הרמב"ם בפ"א מהלי תפילה ה"א פסק, וז״ל: "מצות עשה להתפלל בכל יום שנא' ועבדתם את ה' אלקיכם מפי השמועה למדו שעבודה זו היא תפילה וכו' ואין מנין התפילות מן התורה, ואין משנה התפילה הזאת מן התורה, ואין לתפילה זמן קבוע מה"ת." והרמב"ן בסה"מ חלק מ"ע סי' ה' חולק עליו וס"ל דאין לתפילה כל עיקר מה״ת. השאגת אריה בסי' י"ד הקשה על הרמב"ם ממתני' בשבת ט' ואם התחילו אין מפסיקין, מפסיקין לק״ש ואין מפסיקין לתפילה. ובגמ' שם י"א סיפא אתאן לד"ת דתניא חבירים שהיו עוסקין בתורה מפסיקין לק״ש ואין מפסיקין לתפילה. וכן פסק הרמב"ם בפ"ב מהל' ק"ש ה"ה ובפ"ו מהלי תפילה ה"ח. וא"כ קשה על הרמב"ם דלדידיה בין ק״ש בין תפילה יש להן עיקר מה"ת ותוספת מדייר, דפרשה ראשונה ופסוק של יציאת מצרים מה״ת וכל השאר מדייר, ובתפילה יוצא י"ח בק"ש מה"ת רק שלא קרא התוספת שהיא מדייר, ה"ה לענין תפילה. ואם מפסיק לק״ש מדייר למה לא לתפילה בתוספת ג"כ מדייר. ואי מיירי שלא קרא ק"ש כלל, ומפסיק בכדי לצאת י"ח מדאו', א"כ ה״ה לתפילה דמיירי שעוד לא התפלל בכלל, וא"כ להרמב"ם דתפילה מדאו' למה לא יפסיק לתפילה, א״ו דתפילה אינה מדאו' בכלל וכדברי הרמב"ן עכתו״ד.ולע"ד י"ל דדברי הרמב"ם נכונים וודאי תפילה מה"ת ומה שקשה מגטי שבת י"ל דהרמב"ם ס"ל דת״ת יש לו דין תמידיות, שחובה עליו להתעסק בדברי תורה תמיד, והגית בו יומם ולילה, וזמנו תמיד ובכל עת. אבל תפילה יוצא יד"ח־פעם א' ביום ואין לו דין תמידיות. וא"כ מדוע יידחה עשה של ת"ת מפני עשה של תפילה. אדרבה עשה של ת״ת מעולה ביותר שיש לו דין תמידיות. ולכן אם התחילו אין מפסיקין. אבל לק״ש מפסיק, דאינו מבטל בזה את התמידיות של ת"ת, דהא ק"ש ג"כ חפצא של תורה הוי. וראיה מגמ' נדרים ח' א"ר גידל א״ר האומר אשכים ואשנה פרק זה וכו' נדר גדול נדר לאלקי ישראל, ופריך והלא מושבע ועומד מהר סיני ואין שבועה חלה על שבועה, ומסיק ואלא הא קמ״לכיון דאי בעי פטר נפשיה בק"ש שחרית וערבית, א"כ דק"ש הוי קיום בת"ת, ולכן מפסיק לקרות ק״ש דבאמת אין זה הפסק בתמידיות של ת"ת. וא"כ שפיר י"ל דתפילה מה"ת כמו ק״ש, רק אינו מפסיק לתפילה דבזה מבטל את התמידיות מפיך, וכוי וע”ש. משא"כ בק״ש.אבל קשה מדברי הרמב"ם בפ"א מהלי ת"ת ה"ח שכתב, וז"ל: "כל איש מישראל חייב בת״ת בין עני בין עשיר וכוי חייב לקבוע זמן לת"ת ביום ובלילה שנאי והגית בו יומם ולילה." ולכאורה משמע ממ״ש ש…

