From the virtual desk of the OU VEBBE REBBE
The Orthodox Union – via its website – fields questions of all types in areas of kashrut, Jewish law and values. Some of them are answered by Eretz Hemdah, the Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, founded by HaRav Shaul Yisraeli, zt"l to prepare rabbanim and dayanim to serve the National Religious community in Israel and abroad. Ask the Rabbi is a joint venture of the OU, Yerushalayim Network, Eretz Hemdah... and the Israel Center. The following is a Q&A from Eretz Hemdah...

Q I want to attend a sporting event, but the tickets go on sale on Shabbat and most certainly will be sold out before it ends. May I ask a non-Jew to buy the tickets for himself with the understanding that I will buy them from him after Shabbat?

A The general rule about arranging before Shabbat for a non-Jew to do work for you on Shabbat is the follows. If he is considered to be acting independently for his own benefit, it is permitted even though the Jew gains from the action. If he is viewed by halacha as serving as some type of shalich (agent) on behalf of the Jew, it is forbidden. The classical poskim arrived at a variety of practical distinctions based on this rule.

One may not pay a non-Jew to do work for him. However he may give a non-Jew a job to do if the non-Jew is paid the by specific job, not by his commitment to do work on the Jews behalf (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Hachaim 247:1). There are many details and subdistinctions on this matter, such as an extended relationship and marit aiyn issue when it looks like he is the employee of the Jew, but these are beyond the scope of this response. What is directly pertinent to us is the requirement that the Jew may not demand that the work be done on Shabbat (ibid.) Even if the Jew does not specify that he work on Shabbat but it is unavailable in order to accomplish the job as specified, the prohibition applies (Mishna Berura 307:13). This seems to apply to your case, as paying him for the task of buying the tickets requires doing so on Shabbat.

However, the non-Jew is considered working for you only if the work relates to you on a certain level of directness. Therefor, while one may not give money to a non-Jew to buy a commodity for a Jew on Shabbat, he may tell him to buy it with his own money while hinting that he will likely buy it from the non-Jew after Shabbat (Shulchan Aruch, OC 307:3) The Hagahot Maimoniot (Shabbat 6:2) and Hagahot Mordechai (452) learn this from the fact that one can sell chametz to a non-Jew with the understanding that he will buy it back (see Shulchan Aruch OC448:4). Since several achronim allow there that the Jew can give an oral assurance to buy it back as long as he doesn't make the conditional sale (Misnh Brura 448:23), one can likewise promise the non-Jew to buy the tickets after Shabbat (ibid. 307:13). There are even those who allow the Jew to lend the non-Jew the money to buy the tickets since at the time of the purchase, the money will be the non-Jews (Shulchan Aruch Harav 307:10).

Hasidic Wisdom from the book by Simcha Raz (Elkins/Elkins)
You do not need to speak to yourself, just thinking to yourself is enough. So why speak at all? For the benefit of others? Perhaps they are not in need of this great service either.
- Rabbi Avraham of Trisk

The source of exile is lack of faith.
- Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav

“Turn from evil and do good...” T’hilim 34:15
This means: Turn Evil into Good, because Evil is the raw material of Good.
- Baal Shem Tov

Rite & Reason by Shmuel Pinchas Gelbard
Some have the custom after the Seuda Mafseket on Erev Tisha B'Av to dip bread in ashes... and say "This is the meal of Tisha b'Av" (Rama).
Reason: The Gemara (Yerushalmi Ta'anit 4:6) relates: Rav, after eating his fill, used to dip a slice of bread in ashes and say, "This is the [essential] meal of Tisha b'Av, " as the verse (Eicha 3:16) says: "He ground my teeth with gravel, he covered me with ashes" (Beit Yosef).

It is customary not to have a M’ZUMAN for SEUDA HAMAFSEKET (Magen Avraham).

Reason: Zimun applies when [at least] three men certify they were eating together. Wheras now, "it is not their intention to confirm their togetherness" (Magen Avraham).

Reason: In accord with the verse (Eicha 3:28): "Let him sit alone and be silent."

It is customary to read the Megilat Eicha in shul only at night but not during the day (Rama).

Reason: This is in accord with the verse that states (Eicha 1:2) "She weeps bitterly in the night," and (Eicha 2:19): "Arise, cry out at night."

