A Sabbath Blessing

Question: Should the Priestly Blessing (Birkat Kohanim) be recited on a festival that falls on Shabbat?

Answer:  The obligation to recite the Priestly Blessing is found in the Torah. “Speak to the sons of Aaron: Thus shall you bless the people of Israel. Say to them …” [Num. 6:22-23]. Of all of the positive commandments directed at the priests, it is the only one that is not dependent on the existence of the Temple – and therefore the only one that is still practised today.

According to the Shulchan Aruch, [OC 128] the Priestly Blessing is recited daily during the repetition of the Amidah in the morning service – corresponding to the time it was recited in the Temple. It is also said during the Musaf prayers on the Sabbath and Festivals.

However, amongst the Ashkenzi communities in the Diaspora, it is a long established custom to limit this observance exclusively to the Musaf prayers of the festivals. Rabbi Moshe Isserlis [Poland, 16th century], the major codifier of Ashkenazi practice, writes:   “It is the custom in these countries to only recite the Priestly Blessing on festivals, for that is when one is immersed in the joy of the festival. … and they recite it in the Musaf prayer, before they leave the synagogue engrossed in the joy of the festival.”

Isserlis connects the Priestly Blessing to the concept of joy. There is a special joy on festivals which is different from weekdays and Shabbat. In the Shabbat Amidah, Shabbat is described as a time of love – in the equivalent Amidah for the festivals they are described as a time of joy. The Birkat Kohanim is recited at the end of Musaf, because the joy of Yom Tov is greatest at the end of the service – when one is about to go home to partake in the festive meal.

There are other explanations for the Ashkenazi custom. Some commentators connect the recitation of the Priestly Blessing to the service of the Priests in the Temple. Although the Priests no longer serve in the Temple – the closest we come to Temple service are the Musaf prayers which recount the offerings on the altar, so this is the most appropriate time for reciting the blessing.

Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein [Aruch Hashulchan, 128] [Lithuania, 19th century] rejected this custom. He writes: In our countries we do not recite the Birkat Hakohanim [daily] but there is no good reason for this. He goes on to say that ‘it is a bad custom’. מנהג גרוע הוא There is anecdotal evidence that Rabbi Elijah of Vilna [the Vilna Gaon] wished to reintroduce the daily recitation of the Priestly Blessing – but was prevented from doing so.

Although the custom in the Diaspora is to only recite the blessing on festivals, the custom in Israel is to recite it daily. The reason is probably historical. Amongst the earliest settlers in Israel in the modern period were the students of the Vilna Gaon. They probably brought the Gaon’s practice with them when they came to Israel, and it has remained the custom there to this day.

Many communities refrain from reciting the blessing when a Yom Tov falls on the Sabbath. Rabbi J. Soloveichik challenged the custom. It is reported that when he was a young Rabbi, he sought to introduce it in his synagogue and was subsequently dismissed from his pulpit. [Nefesh Harav]

In summary, although the Ashkenazi custom is to limit the recitation of the Priestly Blessing in the diaspora to Yom Tov, there is no good reason not to recite it when a festival lands on Shabbat. If an Ashkenazi community wishes to reintroduce it, there is nothing to prevent them from doing so.

Rabbi Chaim Weiner

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Standing or Sitting

Question: How should one recite the Amidah on an airplane, train or in other circumstances where it is difficult to stand?

Answer: The Amidah is one of the central parts of our daily prayer. In the Mishnah it is known as the tefillah – literally the prayer, because it is the prayer par excellence. It is also known as the Amidah which means standing. This is because we stand when reciting it. When we recite the Amidah we feel that we are standing in the presence of God. The Shulchan Aruch states: A person should stand with his legs together as if they were one, to appear like the angels … a person should bow his head and look towards the floor … like a servant in the presence of his master, in a spirit of fear, awe and trepidation … [Shulchan Aruch, OC 95].