תוכן השאלה. נשתרשה המנהג בק"ק שלנו שמסדרים התפילות כשעתיים או שלש שעות אחרי השקיעה בלילי שבת בכדי לאפשר לאלה שאין פוסקים מעבודתם עד אחרי קידוש היום להתפלל בביהכנ"ס. והספק הוא אם עי"ז שאנחנו מסדרים תפילות היום לאלה מחללי שבת, אם אני מסייעים להם בתלולם או לפחות אם אין בזה משום לפע, כי יעשו מלאכה עד זמן התפילה אע"פ שהוא ודאי אסור מהת בסקילה. תוכן התשובה. ברכות דף כ"ז ע"ב אר"י אמר שמואל מתפלל אדם של מיצש בשבת ואמר הבדלה על הכוס. וכן איפסק לדינא.

Synopsis of requirements. Auditorium: seated for dinner, 50–450 people. Air-conditioned. Stage. Kitchen facilities: with access to auditorium and lunchroom. Coat rooms and lavatories. Chapel: with rooted seats for 150–200 people. Ark. (To double as Junior Congregation.) Should adjoin lunchroom. Offices and library: adjoining offices for Rabbi and Secretary, with the latter large enough to accommodate an extra desk. Rabbi’s office to adjoin library. Youth: at least one clubroom or lounge, with facilities if possible. Classrooms (maximum capacity about 20–25): minimum of 8 rooms, 1 library, kindergarten, storage rooms, and double office. Maximum: 11 rooms, plus others mentioned, plus roof playground. Lunchroom: for Kiddush, breakfasts, school lunches, and supper meetings. Capacity about 100 seated. Present dimensions of buildings: a) Synagogue building. Lot size: 13,760 sq. ft. Frontage: 112.89 ft. Seating capacity: main floor 540, balcony 283, vestry 250. b) School building. Lot size: 10,890 sq. ft. Frontage: 90 ft. Building size: 83 x 45. (Above facilities to be distributed between new building and present vestry.)

We — like our forefathers of old — must "rebuild the Temple." Long have we thought about it. The day for action has come! KODIMOH means FORWARD! When Kodimoh was built only a generation ago, the founders chose her name well. It represented their Faith, their Vision, their Loyalty to a long tradition of three thousand years. These founders were our grandfathers, our fathers — ourselves! They believed they were building for many years. But progress, growth and change have swept over the world, and over our beloved country, like a mighty tide. KODIMOH can no longer contain all her sons and daughters. It cannot welcome “the stranger within our gates.”What shall we do? — We have decided! We shall again, in this year 5718, prove ourselves worthy of our great heritage, as the founders of our Congregation did in 5684. To strengthen that heritage we shall build a new and greater Synagogue — worthy of ourselves, of our great and growing community, of our centuries of unbroken Jewish tradition, of our eternal Torah.We shall make it a true “Mishkan” or Tabernacle where our growing families — and families yet unreached — shall gather together as one great Kodimoh family, to work, to study Torah, and to “worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness.”In a world torn by doubts and fears, we shall prove ourselves worthy of our firm Orthodox tradition — by building on that firm foundation a noble House of God that shall daily be witness to our faith in the Creator and Father of us all.The Founding of A CongregationOne of our KODIMOH families lives in what is believed to be the oldest house in one section of Forest Park — and it is only 45 years old! So, our founders of 34 years ago were pioneers. A small, but dedicated, group of Orthodox Jews who had early settled in this section of Springfield gathered together and decided that they should have their own Synagogue. Already there were relatively large groups of Jews in other parts of the city — but that was not enough. They wished to …

My dear Norman: Thank you very much for your lovely note. I wish I could answer it in Hebrew, but my dictaphone doesn’t understand the language. Of late I have had to resort to a dictaphone. That’s how heavy correspondence has been. I am glad that you found the article interesting. As a matter of fact, I am now translating it into English, and it will be ready very soon. Maybe, you have some idea as to how it can receive the prominence that I would like it to receive, not for my own honor but for the sake of the University.Thank you also for the lovely "good word" that you conveyed in your letter. It certainly fits the subject that I discussed.I want to thank you for sending me the "Spring Piyyutim" published by the Center. I envy you that your congregation did it. I had it in mind for a long time. As a matter of fact, not only these "Piyyutim", but "Selichoth" and other supplementary prayers really beg for proper publication, proper translation, and proper rendition. Maybe, one of these days something will be done about it.Thanks again.Very cordially yours,Joseph H. LooksteinJHL:js

