel z.t.l.………………………………………………………………..……..…33
Reflections and Close Reading in the Episode of Hagar /
Baruch Emanuel ………………………………………………………………………………….….36
Responsum to a Student in the Matter of Prohibitions of Worms /
Rav Eitam Henkin h.y.d. …………………………………………….……………………..…. 38
An Old-New Responsum of Rashba in the Matter of Whether a Single
Witness Might Effect Marriage / Rav Eitam Henkin h.y.d.  ……………….…43
The Piyyut Elohim mimekhon shivtekha / Dr. Yehoshafat Nevo …………………………46
Where Have the Ten Tribes Gone? Contradictions in the Remarks of
Our Sages and Their Resolution / Rav Moshe Tzuriel ………………………..….57
Erez ('Cedar') – Its Identity / Rav Azariah Ariel ………………………………………………..…63
Studies in Medieval Rabbinic Literature – A Collection Project
Completed / Dr. Avraham David ………………………………………………………..….73
A Sukkah (Hut) [Round Shaped] Like a Furnace, Judges of Caesarea,
R. Johanan and the Babylonian Amoraim /
Rav Dr. Mordechai Halperin ……………………………………………………………....…79

Memorials
Remarks in Memory of Dr. Isaac Breuer Seventy Years after
His Passing / Rav Meir Schlesinger ……………..……………………………..….….…..94
After the Bier of a Well-To-Do Person – Remarks Made in Memory of
Shemuel Emanuel z.t.l. / Rav N. Raphael Auerbach ………………………….….100
Memorial Remarks for Uncle Shemuel / Rav Zeev Weitman ……………………….……103

Responces and Comments
`Meticulous with Those Around Him Even by a Hairsbreadth` – The
Approach of Ramhal / Rav Haim Sabato; Further to the Matter of
"Your Life Takes Precedence" in Torah and Mitzvot / Rav Amichai
Kinarti; Further in the Matter of the Efforts of Rav Shach z.t.l. to Free
the Entebbe Hostages / Ephraim Wasserman; Comment in the Matter
of the Three Oaths / Rav Michael Klein …………………………………………………..….…….105

Editorial Review of Recent Torani Publications / Rav Yoel Catane ……………....……109

לוגו קטן של              Shlomo Aumann Institute, Yeshivat Sha`alvim
 מכון ש"א                                 Vol. 219 * Tishrey 5777 [57, 1]

Survey of This Issue
This special issue honors the memory of four prominent Jewish personalities: Dr. Isaac Breuer, who passed away some seventy years ago, a communal leader in the nascent state who did not merit to see it come into being; Rav Kalman Kahane, who passed away over twenty five years ago and was a person of Torah, a leader of the State and a mentor to many; Shemuel Emanuel, member of Kibbutz Sha'alvim, pioneer, educator, communal and Torani personality who passed away two months ago; and the 'cedar of Lebanon', the eminence who was at the beginning of his meteoric flourishing in Torah and in knowledge, Rav Eitam Henkin, who was murdered a year ago with his wife in front of their four children. The present issue includes moving personal letters penned by the Hazon Ish z.t.l. at the end of his days to Rav Kalman Kahane; three halakhic clarifications in decisions issued by Rav Kalman edited by his son Rav Binyamin Zeev, and an essay on the author of the Shelah, Rav Yesha`ya Horowitz, and his magnum opus, which Rav Kalman published when he was young – edited, revised and annotated by his student and colleague, member of our editorial staff, Rav Prof. Shimon Bollag. Further on are reminiscences and reflections on the Shoah found in the estate of Shemuel Emanuel as well as remarks in his memory, and remarks his brother Baruch wrote on the topic of how Hagar relates to her son Yishmael, in marked contrast to the way Jewish mothers relate to their children in trouble. From the literary estate of Rav Eitam h.y.d. we print for the first time a responsum directed to a person perplexed by matters involving the prohibition of worms (Rav Eitam authored a book on this topic) followed by his reconstruction of a 'lost' responsum of Rashba.
This issue also contains a comprehensive study of the identity of the tree known as erez ['cedar'] by Rav Azariah Ariel, Head of the Kollel of the Temple Institute; an annotated edition of the early piyyut Elohim mimekhon shivtekha by Prof. Yehoshafat Nevo; a comprehensive review of the late Prof. Y. M. Ta-Shma's monumental Knesset Mehkarim - Studies in Medieval Rabbinic Literature containing a series of in-depth studies by one of the major scholars of rishonim [medieval authorities] in our generation, by his colleague Dr. Avraham David of the National Library; a new, clarified elucidation of the enigmatic topics of a 'sukkah [round shaped] like a furnace' and a 'round window between two courtyards' by Rav Dr. Mordechai Halperin, and a resolution of the contradictory sources in the matter of the existence of the Ten Tribes in our day by Rav Moshe Tzuriel, author of important works and former mashgiah (spiritual mentor) at Yeshivat Sha'alvim. Further on are remarks delivered recently in memory of Dr. Isaac Breuer, and as usual we have important rejoinders and comments, and reviews of new Torani books.
The editors of HaMa'ayan wish for the subscribers and readers and the entire Jewish people that the blessings of the passing year will continue into the coming year, and that many more blessings will come upon our people, our land and the cities of our G-d.
Yoel Catane, Editor