It is also important to concentrate during the Amidah and to focus on the words being said. One does not stand to pray except with serious concentration. The pious ones of old used to wait an hour and then pray, in order to direct their hearts to the Eternal One. Even if the king asks about one’s welfare, one does not reply. Even if a snake is curled around one’s ankle, one does not interrupt. [Mishnah Brachot 5:1].

There are times when these two requirements – the fear of God and total concentration – conflict with each other. Praying while travelling is such a situation. The problem of finding an appropriate place to stand and pray while travelling is already reflected in the Mishnah. It rules that if a person was riding a donkey at the time of prayer he should get down from the donkey.  [Mishnah Brachot 4:6] It also rules that persons on a boat, a wagon or raft should stay in their seats and direct their hearts towards the Holy of Holies.  It is simply impossible to stand and concentrate in these situations.

The Talmud [BT Brachot, 30a] further qualifies the obligation to get down from the donkey for prayer. Rabbi Judah the Prince, the editor of the Mishnah, rules that even if a person is in a position that he could get down from his donkey to pray he is not required to do so. The reason is that in any case he will not be able to concentrate on his prayer – and it is therefore better for him to sit. [Maimonides, - Commentary on the Mishnah) We are also told that Rav Ashi [according to tradition, one of the editors of the Talmud] used to pray while sitting down during his lectures at the Kallah convention in Babylon. According to Rashi he did this because it would cause too much commotion if he left the lecture room to go outside and pray. Later, he would repeat the prayer standing up once the lecture was finished.

Based on this, most authorities rule that concentration takes priority over posture, and if one is not able to stand and pray with concentration, it is better to say the Amidah while sitting. Some authorities rule that one should repeat the Amidah standing when it is possible. Joseph Karo rules that there is no need to do so – since there is no guarantee that one will have greater concentration second time around. [Beit Yoseph, OC 94]

Therefore, one should avoid praying in an airplane wherever possible. On a short journey one should pray either before or after the flight, which is usually possible. Otherwise, it is preferable to recite the prayer undisturbed while sitting in one’s seat. A person should only pray standing in the aisle if he is certain that this will not block the way and that he will not be disturbed during the prayers.

Rabbi Chaim Weiner

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How Big is an Olive?

Question: What is the size of an olive, the standard unit of measurement, according to Halacha?

Answer: Measuring is central to any legal system. How fast is ‘speeding’? How much drink is intoxicating? Jewish law is also based on a system of measurements; some units of measurement, such as the cubit, go back to the bible. Some come from the Romans, such as the Parsa and some come from nature, such as the egg and the olive.

How big is an olive? An average olive is around 3 to 4 cubic centimeters but, but halachic olives are much larger.  Most authorities consider the size of a halachic olive to be around 28 cc – some go as far as 56cc. How did this come about, and what is the real size of an olive in Jewish law?

There is no definition of the size of an olive in the  Talmud, amongst the Geonim. (Babylon, 6th-10th century), or among the Spanish Rabbis. The Rabbis of Ashkenaz are the first to address the question in detail. Olives are not native to Ashkenazi countries and Ashkenazi Rabbis would never have seen an olive. The question of how to estimate the size of an olive was a serious question for them.

Although there is no direct discussion of the size of an olive in the Talmud, it is possible to deduce its size from places where it is mentioned. There are two such instances. In tractate Kritut the sages discuss how much food a person can swallow in one gulp. The sages stated that the throat cannot hold more than two olives. Elsewhere, the sages estimated that the throat cannot hold more than a chicken’s egg. From here we can deduce that an olive is half the size of an egg.

It is possible to deduce the size of an olive using a different method. Rambam, [MT, Hilchot Eiruvin 1:9] states that a dried fig is one third the size of an egg. The Talmud [BT Shabbat 91a] states that an olive is less that the size of a fig. From here we can deduce that an olive is no bigger than one third the size of an egg.

