http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword.asp?kid=12148 Newest articles written by Baruch S. Davidson Copyright 2005, Chabad.org - Chabad-Lubavitch Media Center, all rights reserved. http://www.chabad.org/media/images/50/CtRx507451.gif 130 52 http://www.chabad.org Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1041022 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1041022 The dedication of a new Torah scroll is traditionally celebrated with great festivity. This article is a basic guide to the traditional induction ceremony. Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1022753 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1022753 Question: Hi, I am writing an article on cemetery gatherings, sort of like a how-to piece. I was just reading an article on the site, by Maurice Lamm, that states it is inappropriate to bring a Torah into the cemetery as well as to eat/drink there. Why would doing those things be inappropriate, according to Jewish customs? I am not disagreeing, I am simply writing an article that includes the views of those who take an informal approach and those who take a more formal approach. Response: Throughout one's lifetime, the body partners with the soul, together performing G‑d's will in this physical world. As such, though the soul departs from the body upon death, the body deserves to be accorded appropriate respect. An object with which a mitzvah has been performed – e.g., a Torah Scroll or a mezuzah – assumes a degree of sanctity; how much more so the human body, which was instrumental in performing countless mitzvot. (In addition, according to the Zohar Vol.3, 70b , part of the soul reta Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1017001 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1017001 Question: At what age does a Jewish man have his second bar mitzvah? Is it any different than the first time around? Answer: Though some people symbolically celebrate a second bar mitzvah at a later point in life, the bar mitzvah essentially marks the day someone becomes obligated to do the mitzvahs. This happens on a boy's 13th birthday, whether it was celebrated or not. This is the meaning of the word "bar mitzvah" - a man bound by the mitzvah. It follows that once someone has passed that age, he is bar mitzvahed until the final day of his life. This is something to celebrate every day; the fact that we were enjoined by G‑d to be bound to Him through His Torah and the commandments. But some people like to celebrate again, often after a period of spiritual reawakening and rededication to Torah study and observance. So they choose a milestone birthday when they are once again called to the Torah, and they read the Torah portion that they read on their 13th birthday. Now this is a fine Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1018509 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=1018509 Question: My grandfather's name was Simcha Bunim. I know Simcha means happiness, but what does Bunim mean, and why are these names a pair? Response: Some explain that Bunim is a Yiddishized version of Bonhomme, the French name meaning "good man" (similar to the German/Yiddish name Guttman). Accordingly, they write, there is no apparent reason why this name is paired up with Simcha. However, I found a fascinating explanation brought in the Beis Shmuel. (Authored by Rabbi Shmuel ben Uri Shraga Faivesh, a seventeenth century Torah scholar who served various communities in Poland and Germany, this work is one of the primary commentaries to the part of the Shulchan Aruch dealing with the laws of Marriage and Divorce. Since the names in a divorce documents must all be spelled accurately, as a supplement to the laws of divorce, the work includes a list of the correct ways to spell many common and not-so-common Jewish names.) He writes that the name Bunim is actually a diminutive of Benjamin, Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=977115 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=977115 Question: In the narrative at the beginning of Genesis, we read that G‑d planted the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge in the middle of the Garden of Eden (2:9). G‑d instructs Adam not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge (2:17). After Adam and Eve sin, G‑d banishes them from the Garden of Eden as a consequence of their sin—lest they eat from the Tree of Life and live forever (3:22). Why hadn't Adam eaten from the Tree of Life until then? After all, G‑d had only forbade him to eat from the Tree of Knowledge? Answer: I did a bit of research and found in the commentaries several answers to your question. Here are two of them: The fruit of the Tree of Life were only effective when ingested by a mortal who would otherwise die, like a medicine that only holds potency for one suffering an illness. As death was only decreed upon the human being after – as a result of – the sin, Adam had no reason to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Life before that point. Commentary of the Baalei Hatosafot t Tue, 8 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=951471 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=951471 Obama's response to his critics was quick in coming. "Those jeans are comfortable," explained the Commander-in-Chief, and he was not about to sacrifice his comfort just to be a bit more in vogue. Fri, 24 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=945796 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=945796 Question: This may sound like a strange question but as I incorporate more and more Jewish observance and ideas into my life, I find myself falling into occasional depression. Nothing serious, but I do occasionally feel useless and hopeless. Is this a contradiction? Is it possible to be so close to G‑d and still be sad? Response: Your question is not strange at all. Odd as it may seem, it is quite common for people who are actively trying to infuse their lives with G‑dly meaning to have bouts of sadness. Particularly, becoming more conscious of Torah ideals makes one much more focused on the real and meaningful things in life. It's possible that in the past you more or less lived in the moment, without a strong focus on your spiritual goals and aspirations. While this is an unbelievable step in the right direction, it can also be depressing. Suddenly you realize how far away you are from where you want to be—a fact that you may have never really focused on before. The issue of depressi Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=944707 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=944707 Question: During the summer months, my community begins the Shabbat eve services on Friday afternoon, well before sunset, commencing an "early Shabbat." At that point, is it Friday or Shabbat? If it is Friday how can we make the Shabbat Kiddush before nightfall, and if it is considered Shabbat, why must we repeat the nighttime Shema after nightfall? If a child was born during this time, would his circumcision – the eighth day after his birth – be on the following Friday or on the following Shabbat? Answer: When accepting Shabbat early (see More on Plag Hamincha for more on how this works), we draw the sanctity of Shabbat into the hours that precede it. But the day remains day—as hard as you try, you can't turn day into night. And it is still Friday on the calendar. We have simply brought the Shabbat sanctity into Friday. Therefore, a baby born during the hours of the early Shabbat was born on Friday and the circumcision is scheduled for the following Friday. And the Shema which must be Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=923869 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=923869 Question: Solomon married a whole slew of pagan women. How was this allowed? Response: A cursory reading of those actions of King Solomon's does seem pretty incriminating. The verse states clearly that these women were of the gentile nations, from which we are warned not to marry. Yet, in Kings I 3:3, after telling us that King Solomon married the Egyptian princess, the verse tells us that "Solomon loved G‑d, walking in the statutes of David his father." How is one who marries "of the nations about which G‑d had said to the Children of Israel, 'You shall not marry among them (Kings I 11:2)'" described as "a lover of G‑d" who "walks in the statutes of his father"? This question troubled Maimonides too. The great 12th century philosopher and halachist addressed this in his Mishneh Torah, in the Laws of Forbidden Relationshps (13:14-16). The following is a free translation of his explanation to these seemingly conflicting verses: "Do not imagine that Samson, the savior of Israel, or Solom Fri, 19 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=888912 http://www.chabad.org/article.asp?aid=888912 Question: I have been told that one must never let his nail clipping lying around as they pose danger to fetuses. How does that work? Response: The Talmud Moed Katan 18a; Niddah 17a. tells us that "the righteous burn their nails, the pious bury them, and the wicked carelessly discard them." The Talmud explains that nail clippings must be carefully disposed of lest a pregnant woman pass over them and miscarry. Rabbi Yosef ibn Habib Nimukei Yosef [RaN], Moed Katan ad loc. offers the following two reasons: 1) Due to the emotional strain of pregnancy, a woman is likely to be overly repulsed by the sight of the nails, and this, in turn, might cause her to miscarry. (To be honest, I find them pretty gross myself.) 2) In ancient times, nail clippings were used as implements for witchcraft. As such, the possibility existed that these clippings would be used to harm her. Others Baer Heitev, OC 260. quote the Midrash which tells us that before Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, their b Mon, 6 Apr 2009 12:00:00 EST