Well today was the end of the week of classes and it was a good week. I had Talmud this morning as usual and ended on a very good note and a good stopping place before the Chagim. We are learning about the laws of Sukkot and the different ways and materials that one can use for their Sukkot. We have learned about using animals as walls, to using trees. It is quite an array of things you can use for walls. After Talmud we had our weekly one hour session with the Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Shmuel. This week he spoken about Rosh Hashanah and some of his personal theories and philosophies on the holiday. One thing in particular stuck out to me about what Reb Shmuel was talking about. Someone posed the question about doing Tashlich on Rosh Hashanah. Reb Shmuel told us that he is the wrong person to talk to about Tashlich. He reason was absolutely amazing to me. Reb Shmuel doesn't take place in Tashlich because of a very logical reason that I had never thought about. He says that when he was learning, his Rabbi was opposed to doing Tashlich because it is not only littering but the act of throwing the bread into the water is not an accurate removal of your sins. The bread will continue to remain whole in the water and therefore your sins are still whole but are drowning in water and it defeats the prurpose of throwing them away. Now, I can't say that I am about to adapt the custom of Reb Shumel, but from now on it will seriously make me think about what I am throwing away when I do Tashlich.
After Sicha with Reb Shmuel, I ate lunch that was provided by the Yeshiva and then we had Halacha Today as I like to call if with Reb Shlomo. Today in class we were talking about Tzom Gedalia and other fast days and the Halachot concerning them. It was a fairly simple study session for me cause I studied an entire Tractate of Talmud at school last year dealing with fast days. The one thing that I did learn that I had been curious about was ending a fast day in the middle of the afternoon after one says Mincha. Their is a source that says in order for a fast not to take place you must have Shalom in the Land, with Shalom purposely being undefined, as well as no persecution. However if you have one without the other you must fast but the middle ground is if you don't have either Shalom or persecution then it is up to the person as far as if they fast or not. The origin of ending the fast at Mincha comes from the undecided conclusion of not know what to do if their is no Shalom and no persecution. It was a good answer for me as far as when I end a fast, however I was slightly disappointment that their was no textual support for the conclusion, but it was an answer none the less.
After class ended around 3, I davened Mincha with the Yeshiva and then I finalized my Rosh Hashanah plans. Friday night I am davening with all of Nativ and eating with all of Nativ at Beit Nativ. Saturday morning I am schlepping about 45 minutes to Mayyanot with my friend Seth and we are going to lunch being hosted by a family there. For Mincha and Maariv, I am going to Moreshet Yisrael, which is attached to Beit Nativ, with my friend Ariella and we were invited to some fellow Yeshiva students. Sunday morning I am headed to Kedem which is on Emek Refaiem, and then I will head across the street to my Tanach teacher, Vered's house, for lunch. To end Rosh Hashanah I will be going to Moreshet Yisrael again for Mincha and Maariv. I am excited to see what this Rosh Hashanah brings me.
Around 5 o'clock I went to meet a good friend and my Pilgrimage Rosh, Moshe Levi, for coffee. We schmoozed for a long time and caught up on life and just spent a great afternoon together. I am so lucky I have people who I can hang out with in Israel. I also got to go to dinner and do laundry with a good friend from St. Louis that is in Israel for the year. We went out to dinner at Sushi Rechavia, which I had been told is very good and they were correct. It was a great evening. Food, friends, clean laundry, blogging, and tomorrow is Rosh Hashanah. What could be better?
I guess that is it for now. The next post you will see from me is the Rosh Hashanah Drash that I have been working on. Enjoy and speak to you all next year.
David
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