Monday
7 Nisan, 5771; 8 Days until Pesach
April 11, 2011
1) Kadesh: Kiddush and the first of the four cups of wine.
Every Jewish adult male and female is obligated to drink four cups of wine over which the Hagadah was recited. (Shulchan Aruch Siman 472:8 and 14)
Minor boys and girls who have reached the age of Chinuch (Around five or six years of age, depending on each individual child's level of maturity and comprehension) should be given 4 cups of wine as well. (Shulchan Aruch Siman 472:15)
The prevalent custom is to place a glass of wine in front of all the children, even those that are not yet of Chinuch age.
2) There is a debate amongst the Poskim as to the exact amount of fluid that makes up a "Revi'is".
For Mitzvos D'Oraysa (biblical commandments) the Poskim are stringent and require the larger amount of approx. 4.5 ounces, while for Mitzvos D'Rabanan (rabbinic ordinances) the smaller Shiur of 3.3 ounces (According to Rav Moshe Feinstein Zatzal) suffices.
The 4 cups of wine at the Pesach Seder are a Mitzvah D'Rabanan and thus would only require 3.3 ounces for each of the 4 cups. (If the first night of Pesach falls out on Friday night, then the first cup, which is also the cup of Kiddush, a biblical commandment, will require the larger amount.)
If one is able, of course, it is best to try and drink the 4.5 ounces even for Mitzvos D'Rabanan. But if one has a hard time drinking that many cups of wine, the smaller Shiur may be relied upon.
QUESTION & ANSWER CORNER
Reader Submitted Questions of interest on topics related to Halachos we covered, as well as other interesting topic and Answers. Taken from the Q & A pages on the Halacha For Today website.
Although the answers I give to questions are taken directly from the Sifrei HaPoskim, and aren't my own, they are still for study purposes only, NOT for Psak Halacha.
Questions can be emailed to HalachaForToday@Yahoo.com
Reader's Question:
I would like to know, when we got the Torah did it come in a sephardic way, ashkenaz way, chassidic way or it just said straight out the halachos and everyone just keeps it their way, and if that's how it is then which way is best?
Answer:
There was only one Torah, and there still is only one Torah, and there will always be only one Torah.
Over the years certain things were forgotten or translated differently, so there developed different schools of thought about what certain things mean, how certain things are done etc. However, all the different cultures and groups are doing the same thing...in their unique way.
Hilel and Shamai, Rav Akiva and Rav Elazar, Rav Meir and the Chachamim, The Gaon of Vilna and the Ba'al HaTanya, Rav Akiva Eiger and the Chasam Sofer, Rav Avrohom Yitzchak Kook and the Brisker Rav, The Chazon Ish and Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, Rav Moshe Feinstein and the Satmar Rav Zichronam Livracha, Rav Ovadia Yosef shlita and Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv shlita...and all the sages throughout the ages always had (and will have, until Mashiach comes) differences of opinion in halacha, hashkafa, etc....but were all striving for the same truth! The truth of the holy Torah.
We serve the same Hashem and keep the same holy Torah, and are reaching for the same goal of earning Olam Haba...we just take different paths sometimes to get there.
CHIZUK CORNER
As a Zechus for the Refuah Shelaima of one of the Gedolei HaDor, the Telzer Rosh Yeshiva , HaRav Chaim Stein Shlita, R' Chaim Yaakov ben Chasya Miriam, B'soch Sha'ar Cholei Yisroel, we will B'Ezras Hashem post here each day a short inspirational thought to help us all improve our lives and grow in our service of our Father in heaven, HaKadosh Baruch Hu.
IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING MEANINGFUL FOR THIS SECTION, PLEASE EMAIL IT TO ME.
THANK YOU AND תזכו למצות!
אל תתיאש מן הרחמים
Chizuk Corner
Question:
Prove Clearly that there is a G-d.
Answer by HaRav Avigdor Miller Zatzal:
That's a question that I like to hear. I'm going to prove it clearly right now to you; I won't charge you extra for it. Now some of our people here are veterans, but bear with me for the benefit of the newcomers.
