Without a bar or bat mitzvah ceremony, a child is not
fully Jewish.
H
aving another night-
mare-filled sleep? Toss-
ing and turning. Teeth
grinding. Night sweats.
Tomorrow — really, you
mean it this time — you're
going to tell your wife the
truth. You're not really
Jewish. You can't be. You
never had a bar mitzvah.
Put away those Sominex,
big guy, and rest easy.
"Anyone is fully Jewish
who was born of a Jewish
mother or who has con-
verted to Judaism," said
Rabbi David Nelson of
Congregation Beth
Shalom. "Having a bar or
bat mitzvah has nothing to
do with it."
He believes the
misconception may have
started because of the
significance placed on the
ceremony. Those who do
not have a bar or bat mitz-
vah may feel "they have
missed a great moment,"
he said. But it does not
mean they are any less
Jewish.
Boys automatically —
with or without ceremony
— become bar mitzvah at
age 13; girls become bat
mitzvah at age 12. The title
— which refers to the per-
son, not the ceremony —
signifies that one is now
responsible for taking on
all mitzvahs required of
adults.
A mezuzah on the front
door is sufficient for the
entire dwelling.
The key word is door-
II posts, not doorpost.
In Deuteronomy, Jews
are commanded to re-
member God's words by
Silverware can be kashered by sticking it in the
ground.
ight a fork, lovingly
watered each day,
grow little forks if planted
in the ground? And what of
spoons, surrounded by
mulch and nourished by the
sun's warm rays. Would they
too, bear little spoons? Could
one possibly grow a 16-piece
set of silverware this way?
That concept makes
about as much sense as
placing silverware in the
ground to kasher it.
The misconception is
likely the result of a
custom, inspired by the
Shulchan Aruch (au-
thoritative code of Jewish
law), of placing treife knives
in the ground to prevent
the owner from using
them, according to Rabbi
William Gershon of Con-
gregation Shaarey Zedek.
"But just sticking it in
the ground will not make
silverware kosher," he
said.
Instead, the process
works like this:
24
FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 1992
Suppose you accidentally
place a milchig spoon in a
hamburger casserole. To
make the spoon kosher,
you must first clean it and
set it aside for 24 hours.
Then, place the spoon for
one minute in a milchig pot
filled with boiling water.
Now wasn't that easier
than meeting your dog in
the back yard for a good
dig?
binding them about their
hands and writing them
"upon the doorposts of your
house."
Years ago there was a
custom to place only one
mezuzah on the right side
of a home's front door in
the belief this covered the
entire house, according to
Rabbi Elimelech
Silberberg of Bais Chabad
Torah Center of West
Bloomfield. He believes
poverty — today, one
mezuzah scroll costs about
$25 — may have been the
cause.
The rabbis denounced the
custom as incorrect, but to
this day some continue to
follow it.
In fact, one should have a
mezuzah on every doorpost
in his home, with the ex-
ception of bathrooms.
Jews are not allowed to
go outside on Shabbat.
I t wouldn't be so unbear-
able in January. But who
could enjoy Shabbat if it
meant sitting inside all day
in April?
"See that the Lord has
given you the Sabbath,"
reads Exodus 16:29.
"Therefore, He gives you
the sixth day the bread of
two days; abide ye every
man in his place, let no
man go out of his place on
the seventh day."
.......... ••1111.•1•111.M.411...••
edrk--
Rabbi Elimelech
Silberberg of Bais Chabad
Torah Center of West
Bloomfield believes it is
this biblical commandment
that may have led to the
misunderstanding regar-
ding how far one may
journey on Shabbat.
The Oral Law more
specifically addresses this
issue, explaining that Jews
may venture only 2,000
cubits within the city on
Shabbat, Rabbi Silberberg
said.
Only the Sadducees, and
later, the Karaites, who re-
jected the Talmud and
interpreted the Torah lit-
erally, said the Exodus
commandment meant Jews
should not leave their
homes on Shabbat.
❑
A woman is not allowed
to touch a Sefer Torah.
O
ne Wednesday after-
noon, Mrs. Florence
Cohen enters Congregation
Detroiters. She is there to
visit Cantor Elvis Golds-
tein who, as always, is
running a little late.
Waiting in the cantor's
office, Mrs. Cohen notices a
Sefer Torah sitting on a
shelf. Cautiously, she ap-
proaches the scroll and
reaches to touch it. Just
then, Cantor Elvis bursts
in.
"No!" he screams. "Don't
touch it! You'll make it
treife!"
Cantor Elvis needs a
refresher course in
Judaism. Despite popular
belief to the contrary, ab-
solutely nothing in Jewish
law forbids a woman from
touching a Sefer Torah.
"Anyone — man or
woman — may touch a
Sefer Torah," said Rabbi
Avraham Jacobovitz of
Machon L'Torah. This in-
cludes women in the midst
of their menstrual cycles.
The one stipulation: wo-
men and men, rabbis and
laymen, may not touch the
surface of the scroll upon
which the Torah text is
written. Instead, one may
use a tallit or yad.
The mezuzah is a
good-luck charm.
t adorns neckaces with
I almost as much frequency
as the Star of David and the
Chai. But the command-
ment that created the
mezuzah directs Jews only
to place them on their
doorposts.
"Maybe some people
want to think that they br-
ing good luck," Rabbi Paul
Yedwab of Temple Israel
said of mezuzot. "But the
reason we have them has
nothing to do with that."
The commandment for
the mezuzah is described in
Deuteronomy, and is a cen-
tral part of the Sh'ma. In it,
Jews are commanded to
"Love the Lord your God
with all your heart, with
all your soul, and with all
your might. And these
words which I command
you today shall be upon
your heart .. .
And you shall write
them upon the doorposts of
your house and upon your
gates."
It is for this reason —
that one must put God's
word on the doorposts of his
house — that Jews have
mezuzot, Rabbi Yedwab
said. "Whether it brings
good luck doesn't matter."