Q & A
With
Rabbi Hershel Schacter
Rav Hershel Schacter is a a widely respected posek
& Rosh Yeshiva & Rosh Kollel at Yeshiva University's
Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.
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How Should a A Married Woman Cover Her Hair?
It's more correct if she covers her hair with a cloth.
- Chacham Ovadya always used to say you're not allowed to wear a sheitel because it's
hair. Every year he would make a tumult about this. - Ashkenazi poskim are meikel. The Chasam Sofer, though didn't allow it. He wrote in his
tzavaah that he doesn't permit any of his descendants to wear a sheitel. He wanted them
to cover their hair with a cloth. - There's also another machlokes. Even if you assume a sheitel is ok, can a woman cut off
her own hair & make herself a sheitel out of it? - Mrs. Feinstein did that & Rav Moshe Feinstein wrote a teshuvah that it's okay since it
makes no different whether the hair if from a different woman or from the same woman?
- Once the hair is no longer attached to the head of a woman, it's not se'ar bisha erva
(Hair of a woman deemed enticing).
- Logically, Rav Moshe Feinstein is right. If you permit a real human-hair sheitel, it should
make a diference if it's from this woman or a different woman.
Do You Have To Wear A Hat For Davening?
- The Rambam writes based on the Gemara that a person has to dress up in a respectful
fashion when he davens like one would visit a dignatary. So really, you're supposed to
wear a jacket & a tie & years ago, a hat.Today people are fully formally dressed without
a hat, so you probably don't need to wear a hat.
- In all the old pictures every body's wearing hats until, I think Kennedy was sworn as
president of the US. He made the pirtzah & from then on none of the presidents wear hats anymore. So now it's out of style & it could be you don't have to wear a hat. - Rabbi Shimon Schwab once told a story. I'm not sure if it was a true story or just meant
to illustrate a point about a chassidishe person who went to a business deal. He forgot
that he had to daven Mincha there, so he didn't bring his gartel with him. When it came
time to daven Mincha, he took off his tie & made a gargel out of it. - Rabbi Schwab said the foolish man didn't realize that today the din that you have to be
fully formally dressed means you have to wear a tie. The gartel of the Gemora today
means a tie.
Should you say Shehecheyanu on Unappetizing Fruit?
- Me'ilar hadin, you say Shehecheyanu even if you're allergic to the fruit & even if you're
not going to eat it. - You don't say Shehecheyanu because you're excited over the delicious fresh fruit.
You say it, the Netziv explains, due to haga'as hazman, that I realize I survived another
season. So me'ikar hadin you say it when you see the fruit.
- The story is told that 'Mrs. Vilna Gaon' on the first day of Rosh HaShanah showed her
husband what she got for Sheheceyanu, so he said Shehechyanu right away. And when
he said Kiddush on the second night, he said Shehechyanu again. He paskened that
you say Shehecheyau the second night. - The Rosh quotes a machlokes rishonim regarding whether or not you say the
Shehecheyanu on the second day of Rosh Hashana. On every other yom tov, you say
Shehecheyanu on the second day because we treat it like a sefeika d'yoma,maybe
yesterday was erev yom tov & today is yom tov. But the the two days of Rosh Hashana
are one long halachic day, a yom arichta, so maybe you don't have to say
Shehecheyanu on the second day. - Because of the halachic doubt, the Maharam Rutenberg introduced the minhag to
have a beged chadas or pri chadash so that you're covered for sure. But the Vilna
Gaon says we pasken that you say Shehecheyanu, so he didn't need a Pric c hadash
or beget chadash.
- There was a big Tzaddik, I the the Munkatcher who said he felt it's a bizayon to Rosh
HaShana to have a pri chadash to enable you to say Shechecheyanu. Rosh Hashana
is so much more important thant the fruit or new suit. So he refused to follow the
recomendation of the Mahram Rutenberg. - You said we really should say Shecheyanu when we see new fruit. Why then do we wait
until eating it to say it. The Minhag developed like that. The the Gra always followed dina
d'Gemara.
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Should you say Ha'gomel After A Flight?
