Intent to sin - counted as sin?

Kiddushin(81b): Every time R. Hiyya b. Abba fell upon his face he used to say, ‘The Merciful save us from the Tempter.’ One day his wife heard him. ‘Let us see,’ she reflected, ‘it is so many years that he has held aloof from me: why then should he pray thus?’ One day, while he was studying in his garden, she adorned herself and repeatedly walked up and down before him. ‘Who are you?’ he demanded. ‘I am Harutha [a well known prostitute], and have returned to-day,’ she replied. He desired her. Said she to him, ‘Bring me that pomegranate from the uppermost bough.’ He jumped up, went, and brought it to her. When he re-entered his house, his wife was firing the oven, whereupon he ascended and sat in it [He tried killing himself]. ‘What means this?’ she demanded. He told her what had befallen. ‘It was I,’ she assured him; but he paid no heed to her until she gave him proof. ‘Nevertheless,’ said he, ‘my intention was evil.’That righteous man [R. Hiyya b. Ashi] fasted all his life, until he died thereof.

Rav Sternbuch - Our source of security

We must stop using the word 'miracle' and start referring to ' hashgacha pratis'

Hamodia , 26 Teves January 22nd,

Refusal of talmid chachom to go to beis din

Regarding the discussion on this post regarding whether a talmid chachom needs to appear before a beis din. All I have been able to find is the following halacha

שולחן ערוך חושן משפט ז סעיף ו - מי שתובעין אותו לדון לפני דיין שקטן ממנו, אין הדיין יכול לכופו לילך לפניו, אלא מכנפי מאן דאיכא התם מחכימי ומעיינים בינייהו.

ערוך השולחן חושן משפט סימן ז סעיף ח
אם תובעים ת"ח לדין לפני דיין שקטן ממנו בחכמה אין הדיין יכול לכופו שיבא לדון לפניו וכיצד עושים אוספים כל החכמים שבעיר ודנים ביניהם דכיון דמתאספים כל החכמים ליכא זילותא כשידין בפניהם [או"ת] ואף אם הת"ח גדול מכולם ואם רצון הת"ח לבא לפני הדיין הרשות בידו דחכם שמחל על כבודו כבודו מחול ואם יש זילותא להת"ח לעמוד ביחד עם הבע"ד שלו שולחים הדיינים סופריהם ומקבלים הטענות בכתב ודנים ע"פ הטענות שבכתב [סמ"ע] ועי' מ"ש בסימן קכ"ד:

This is based on Kiddushin (70a):A certain man from Nehardea entered a butcher's shop in Pumbeditha and demanded, ‘Give me meat!’ ‘Wait until Rab Judah b. Ezekiel's attendant takes his,’ was the reply: ‘and then we will serve you.’ ‘Who is Judah b. Shewiskel,18 he exclaimed: ‘to take precedence over me and be served before me!’ When they went and told Rab Judah, he pronounced the ban against him. Said they to him, ‘He is wont to call people slaves,’ whereupon he had him proclaimed a slave. Thereupon that man went and summoned him to a lawsuit before R. Nahman. When the writ of summons was brought, he [Rab Judah] went before R. Huna [and] asked him, ‘Shall I go or not?’19 ‘Actually,’ he replied: ‘you need not go, being a great man; yet in honour of the Nasi's house,20 arise and go.’

Arab Muslim - commentator

I am making this comment a post as a reminder that the internet is not a private converation. Furthermore it does provide the opportunity to discuss issues with those that you don't normally meet in your daily routine. I do appreciate the fact that this commentator did take the time to send us his observations. For a related issue see Hasbara - Army of bloggers And Facebook battleground.

Just a gentle reminder to everyone that all comments require a name other than anonymous. I made an exception in this case.
=======================================================

Anonymous [ has left a new comment on your post "Should Jews hate Arabs?":

Jersey Girl, I would like to show my support to you. I'm of Muslim and Arab background. It makes me happy to see that are some decent Jews who have compassion and understanding. In history Jews lived under Arab/Muslim ruler in relative peace and harmony example the golden age for the Jews in Spain before the Christians took over and forced the population to convert to Christianity or die. What is happening Israel/Palestine is sad and tragic. And for the Muslim on the street supporting Hamas - well who should they support when there are innocent civilians being killed, and no democratic government is doing anything to stop it. Zionism turned to terrorism pre 1948 killing many innocent people.

Stocks slumped with Pres. Obama's rescue plans

CNN reports

U.S. markets slipped Tuesday on banking concerns and as traders also faced up to expected rises in government debt. Government debt prices fell as the nation watched Barack Obama become the 44th U.S. president.

With the government deficit already exceeding $1 trillion, the rescue plan that Obama has been touting will mean the government auctioning off a tremendous volume of debt -- which makes government bonds unattractive.

Sinking bond prices are "a reflection of the massive stimulus plan in effect and the likelihood that there is more coming down the road, and the concerns how we will pay for all of this," Kim Rupert, fixed income analyst at Action Economics, told CNN Money.

Stocks slumped Tuesday as the global banking crisis and a spate of weak earnings highlighted the general plight of the U.S. economy. [...]