The oneness of God is universally acknowledged as the foundation stone of Judaism and its main contribution to the world. The theme of the Shema, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One,” underlies every single aspect of Jewish life and thought, and permeates every page of its vast literature. So powerful is this vision of God’s unity that inevitably it must express the corollary that the divine unity is the source of a unity that encompasses all existence.[1] Nowhere is the idea of yichud ha-shem, the Unity of God, given more poignant and intense express on than in the Kabbalah. In Jewish mysticism the Unity of God is not only one of the mightiest themes, but it becomes a living reality, per-haps the only reality. God’s unity is taken not alone as an arithmetic proposition, but as the unification of all existence, in all its awesome diversity, through God. It is symbolized, in the Kabbalah, by the unity within God Himself. It is this unity — elaborated, explained, enhanced, and expounded by kabbalists from the Zohar through the late Rav Kook — of which our modern world stands in such desperate need. If it was eve' necessary to reaffirm that theme, with its conscious rejection of all conflict, multiplicity, and fragmentation, it is today, when mankind stands poised, ready to blow itself to bits both physically and conceptually.In this paper we shall examine the treatment of the Unity of God in one expression of the Jewish spirit, the Kabbalah — particularly in the Zohar and in the works of its most recent exponent, the late Rav Kook, Chief Rabbi of the Holy Land; in one sacred institution of Judaism, the Sabbath; and in one famous hymn of the Prayerbook, the Lekhah Dodi, a kabbalistic poem which celebrates the Sabbath. Our purpose is not a his-torical presentation of the Unity Theme, but rather to see what it can yield for us in the way of instruction: its implication for moderns.The reader who is unacquainted with the atmosphere and terminology of the…

The post war growth of the synagogue is a phenomenon with which, simultaneously, it was noticed that there was no corresponding growth in observances or depth in commitment. This paradox has occupied the attention of sociologists and religious thinkers. The various analyses offered are: A. The general move of the population from the cities to suburbia meant that many people found themselves rootless with no previous population with which to conform. Hence the synagogue became the social center stabilizing the new society of uprooted ex-urbanites. B. Will Herberg's – thesis that the way to "belong" to American society is via one of the three channels of: Jew – Protestant – Catholic. The affiliation with one of these groups, therefore, is no reflection upon religious commitments; it is merely a way of being an American.C. In this atomic age the iminen^e־'of cosmic cataclysm is a most important factor. People are, uncounciously, aware of the end of all existence just around the corner. They therefore are more painfully aware of the emptiness of life and hence are returning to religion.The first two indicate that the new return to religion is basically superficial and more sociological than spiritual in nature. The last one is much more con-sequential, and cannot be discussed at any length tonight.All the three analyses mentioned are partially true. But the ־three of them together do not exhaust the whole truth. I do not think that we can, as yet, know the whole truth, for we are in the very middle of the process. Only time will tell, and with greater prospective in the future we shall be able to analyze it better.Does that mean that I am a pessimist? No, I am a realist. I know that so far the results are very poor, but that we have the conditions which, with a great burst of energy and determination, can lead us to create a great future. But I am dissatisfied with the present. Story: Khruschev proposes to Kennedy that he is willing to settle all cold war problems and …