- The institution of Birchas ha'gomel is based on Tehillim (107), which mentions four
categories of people who have to say this beracha: holchei midbaros, yordei hayam,
choleh she 'nisrapeh and yotze mi'beis assurim. - In the Shulchan Aruch, there's a machlokes about other people. Let's say someone was
in a car crash and almost got killed but miraculously survived. The general-accepted psak
is that the four mention in Tehillim should say Birchas Ha'gomel even if they were not in a
sakanah, but people in other situations should only say Birchas Ha'gomel if they were in
a sakanah. - One of the categories mentioned in the Kapitel is 'yordei haym (those who descend into
the sea)." The questions is: Does "yourdei hayam" mean anyone who passes over the
ocean? Or does it only mean people who were in the ocean? - Someone once came to Eretz Yisrael and asked Rav Velvel Soloveitchik if he should say
Birchas Ha'gomel. Rabbi Velvel Soloveitchick asked him, "Did you go any part ofo the way
by boat?" He said, "no, everthing was on the plane." So he said he's not sure he should
say Ha'homel because he followed the literal translation: "yordei haym," only if you into
the yam. - If you flew over the ocean, you say Birchas Ha'gomel if there was engine failure or a hijacking, but if there was no sakanah, he thought maybe it's not one of the four mentioned in Tehillim.
- Those who so say ha'gomel after an uneventful overseas flight - what's their reasoning?
The pashtus is they assume "yordei hayam" means one who passes over the yam. Rav
Moshe Feinstein, though, came up with a new savarah. He said if the engine of the
airplane conks on, you'll be a major sakanah. So he though that just flying anywhere by
plane, you say Birchas Ha'gomel even if you don't go over a yam, because any time you
fly, by definition that's already a sakanah.
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How Many Days Of Yom Tov Should One Observe in Israel?
- Rav Yosef Karo writes that during his lifetime in the 1500's in Tzfat, tourists from Arab
countries would visit on Shalosh Regalim and they used to obvserve two days of yom tov.
That was the practice for many centuries. - The Chacham Tzvi never lived in Eretz Yisrael but he, along with his son, Rab Yaakov
Emden, thought you only have to observe one day of yom tov even if you're only visiting. - Rav Kook thought you should pasken like the Chacham Tzvi and I think the Lubaviatcher
Rebben thought so too. Rav Soloveitchik's family had a compromise. They followed the
Chacham Tzvi with respect to davening and leigen tefillin, but the wouldn't so melacha
on the second day. That's what people refer to as observing "one and a half days." - Rav Soloveitchik visited Eretz Yisrael once in 1935, when he was a candidate for the
rabbanus in Tel Aviv. Before he left America, his father told him, "Make sure you leig
tefillin with a berachah the second day of Shavuos." Rav Soloveitchik said it turned out
that the second day of Shavuos was to be on Shabbos, so he didn't have to leig tefillin
in the end. - People make fun of me. They say I observe two and a half days. The few times I was in Eretz Yisrael for yom tov, we davened yom tovdik and didn' do mealacha on the second day but
we heard havdalah in shul the night of the first day and I put on tefllin the second day. - Rav Shalom Zalman (Auerbach) recommends that bnei Torah put on tefillin on the second
day because some say you should only observe one day yom tov when visiting Eretz Yisrael and in general, it's questionable why you don't wear tefillin on yom tov sheni. Min HaTorah, you're mechuyav to wear tefillin every day, so why don't we wear tefillin on you tov sheni? - The Ksav Sofer has a whole discussion on this question and doesn't really come up with a satisfactory explanation.
- The Rogatchover discusses it too. He was asked why the Gemara doesn't mention not
wearing tefillin on Yom tov sheni when it gives examples of the chachamim telling us not
to fulfill a mitzvah d'oraisa like not blowing shofar when Rosh Hashana falls out on Shabbos
or not shaking lulav when the first day of Sukkos falls out on Shabbos. The Rogatchover answered: "You're right, you should wear tefillin." - I remember I once mentioned this to Rav Soloveitchik and he said, "What ?! The Rogatchover
wore tefillin on you tov sheni? I don't believe it. But that's what he writes in the letter. You
can find it in the collection of his letters.
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