Cohen being married to convert /Reb Moshe

This discussion below of the validity of marriage of a cohen to a convert is relevant to this posting & this posting. It is also important because it is not cited accurately by Rabbi Simcha Cohen in his discussion of the matter. The person who sent this teshuva also requested the identity of the rabbi cited in this posting who gave a heter for a baalas teshuva to marry a cohen - or possibly the source the rabbi relied upon for his heter.

Tefilin & long hair - problem?

Rael wrote,

There is an issue raised by the poskim that having long hair is a chatizah with regards to tefillin.

See the following secondary sources:

Notes on the Mishna Berura by R'Yosef Rimon:

The Weekly Halacha by R'Daniel Neustadt:

Lettings ones hair grow long a shiur by R'Aharon Lichtenstein:

Shiur by R'Eytan Weisberg

======

A couple of questions:

1) What about the issue of the nazir, surely he had long hair and yet had to put on tefillin? Asides from the nazir, was it not common in biblical times to have long hair and in more contemporary times rabbis like the Rogachover Gaon and the Chatam Sofer had long hair?

2) In halacha everything has a "shiur", has anyone seen any measurements of what is considered long hair?

My understanding:

My understanding is that the issue being spoken of is a comb over, where the hair from the back of the head (i.e. hair that is growing from a position that you cannot place the tefillin shel rosh is pulled to the front). I would assume it is not an issue if the hair is long in the front, provided that the hair is from a position where you can place tefillin. Eg this picture:

Israel - Ringworm Children (video)

Please click on the following link for a cogent discussion of this issue

Full Rebuttal by PLANCK'S CONSTANT

Jersey Girl disagrees with Planck's Constant - see comments section

I would appreciate if you would do a bit more research before you post claims that Ringworm Affair never occurred as documented. I apologize in advance that this post is so long. But the topic is important.

As a family member of numerous survivors, I am frankly shocked and dismayed at your callousness and absurd rebuttal of a very well documented and attested documentary of history, a tragic chapter not unlike that in Europe in which 6 million Jews were murdered(H"YD).

The Ringworm Children (Part 01)

Bailout - Help banks or encourage loans?

NYTimes reports:

[...] Congress approved the $700 billion rescue plan with the idea that banks would help struggling borrowers and increase lending to stimulate the economy, and many lawmakers want to know how the first half of that money has been spent before approving the second half. But many banks that have received bailout money so far are reluctant to lend, worrying that if new loans go bad, they will be in worse shape if the economy deteriorates. [...]

Israel - Ashkenazi vs Sefardic students

YNET reports:

After a year of deliberations, High Court Justices Edmond Levi, Hanan Meltzer and Edna Arbel ordered the Beit Yaakov religious school and the Independent Education Center to nullify within a week all discriminatory practices and protocols that separate between Ashkenazi and Sephardic students, including the removal of a wall in the school's courtyard, unifying the two teachers' rooms meant for two different "learning tracks" and cancellation of the unlawful levies on parents of students in the "Ashkenazi-Hasidic track."

In the decision handed down by the court, it was also decided that the Emanuel Regional Council is to present an arrangement acceptable to all parties for the separation of the school's various learning tracks, otherwise the High Court will not authorize the existence of separate learning tracks in the school. [...]

Rav Moshe Sternbuch - Miracles to behold

Rav Aharon Schechter - Attitude towards Science

Rav Aharon Schechter on Rabbi Slifkin and creation, Part 1 Part Two

Gaza - Sign up to support our soldiers

שלום,

מצורף לינק לתפילה לשמירה או רפואה לחיילים הלוחמים.

נרשמים והם שולחים שם של חייל את מתפללת והוא לוחם.

http://www.tefila-idf.com/

תזכי למצוות ובשורות טובות!

Desecrate dead to save lives? - Barzily Hospital

Bartley Kulp wrote:

I first saw this issue in the news about a month ago. My question is why there was no ruling a lot sooner. Why no Haredi Rabbis expressed any opinions on this issue quickly considering that the hospital has already been hit by rockets? There should have been a very rapid heter given and if not a reason why? Are we a society that is more concerned with setting up batei dinim for inspecting woman's clothing than tackling life or death issues.

Here's the article;JPost

Halachic ruling: Lives more important than bones

Protecting Jews from Hamas's Grad rockets is more important than respecting the rest of the dead. Hospital patients and their... Hospital patients and their families wait in a bomb shelter in Ashkelon Barzily hospital, Saturday.

That is the unsurprising halachic decision issued Wednesday by the two chief rabbis of Israel regarding the ongoing controversy surrounding foundation construction at Ashkelon's Barzilai Medical Center.

The construction is designed to fortify the hospital against Grad rockets fired by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, by adding an underground operation room.

But the necessary digging will disinter Roman- or Byzantine-era graves, an act that is prohibited according to Jewish law if the bodies are Jewish - which is unclear.

Last week Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger reasoned that since the digging is aimed at saving lives, and since there is a doubt whether the bones are Jewish, building the underground room takes precedence over not disturbing the deceased.

The Chief Rabbinate's Governing Council ratified Metzger's decision, which was also backed by Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar.

The Health Ministry announced the ruling on Wednesday night. [...]