Based on these calculations, the Ashkenazi Rabbis adopted two different standards. R. Yitzchak of Dampierre (France, 12th century) ruled that an olive is the size of half an egg. Rabbeinu Tam of Remerupt (France, 12th century) ruled that it is the size of one third of an egg. The Shulchan Aruch simply states: “The size of an olive – some say it is around half an egg”. [OH 486:1] This odd wording indicates that he is not expressing his own opinion, but the strict view of others. Finally, R. Yechezkel Landau (Prague, 18th century), trying to reconcile measurements that were given in eggs and in fingers, came to the conclusion that in biblical times eggs  were much larger than the eggs of our time.  He writes “It is clear to me [that] a whole egg of our day is only half the size of an egg that was used for the Torah quantities. Thus the size of an olive grew from 3 to 28 and then to 56 cubic centimetres.

There is no reason to believe that olives today are any different from the olives in the time of the bible or the Talmud. There are 2000 and 3000 year old trees still living in Israel that testify to this fact. Based on this, the size of a halachic olive is the average size of a common olive today – roughly 3 to 4 cc. All other measurements are based on a misunderstanding and are not the original intention of the Torah.

Rabbi Chaim Weiner

Based on: The Evolution of the Olive. Rabbi Natan Slifkin

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Its All in a Name

Question: When coming across God’s name in a passage of Midrash or Talmud, should God’s name be pronounced, or is it better to use an appellation – such as Hashem or Adoshem.

Answer: The Talmud [BT Brachot 21a] records a debate concerning the status of a person who is ritually impure: R. Nathan b. Abishalom says: He may expound the Talmud, provided only he does not mention the divine names that occur in it. Rashi explains that this refers to names that appear in the verses of scripture that are quoted in the Talmud – i.e. a person who is ritually impure should avoid pronouncing God’s name when studying. From here we can deduce that if only one who is ritually impure is prevented from pronouncing the Divine name, everyone else is permitted to pronounce the name.

Furthermore, the Talmud states [ ibid]: Words of Torah are not susceptible of uncleanness. … as it says, Is not My word like as fire. Just as fire is not susceptible of uncleanness, so words of Torah are not susceptible of uncleanness. This means that we are no longer concerned with questions of ritual purity when it comes to the study of Torah. Anyone is permitted to pronounce God’s name during their study.

In spite of the widespread custom to say Hashem instead of pronouncing Gods name, there is strong Halachic support for the opposite opinion. Rabbi Yaakov Emden [Germany, 18th Century] relates that as a young child studying with his father [also a famous Rabbi, the Chacham Tzvi] the students would sometimes use one of the appellations, rather than pronounce God’s name. He would admonish the students and insist that they pronounce the name correctly – based on the Talmud quoted above. Many later scholars adopted this view. Furthermore, the use of the word Adoshem, which is a corruption of Gods name, is considered disrespectful, and therefore if one uses an appellation, it is always preferable to use Hashem.

All of the above only applies to saying God’s name when quoting verses. If when studying one comes across a proper blessing [i.e. the formula that starts Baruch Ata …] there are different considerations. It is forbidden to recite a blessing without cause. Saying a blessing without a reason is considered taking God’s name in vain – and is strictly forbidden. Therefore, if one comes to a blessing while studying, he or she should say Hashem or Elokim – rather than recite a proper blessing without cause. Here the concern for not reciting an improper blessing takes precedence over pronouncing Gods name properly.

Rabbi Chaim Weiner

Based on R. Ovadia Yossef, Yachve Da’at,  3, 13.

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Blessing the Blessing

Question: There are those who recite the words “Baruch Hu U’Baruch Shemo” whenever they hear a blessing. What is the source of this custom and when should this be recited.

The roots of this custom are in the bible. When Noah is first introduced in the Torah the verse states [Gen. 6:9] : “These are the generations of Noah – Noah was a righteous man …”  Why are we told that he was a righteous man? Rashi explains the principle – zecher tzadiik levracha - whenever a righteous person is mentioned his praise is also mentioned.