One night I slept in the country and outside my window was a wild cherry tree. Now for months the wild cherries have been available only to birds. If you couldn't fly or if you didn't want to climb the tree you couldn't get them. But that night - all night I heard the pit-pat of falling cherries. All night - pit-pat - as they were falling on the lawn -pit-pat pit-pat - all night. I was thinking, "Why all of a sudden is it coming down? It was holding on tightly all the spring months, what is it that makes it get loose and come down?" If you study a little bit of botany you know that a fruit doesn't fall by accident, because then why doesn't it fall at the beginning of the season? It first has to become ripe, it has to become sweet. And at the same time it has to acquire a pleasant color. And then certain cells start developing. In the stem, where the stem of the fruit is connected with the twig of the tree, certain abscission cells start developing and these cells cause the fruit to fall.
So the question is, why is it that when the fruit is unripe it doesn't fall down? That's a question that we have to face. Now don't try to dodge that question, because that question is of the utmost consequence - why does the fruit let go only when it's ripe? We're not talking about when a hurricane comes and blows down unripe green fruits - it will blow down a tree, too! But why does the fruit fall only when it's ripe? And the answer is: because we can't get up to it otherwise. The tree knows that we don't have wings. The main eaters, the most important eaters, don't have wings. And that's why the tree lets go when the fruit is ripe.
Now pay attention - why is it that before the fruit is ripe it's always green? All unripe fruits are green. Whether the fruit eventually becomes bright yellow like a banana, or an orange or bright blue like grapes, or bright red like apples, whatever happens, before it's ripe, it's always green. Why is that? Why isn't it something else? Why isn't it bright yellow when it's unripe, why isn't it bright blue when it's unripe? All over the world wherever you go you won't find a single fruit that when it's unripe has any color but green. Do you know why? Because green is the color of the leaves, and the fruit is hiding among the leaves. When it's unripe the fruit says,"Don't look at me, I'm not old enough yet." And it doesn't fall down it's holding on tight; it's not fit to eat yet. Even if you shake the tree it wouldn't come down. Maybe one sick fruit would, but all the healthy fruits hold on tight. It's only when the fruit becomes ripe, then it acquires an attractive color. Now it says, "Look at me, and look at the tree." And you look at the miracle - who hung all those beautiful balls of luscious food on the tree?! And they're packaged in such gay colors! Now if you never saw an apple tree before... I was a city boy, the first time I saw an apple tree full of apples, it was an apparition to me. A tree with apples on it! I never saw apples before, only in a basket. Apples hanging on a tree and all brightly colored! And if you give the tree a little shake it starts tumbling down.
So the question now is, why is it that this series of adjustments took place? That all the fruits when they're unripe are all green? It happens by accident that green is the color of the leaves? It happens by accident that the fruits can hide among the leaves? And why is it that when the fruit is ripe, and only then, does it acquire a conspicuous color? By accident apples become red, by accident bananas become golden yellow, by accident grapes become blue or whatever they are? Why is it? And why is it that when they're ripe they are ready to come down?
And if you want some more why-is-its - why is it that when you finish eating the apple, you come to the inside, there's an area that's hard to eat, you're discouraged from eating it? That's the ovary where the seeds are. Because the ovary has in it some plastic pieces, that if you swallow it, it sticks in your throat, sticks in your gums; it's not edible. So why is it that when you walk, you sometimes see apple cores scattered everywhere? Had it been not a paved street but an earth and field, it would've taken root eventually. What is it that makes people spare the seeds and spit it out for next year's planting? It's like eating a box of cereal and when you get down to the bottom of the box, there's a coupon entitling you to another free box. So when you spit out the seeds - you always spit out the seeds. And if you don't spit out the seeds they spit themselves out. Try to eat a piece of watermelon and the seeds shoot in all directions. They're made slippery for that purpose. Now the question is why is it that you have seeds in the apples? Why is it that you have seeds in every living thing? And what is a seed? A seed is also a question; a little question. A seed has in it 100,000 details all in blueprint in the seed's chromosomes, telling it how to make another apple tree, and to produce leaves, and to produce sap and bark, and all kinds of flowers, and to produce more apples. All these plans are in the blueprint. So the question is how is it?
And therefore if you look at a red apple, that's enough proof for anybody. Nobody can dispute this proof; that there is a creator with an intelligence that's vastly beyond the ability of all the scientists put together to understand.
Important Numbers
