MISC section - contents:
1. Vebbe Rebbe
2. Words of Wisdom; Words of Wit
3. Candle by Day
4. Torah from Nature
5. MicroUlpan
6. Torah Tidbits this 'n that
7. From Aloh Naaleh
8. From the desk of the director

[1] 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 How full does a guard railing on a staircase have to be? How big are the gaps allowed to be? Does it matter if, technically, a baby might be able to fall through?

A This question is hard to answer in detail, but understanding the concept should give you a pretty good idea how to approach the matter.
The Torah writes: "When you build a new house, you shall make a fence for your roof, and you shall not place blood in your house, should the one who falls fall from it" (Devarim 22:8). Although the pasuk mentions just a roof, Chazal (Sifrei, ad loc.) extended the law of fences to a variety of dangerous places (like, a pit) in one's property. You refer to a guard railing for a staircase, which can be a dangerous place, especially for small children.

If the halacha applies to all places a person can fall, then why is the roof singled out? There are a few basic approaches one can take to the question. Sefer Hachinuch (#546) says that the Torah just mentioned a common example of a place that requires a fence. However, there is another, not necessarily contradictory approach found in several acharonim, which seems logically appealing, according to classical halachic analysis.

That is that there are what some of us like to call, "tzvei dinim," two elements to the halacha. The requirement of a fence for a roof is quite technical and across-the-board. The requirement else- where is more subjective and based on the specifics of the situation. This distinction makes the roof stricter, but, at times, more lenient than other places. For example, a house that doesn't meet a house's size requirements is exempt from having a fence even if the roof is used in the same manner as other roofs. Additionally, the minimum height of the fence is ten tefachim (roughly, three feet), hardly enough to totally prevent someone from falling. Rather, this height is the classic one for a halachic wall in a variety of contexts, from a sukka to the laws of eiruv and more. Thus, it is likely that the maximum space in between vertical bars of the fence for a roof should be three tefachim, as we find by other halachic walls.

That is in regard to the more formalistic and defined application of these halachot. But by extending the concept to a wide range of dangers (including raising a "bad" dog - see Bava Kama 15b), Chazal were telling us that, beyond the formalistic element of the mitzva, the spirit of the law is binding as well. Thus, where there is palpable danger, further steps may need to be taken. This requirement is not learned out from the positive commandment to "build a fence," but from the negative commandment not to "place blood in your house" and the more general commandment, "be careful and safe- guard your life" (Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 427:8). One difference stemming from the distinction between the more defined and less defined applications of the halacha is that even those who require a beracha when building a fence (Rambam 11: 12) do so only on the fence of a roof (Ha'amek She'ala 145:17; Chayei Adam 15:24). Another is that one has to determine whether a potentially dangerous area, other than a roof, is actually used (Minchat Yitzchak VII, 122), in contrast to the normal law that it a straight roof needs a fence as long as it can, in theory, be used (Aruch Hashulchan, CM 427:5).

So, in your case, one has to consider what the actual dangers are. If there is reasonable danger for children, then you have to ask an expert what the maximum width between bars should be. While halacha does not expect one to spend all of his money removing the most remote danger, it is, in general, better to err on the side of caution.

Ask the Rabbi Q&A is part of Hemdat Yamim, the weekly parsha sheet published by Eretz Hemdah. You can read this section or the entire Hemdat Yamim at www.ou.org or www.eretzhemdah.org. And/or you can receive Hemdat Yamim by email weekly, by sending an email to eretzhem@netvision.net.il with the message: Join Hemdatya –Please leave the subject blank. Ask the Vebbe Rebbe is partially funded by the Jewish Agency for Israel

[2] ArtScroll Series • Mesorah Publications Ltd.
WORDS OF WISDOM WORDS OF WIT by Shmuel Himelstein
R' Yitzchak Isaac Herzog, the second Chief Rabbi of Israel, would say, "Chazal tell us in Avos that ‘One should warm himself opposite the chachamim, but one must take heed lest he be burned.’ Now, Chazal did not say that one should warm himself in the light, but used the term opposite the light.

"Take the following example: if a fire is burning, a person who stands opposite it is warmed by the fire. If he approaches too close to it - and all the more so if he touches it - he is burned by that same fire that offered him warmth.

"This teaches us that in dealing with Torah Sages one must keep one's distance. One must always hold them in the highest respect and honor. However, if one draws too close to them - if one is too familiar with them - or if one touches them - all the more so if one does something which harms them - he himself will be burned. One must always keep in mind that respect for our Torah Sages is really respect for Hashem."

[3] Candle by Day
Action must always be justified, but inaction can often be defended by pleading a fear of disturbing the status quo, a state of affairs which often leads to the ridiculous situation where he who does nothing is commended and he who attempts a constructive change is condemned. - From A Candle by Day by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein

[4] MA RABU MA'ASECH HASHEM KULAM B'CHOCHMA ASITA MAL'AH HA'ARETZ KINYANECHA • Peafowl
This is the proper term for birds in general, peacock is the male, peahen is the female, and peachick (as opposed to chickpea, which is something else altogether) is the young. Pavo cristatus and Pavo musticus are the two main species of peacocks. (The word is also used as the collective term for peafowl). Males can grow as tall as 3 feet (almost a meter) and their tail feathers can be up to 5 ft. long. Peafowl are subject to stress, which can affect the number and frequency of eggs laid by peahens, as well as their temperament. Their mood is improved if they are not confined to small spaces, which is why many zoos (Jerusalem’s Biblical Zoo included) allow them to roam all over the grounds. Peacocks fly fairly well for their size.