This principle is applied also to God. At the beginning of the Ha’azinu song, Moses states: For the Name of the Lord I proclaim; Give glory to our God [Deut. 32;3]. … the Talmud explains [BT Yoma 37a] For the Name of the Lord I proclaim; Give glory to our God: Moses said to Israel: When I mention the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, ascribe greatness unto Him.” The Sefer Haredim [Eliezer Azikri, Tzafat, 16th Cent.] interprets this obligation as meaning that one should recite ‘Baruch Hu U’Baruch Shemo’ whenever one hears God’s name.

The specific custom of reciting ‘Baruch Hu U’Baruch Shemo’ upon hearing a blessing is first mentioned in the Tur [Jacob ben Asher, Spain 15th Cent.] [OC 124], who states “I have a tradition from my father, the Rosh, that it was his custom that each time he heard a blessing he would recite ‘Baruch Hu U’Baruch Shemo’.

Not everyone has approved of this custom. God’s name is mentioned so frequently in our prayers, that taken to the extreme, it would be impossible to concentrate on the meaning of the prayers and it would render almost any prayer unintelligible.

Ma’asei Rav writes in the name of R. Elijah of Vilna [Lithuania, 18th Cent.] that one should not say this recitation during the repetition of the Amidah, for frequently it means that one misses hearing the end of the blessing and thereby does not fulfil his obligation. In his siddur The Vilna Gaon writes that it is forbidden to recite the ‘Baruch Hu …’ because one must concentrate only on the blessings he is hearing and on reciting amen at the end of each blessing.

The common practice is to recite this praise, but only in places where it is not disruptive to the flow of the service. We recite it at the end of a blessing – where there is a natural pause after God’s name, but not at the beginning of blessings, where God’s name is in the middle of a phrase. The ‘Baruch Hu…’ is not recited at any point of the service where it is forbidden to interrupt the flow. This means that we do not say it during the Pesukei D’zimra, during the recitation of the Shema and the surrounding blessings until the end of the silent Amidah. We also do not recite the ‘Baruch Hu’ if someone else is reciting a blessing on our behalf – such as the public recitation of the Kiddush or the Hamotzei. It is commonly recited during the repetition of the Amidah by those who are listening to the service leader. The leader should pause slightly after saying Gods name – to leave time for the praise.

Rabbi Chaim Weiner

Based on R. Ovadia Yossef, Yachve Da’at,  4, 9.

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A Precarious Life

Question: Is a person who has flown on an airplane obligated to recite the Hagomel blessing?

Answer: The Hagomel is a blessing recited to thank God for redemption from danger. The Talmud [Brachot 54b] says: Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav: Four are obligated to give thanks, one who has gone to sea, one who has travelled trough the desert, one who was ill and has recovered and one who has been imprisoned and released.

All four of these circumstances can be derived from the verses of Psalm 107: Praise the Lord for He is good … Some lost their way in the wilderness … Others go down to the sea in ships … in their adversity they cried to the Lord, and He saved them from their troubles. Based on this, Maimonides, [ MT Brachot, 10:8] rules that people who have been on the road must recite the Hagomel blessing once they have reached civilisation.

In the early days of air travel there was some debate amongst the Rabbis as to whether travel through the air counted as being ‘on the road’. Now it is universally accepted that air travel is also included in this obligation.

A more interesting question is, given current safety statistics and our attitude to flying, whether air travel is dangerous enough to justify reciting a blessing. This forces us to consider what this blessing is really about.

Menachem HaMeiri [Catalonia, 13 Cent.] writes “There are those who say that the Hagomel is only required of one who was travelling through the desert and got lost, or went to sea and was caught up in a storm, or who was dangerously ill – for in all these cases there was a miracle. If, however, a person was in no real danger there is no obligation to say the blessing. Although the verses [of Psalm 107] support this commentary – I do not agree with it. For all roads are dangerous, and all travel has an element of risk.”

