Some dozen years ago, I was hired by a great mentor of mine to translate the Aruch haShulchan's Laws of Shabbos. It was an incredible learning opportunity, on many levels - and one of those was intense exposure to R' Yechiel Michel Epstein's views on halachic debates of his day.
Here is one of my favorite passages, on disobedient chazzanim; it came to mind today because I included it in this week's Toronto Torah, in our Biography/Torah in Translation section:
For some decades, due to our great sins, a tzara'at has spread among cantors. These cantors hold a small silver fork or a lump of iron (termed kamar tone) when standing before the platform on Shabbat and Yom Tov, for setting the song’s pitch. The cantors place the fork between their teeth, and they hear a musical sound; they then know how to arrange the song.
This is, literally, a musical instrument, designed to produce music. We do not have the power to protest their claims that they cannot generate music without these instruments. Due to our great sins, our generation is loose and the masses support these cantors. Not only are we unable to protest, but even exiting the synagogue causes a fight, as is known.
Perhaps it is possible to suggest that this device is not among the “musical instruments” which our sages prohibited, for the following reasons:
•The sound of this music is not heard other than from the cantor’s mouth to his ear,
•The sound is only momentary, and
•The purpose is to generate vocal song, which was never forbidden.
This matches what we wrote regarding whistling and placing one’s hand in one’s mouth.
We need to justify this; it would be disgraceful to say that the Jewish nation would stumble in a shevut (rabbinic Shabbat prohibition), all the more so when standing in prayer before the King of Kings, Gd Himself!
[Further, regarding the practice of saying words, and repeating them twice and three times, and spreading notes before the platform to sing in the style of a performance – all who have awe of heaven are pained by this, and they cannot protest, for the masses are undisciplined, and they will not listen to the words of the sages in this matter! They say that this is their enjoyment of Shabbat and Yom Tov!
In truth, perhaps there is no prohibition in this, but one who is good before Gd will flee therefrom. We have come to justify the actions of the sanctified descendants of Israel, whose eyes are sealed. Perhaps, from the fact that our Sages said one silences a cantor only for repeating the word “Shema,” we may say that this is not true for other words that they repeat twice and three times.
As to the notes they spread before the platform, we cannot present a reason to state a clear prohibition here, and so, “Let Israel practice as it will; better for them to practice in error, etc.”]
Showing posts with label Judaism: Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Judaism: Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein. Show all posts
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
It's all in the questions
I won’t be publishing my Shabbat HaGadol derashah (technical reasons), but I did want to put up an item from the Seder Insights class I expect to teach tomorrow afternoon.
I will present the comments of R’ Yechiel Michel Epstein from his Aruch haShulchan as well his Leil Shimurim commentary on the Haggadah, linking them to the events and themes of his rabbinate. One particular line of his struck me in just the right way.
In discussing the Arba Banim (four children), R’ Epstein remarked upon the fact that not only does the Torah provide us with four instructions to teach our children about the departure from Egypt, but it also records the children’s four questions. He wrote:
Loosely translated:
The fact that the Torah recorded that our telling would come via the child’s question is certainly not a message that the question is a requirement. This is not like Mah nishtanah, for which we learn in a mishnah that if there is no one to ask the question, one asks and answers himself.
Rather, it is that the essential intent of the Torah with these questions is to teach that via these questions we will understand whether the child will accept his father’s answer or not, and via the question we will understand what is in his heart…
It’s a simple point, but it’s so easy to miss when we are focussed on answering: The questions your child asks tell you what is in your child’s heart.
Children are meant to be seen, and children are also meant to be heard.
When my child doesn’t want to sit still in shul, that’s a question for me to hear and interpret. It’s easy to shush or distract or glare, but then I risk missing the point.
When my child wants to have a snack, that’s a question for me to hear and interpret. It’s so easy to answer Yes or No, but then I risk missing the point.
When my child wants to know if that man is Jewish since he isn’t wearing a yarmulka, that a question for me to hear and interpret. It’s easy to say Yes or No or Ask me later, but then I risk missing the point.
A lesson of the Aruch haShulchan, and the Seder, perhaps obvious to others but not always so obvious to me: Listen well, because the questions themselves matter.
(You can see last year's Shabbat haGadol derashah here.)
I will present the comments of R’ Yechiel Michel Epstein from his Aruch haShulchan as well his Leil Shimurim commentary on the Haggadah, linking them to the events and themes of his rabbinate. One particular line of his struck me in just the right way.
In discussing the Arba Banim (four children), R’ Epstein remarked upon the fact that not only does the Torah provide us with four instructions to teach our children about the departure from Egypt, but it also records the children’s four questions. He wrote:
וזה שכתבה שההודעה תהיה על ידי שאלת הבן ודאי דאין השאלה מעכבת כמו בשאלות מה נשתנה, ששנינו במשנה דאם אין מי שישאלנו שואל ומשיב לעצמו. אלא דעיקר כוונת התורה בהשאלות הוא דעל ידי השאלות נבין אם הבן מקבל תשובת אביו אם לאו, ועל ידי השאלה נבין מה שבלבו...
Loosely translated:
The fact that the Torah recorded that our telling would come via the child’s question is certainly not a message that the question is a requirement. This is not like Mah nishtanah, for which we learn in a mishnah that if there is no one to ask the question, one asks and answers himself.
Rather, it is that the essential intent of the Torah with these questions is to teach that via these questions we will understand whether the child will accept his father’s answer or not, and via the question we will understand what is in his heart…
It’s a simple point, but it’s so easy to miss when we are focussed on answering: The questions your child asks tell you what is in your child’s heart.
Children are meant to be seen, and children are also meant to be heard.
When my child doesn’t want to sit still in shul, that’s a question for me to hear and interpret. It’s easy to shush or distract or glare, but then I risk missing the point.
When my child wants to have a snack, that’s a question for me to hear and interpret. It’s so easy to answer Yes or No, but then I risk missing the point.
When my child wants to know if that man is Jewish since he isn’t wearing a yarmulka, that a question for me to hear and interpret. It’s easy to say Yes or No or Ask me later, but then I risk missing the point.
A lesson of the Aruch haShulchan, and the Seder, perhaps obvious to others but not always so obvious to me: Listen well, because the questions themselves matter.
(You can see last year's Shabbat haGadol derashah here.)
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