After Eicha and reciting the Kinos [dirges], we say "V'Ata Kadosh" [And You are holy"] (Shulchan Aruch)

Reason: "Megilat Eicha arose and declared: Master of the Universe, if these [the Jewish nation] perish who will [be left to] sanctify Your Name in Your World,who will recite Kedusha in Your houses of prayer?" Accordingly our sages instituted reciting the Seder of Kedusha [the order of Kedushah] after Eicha.

Some sleep on the ground and place a stone under their heads (Shulchan Aruch)

Reason: In accord with the Midrash (Bereshit Rabba 79) on the verse (Bereshit 28:17): "This is the house of E-lohim..." Ya'akov Avinu foresaw the destruction of the Beit ha-Mikdash and took some stones and placed them around his head [in mourning] (Maharil).

ArtScroll Series • Mesorah Publications Ltd.
WORDS OF WISDOM WORDS OF WIT by Shmuel Himelstein
R’ Eliyahu Yosef of Drobon became very ill. Nothing that the doctors prescribed seemed to help him. Finally, they resigned themselves to his imminent demise.

R’ Eliyahu Yosef heard the prognosis and said to himself, “My illness is exactly like one described in the Shulchan Aruch with reference to treif animals. Regarding that disease, there is a dispute between R’ Yosef Karo, who states that the disease does not render an animal treif — i.e. certain to die within one year — and the Rama, who says that it does. I will travel to Eretz Yisrael where they follow R’ Yosef Karo’s rulings.”

He moved to Eretz Yisrael and lived another twenty years.

MA RABU MA'ASECH HASHEM KULAM B'CHOCHMA ASITA MAL'AH HA'ARETZ KINYANECHA

This is the end of last week’s piece. After getting carried away with the lesson from Pirkei Avot and Dr. Etkin, I forgot to finish with the shark answers. So here it is. But remember, the answer to the question is not as important as the question itself (or the absence of the question). If this last part doesn’t make sense to you, go back and read last week’s MRMHKBAMHK column.

There exists among the world’s fishes, four types of scales: clenoid, cycloid, ganoid and placoid. The first two of the four types of scales overlap (like a coat of mail) and are easily scraped off. These are the two necessary properties for the fish to be kosher. Sharks have placoid scales, which are of dermal origin (meaning they are part of the sharks skin and cannot be removed without taking skin with them) and they do not overlap. Under a magnifying glass, one can see individual platelets with thin margins between scales. True, sharks have scales, but not the kind of scales that define fish as kosher.

This brings up an important idea; something to keep in mind for various circumstances. Language is often vague and ambiguous. Besides scales being things to weigh things with, a series of musical notes, and what one does with mountains, they are also the covering of the body of many fishes, reptiles, and some mammals. Yet even restricting the definition to fish, as you see above, there are four kinds — with a significant halachic distinction.
Hebrew has the same “problem” as English. KAS-KESET includes the “kosher” and the “non-kosher” types of scales, as well as dandruff. On a halachic level, it is important to understand that clarification is often in the realm of the Oral Law. Does YOM mean daytime, as opposed to nighttime? Yes. Sometimes. Lulav is a daytime mitzva and so is Brit Mila - because of the word YOM. Does YOM mean a full 24-hour period? Yes. Sometimes. ZACHOR ET YOM HASHABBAT... remember the Shabbat DAY, applies to the full 24+ hours of Shabbat. How do we know the difference? TORAH SHE-B’AL PEH, the Oral Law. Is BEN a male child or does it include son and daughter? Sometimes and sometimes. Etc. etc.

What bracha do you make on a banana? HaAdama. Right! But a banana grows on a tree. Yes and no. It looks like a tree and is often called one. But it is neither halachically nor botanically a tree. Imprecise language; precise halachic definition to determine its bracha and other halachic statuses. It is okay for language to start out ambiguous sometimes, but ultimately, context or external definition has to pin it down.