Behind this comment lies a different understand of Hagomel. It is not a blessing about being saved from danger, but rather, it is a blessing about the precariousness of life. The blessing reminds us of the simple fact that we are frequently at risk and that all life is uncertain. Hanging between heaven and earth in a plane, being hundreds of miles out at sea or lying under the surgeon’s scalpel are by definition dangerous – no matter how used to these things we have become. It is at moments such as these that we are expected to thank God for looking after us, and not only at those times when things have gone wrong.

Finally, we must consider whether all journeys require a blessing. The Talmud [Brachot 30a] tells us that tefilat haderech, (traveller’s prayer) is only recited if one is going a distance of at least one Parsa. This is approximately 4 kilometres. On foot that would take 1.2 hours. Following this reasoning, the obligation to recite Hagomel applies only if one has gone on a journey of at least an hour and 12 minutes.

Rabbi Chaim Weiner

Based on R. Ovadia Yossef, Yachve Da’at,  2, 26.

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A One Handed Blessing

Question: What blessing does a person whose hand is in a cast, or who only has one hand, recite when washing before a meal?

Answer: At first sight it is tempting to compare this to a rule that was formulated in the Shulchan Aruch (Y.D. 120:3) which deals with the requirement to immerse utensils before using them for the first time. The Shulchan Aruch states that if one is immersing only one item, one should recite the blessing in the singular: al tevilat klee.  If there are two or more items to be immersed, the blessing is recited in the plural: al tevilat keilim . Using this logic, one might think that a person who is only washing one hand should recite the blessing al netilat yad in the singular,  instead of the normal blessing in the plural: al netilat yadayim.

This is not the case. The rule is that a person should use the normal formula of the blessing –  al netilat yadayim – whether they have one hand or two. The same rule applies when donning tefillin in the morning. The word tefillin is plural – referring to both the box that goes on the arm and the one on the head. The singular form of the word is tefilla. If a person dons only one part of the tefillin – either on the arm or the head – we still use the blessing להניח טפילין in the plural. This is because we always use the standard formula of a blessing, even in those cases where there isn’t a perfect match between the blessing and reality.

Behind this rule lies an important distinction between two different types of religious activity – prayer and liturgy. Prayer is a personal outpouring of the heart directed towards God. Prayer is usually spontaneous and personal. What we recite in the synagogue isn’t prayer – it is liturgy. Liturgy is a formalised service, like the service of God in the temple. Liturgy has fixed words – and there are always rules that guide the right way and the right time to recite it. Liturgies are passed down from generation to generation. Although we moderns have an instinctive attraction to prayer, there is a special magic to liturgy, which comes from familiarity and recognition. If you have ever been moved by the intensity of the Kol Nidrei service – then you have experienced the power that liturgy can hold over us.

Although there is room for personal prayer in the Jewish tradition, our regular prayers and blessings are liturgies. This can be best summed up by the statement of the Talmud: R. Yossi says: Anyone who changes the formulas that were established by the Rabbis has not fulfilled their obligation. [BT Brachot: 40b] Getting back to our original question – the fixed formula of the blessing is al netilat yadayim – and we recite this blessing whether we have washed one hand or two.

We still need to ask, why does the formula of the blessing change when immersing vessels?  Rabbi Ovadiah Yossef  explains that it is not unusual to immerse only one pot or plate and therefore, the Rabbis established a standard blessing for this occurrence. Since we sometimes immerse one vessel and sometimes immerse many – there is a standard blessing for one and a standard blessing for many. It is extremely rare for a person to have only one hand and therefore there is no fixed blessing for this case. The standard form of the blessing is in the plural – and we use it whether we are washing one hand or two.

Rabbi Chaim Weiner

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Based on R. Ovadia Yossef, Yachve Da’at,  2, 19.

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