Natural habitat: Deep forest... travel in small flocks... group of peafowl is known as a bevy... Peahens hide their nests, but lay decoy eggs in the open to fool predators... MRMH Incubation period is about four weeks... Mothers try to get their chicks to fly as soon as possible to seek protection in trees... until they fly, the peachicks are sheltered under thier mother’s wings... some use them peacocks to raise an alarm when strangers are around...All indications are that peafowl is kosher, but we don’t have a MASORET. Peafowl are native to southern India and Ceylon... (in India) useful in that it feeds on young cobras... utters an unpleasant wailing cry, especially before a rainfall... quarrelsome and do not mix well with other domestic animals.

[5] Micro Ulpan - a word (or two) from HaAcademiya LaLashon Ha-Ivrit
Here’s a word we all know, but it has a history that is probably not-so- well known. A shopping mall is a KANYON. The name was originally used for the first mall in the country, KANYON AYALON in Ramat Gan. As other malls were built in the same format, they too picked up the title KANYON. It has be- come the generic term for shopping malls. Some people say KENYON, but the “correct” word is KANYON. (The one in Haifa, by the way, is called the GRAND KANYON - cute, no? Someone was bound to do it.)

[6] Torah Tidbits this 'n that
Remember the Chocolate Covered Raisins issue of several weeks ago? Well, here is some follow-up.

First of all, the company that owns the dispensers is still maintaining the “American peanuts” supply, but they have removed the CCR at my (Phil) request and haven’t decided what will replace them yet.

Second, after we started using the initials CCR, someone wrote that it reminded him of Creedence Clearwater Revival, a rock & roll group of the late 60s and early 70s. That sent me to www.acronymfinder.com, a useful website for looking up acronyms from AAAA (American Academy of Anesthesiologists Assistants, inter alia) to ZZW (the Zanesville, Ohio airport code), and over 300,000 other acronyms. Sure enough, searching for CCR found the abovementioned rock group and almost 60 other definitions including California Code of Regulations, Canadian Council for Refugees, and Conradson Carbon Residue - but, alas, no chocolate covered raisins. No need to fret, the AF allows submissions of acronyms for their database. The suggestions are reviewed and then either rejected or approved. Now if you look for CCR, among the 60 definitions you will find Chocolate-Covered Raisins! (Other submissions they’ve accepted include IYH, BSD, OU, and NCSY.)

[7] CHIZUK and IDUD (for Olim & not-yet-Olim respectively)
Many of the mitzvot appearing in Parshat Ki Tetze deal with relation- ships between men and women, several dealing specifically with marriage. According to the beginning of Tractate Kiddushin, the first verse of Chapter 24 - ki yikach ish isha, "when a man takes a wife" - serves as the textual basis for the contracting of marriages. The Sages throughout the generations have elaborated upon many aspects of the relationship between husband and wife.

One striking source concerning this relationship is a rather cryptic statement in the very last Mishna of Ketubot: Hakol ma'alin l'Eretz Yisra'el, "Everyone may force to go up to the land of Israel…" According to the Babylonian Talmud (ibid., 110b), the Mishnah means that both marriage partners have the right to coerce his or her spouse to immigrate to Eretz Yisrael. If a woman refuses her husband's request to live in Israel, he may divorce her without paying her the value of her ketubah. If a man refuses his wife's request to move to Israel, she may demand a divorce and the full payment of her ketubah.

In practice, contemporary Rabbinic courts are reluctant to enforce these Talmudic rules. If one searches hard enough, one can find authorities who argue that... the obligation to live in the land of Israel does not apply nowadays. Moreover, it is abundantly clear that a husband and wife who are devoted to each other will work out the difficult issue of whether or not to live in Israel without recourse to a Rabbinic court. Nevertheless, as an indicator of the halakhic ideal for a couple that takes Judaism seriously - the Talmudic passage speaks volumes
Rabbi Yitzhak Frank , Jerusalem

TORAH THOUGHTS as contributed by Aloh Naaleh members for publication in the Orthodox Union's 'Torah Insights', a weekly Torah publication on Parshat Ha'Shavuah

[8] Divrei Menachem
Parshat Ki Teze describes a situation in which a Jewish soldier, involved in an initiated war (Milchemet Reshut), becomes infatuated with a beautiful female captive whom he wishes to marry. Surprisingly, the Torah indicates that under certain conditions, the besotted warrior may, in fact, take the girl for his wife.

Citing the Talmud (Kedushin 21b) Rashi points out that the Torah's approval of this union is a concession since, due to the soldier's strong urges, he would anyway have taken the servant girl. Their relationship, however, will never be good and the offspring of this liaison will turn out to be insubordinate.

This leads us to understand better the juxtaposition of this episode with the following verses that discuss the "hated" second wife and the rebellious child. Which prompts us to ask why such inevitable consequences emerge from what should normally be an agreeable relation- ship between two interested parties?

The Avne Barzel explains that the original fault emerged when the warrior was initially overwhelmed by the external beauty of his heathen woman. As Jews, he suggests, we would better be cognizant of the freethinking tendencies that such foreign women inject into the home. And in this age of enlightenment, contesting this trend is surely the kind of war that we should fight.
Shabbat Shalom,
Menachem Persoff