We all have it IN us. What we ARE is what we manage to get OUT of us. From A Candle by Day by Shraga Silverstein

G'MATRIYA MATCH
Hunting the elusive GM takes much patience. It involves “plunking” a pasuk of your choice into a G’matriya counter and them have the program find other p’sukim (or individual words or phrases) in Tanach that have the same G’matriya. Here’s one that I “discovered” with a pasuk in D’varim that had an interesting G’matriya twin.
D’varim 1:11 is a bracha to the Jewish People invoked by Moshe:
HASHEM ELOKEI AVOTEICHEM YOSEF ALEICHEM KACHEM ELEF P'A'MIM V'VARECH ETCHEM K'ASHER DIBER LACHEM
May HaShem, G-d of your fathers, increase your numbers a thousandfold, and bless you as He promised.
G'matriya of the pasuk is 2808. That same number turned up 11 other p’sukim in Tanach with the same G’matriya. Most G’matriya Matches do not “talk to you”. Some do. One of the p’sukim with 2808 as its G’matriya is Sh’mot 1:12 (had it been 1:11 it would be even more interesting)
V'K'ASHER Y'A'NU OTO KEN YIRBEH V'CHEN YIFROTZ V'Y'KUTZU MIPNEI BNEI YISRAEL
But the more [the Egyptians] oppressed them, the more [the Israelites] proliferated and spread...
And the point is... G-d’s blessing is that we increase in number. That can happen when we are greatly oppressed by an enemy, and that can happen when we are on our own. The Sh’mot example, shall we say, is a mixed blessing. But it need not work that way. Moshe’s invocation of HaShem’s bracha can come to be - and hopefully will - when we live in our own land in security and prosperity.

The Dubano Maggid tells that he once asked the great Sage, the Gaon Rabbeinu Eliyahu of Vilna, what the difference is between the first four books of the Chumash and the book of D’varim. The GR”A answered him that the first four books are the word of G-d heard by us via the “throat of Moshe”. No so the book of D’varim. The content of this book we hear as we heard the words of other prophets. G-d tells the prophet (in this case, Moshe Rabeinu) something today, and the next day he transmits G-d’s words to us. In this kind of transmission, when the prophet speaks to us, the flow of words from G-d to the prophet has already stopped. This is how Sefer D’varim was heard by the People of Israel from Moshe.

[SDT] One commentator sees in the openning p’sukim of D’varim a REMEZ to the practice of reviewing Parshat HaShavua “twice reading and once Targum”. He uses the phrase DIBEIR MOSHE (which appears twice) for the “reading twice” and HO’IL MOSHE BEI’EIR...For the “once with commentary”.

[SDT] Another commentator sees a REMEZ that Eliyahu HaNavi will eventually explain the mysteries of the Torah. The word HO’IL, HEI-VAV- ALEF-YUD-LAMED rearranges to spell ELIYAHU. He points to the juxtaposition of the p’sukim at the end of Malachi (which happens to be the Haftara of Shabbat HaGadol), which tell us “ZICHRU TORAT MOSHE”, and then tell us that Eliyahu will come before “the Great Day of Hashem”.

From the Desk of the Director
The Book of Devarim opens with the grand statement that, "These are the words (Devarim) that Moshe spoke to all Israel," as they stood expectantly in the plains of Moab awaiting entry to Eretz Yisrael. One is tempted to compare this momentous occasion with previous events whereby in similar fashion, "G-d spoke these words (Devarim), saying…"
The Vilna Gaon notes, however, that whereas, in the first four books of the Chumash, Hashem's message is trans- mitted directly through Moshe, in the Book of Devarim heavenly instructions heard by Moshe are conveyed by him at another time. In a manner of speaking, Moshe is now more autonomous. The same Moshe who said, "Lo ish Devarim anochi" - 'I am not a man of words!' - is now the articulate teacher.
Why this is so can be found in the very nature of "these words." For now, the Torah tells us, Moshe is elaborating on the Law (Devarim 1:5). Rabbi Hirsch argues that Sefer Devarim was designed to prepare Bnei Yisrael for the practicalities of daily life in the new Land. Most commentators, however, stress that the essential nature of Devarim is "Tochacha" or rebuke.
For all these reasons, Moshe now has to prove that he is the ultimate master with words. And clearly his chosen words have an enduring quality which seem to take on a fresh and relevant significance with every passing day.

Shabbat Shalom, Menachem Persoff, Director, Israel Center

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