A thousand years ago, the great Rabbi Saadia Gaon thought that our Torah is reasonable and that the human intellect, by itself, can ultimately discover the great truths taught in Scripture. As an example of how reason can provide us with these principles, he offers: gratitude. The very first thing our reason tells us is that one ought to be grateful. Hence, from this principle of gratitude, we learn that a man ought to pray. It is reasonable that we pray to G-d out of gratitude to Him.Intelligent people should not be ingrates. That is why Jews recite the Modeh Ani immedi-ately upon arising, why they say the Modim as part of their prayer, why they recite the Birkhat ha-Mazon after eating. It is the first dictate of human reason.It is all the more amazing, therefore, to learn of a remarkable comment of our Rabbis on the Bible’s narrative concerning the birth of Leah’s fourth son. She called him Yehudah (Judah) because “this time I shall thank the Lord” (Gen. 29:35). Our Sages say, “from the day G-d created the world no one had thanked Him until Leah came and thanked Him upon giving birth to Judah, as it is said, ‘this time I shall thank the Lord’” (Berakhot 7). Noah, Shem, Eber, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob—the founders of the true religion—were they so callous and indifferent that they never acknowledged G-d’s gifts to them ? Were they, then, unfeeling, unthinking ingrates ?Indeed not. For a deeper understanding of gratitude reveals that there are two levels of gratitude. Gratefulness can be understood as courtesy—or as conscience; as a social gesture —or as sacred grace; as a way of talking—or as a state of the soul; as an aspect of personality —or as a part of character.

The most illustrious example of this nobler kind of gratitude, “thankfulness", is our Mother Leah. Her life’s greatest ambition was to marry Jacob and to be sincerely loved by him. When our Torah tells us that “the eyes of Leah were rakkot," dull or weak (Gen. 29:17), the Rabbis ask: what does rakkot mean? Rav says, literally dull; and this is not meant to discredit Leah but is said in praise of her. For she had heard people saying that Rebecca has two sons and Laban has two daughters, the older will marry the older (that is, Esau will marry Leah) and the younger will marry the younger (Jacob will marry Rachel). She went about inquiring: what are the characters of these men ? She was told that Esau is a wild and evil man. Jacob is a decent, respectable, scholarly young man. And she, therefore, was slated to marry the despicable but successful thief! As a result, she wept so much and so bitterly and so loudly that her eyes dulled, until her eyelashes fell off because of her many tears ! Her red, dull, uncomely eyes were beautiful indeed, for they had become so out of protest against being mated to Esau IHow pathetic is Leah’s story! Her love of Jacob is so great that she even submits to her father’s nefarious plan to substitute her for her sister Rachel, whom Jacob dearly loves, deceiving Jacob thereby. She is even willing to go to the huppah, and throughout life, playing second fiddle to a more vivacious, dazzling, beautiful sister, married to the same husband. And when she finally is married to him—how tragic her frustration, the blow to her selfesteem !Pathetic indeed—yet Leah does not give up hope. Her desire for Jacob’s love and respect is too precious to yield so quickly. She has a son and feels that now he will love her, so she calls the child Reuven, adding: “now my husband will surely love me." But he does not. A second child comes, and she calls him Simeon, “for G-d has seen how despised I am" and will make Jacob love me. And then a third child, Levi—“Now …

It is here that the greatness of Leah shines forth in all its glory: her fourth child is born – and she calls him Yehudah. Why? – “For this time I shall thank the Lord.” This time, when I realize and accept the fact that the greatest, most overwhelming desire of my life will not be granted to me by God – this time I will thank Him! Despite all my failures and disappointments – I thank God! Ha-paam – “this time” – for the first time in history, a great soul reached into the heights of the spirit and recognized that thankfulness is more than thanksgiving, that it is a way of reacting to God’s very Presence and not merely paying a debt for His favors. Ha-paam – “this time,” though my hopes are doomed, my love unrequited, my ambitions dashed – I am yet grateful. I do have a great husband nonetheless. I do have wonderful children. I do have the Lord’s promise to be the matriarch of a great people.Let me know if you’d like a more formal version or if this is meant for publication. This was not the thanksgiving of Compensation but the thankfulness of Consecration. This was not Leah’s social gesture, but her spiritual ascent. Would that all of us in our affuent society learn that even if we do not get all we want—and who does ?—yet there is so very much to be thankful for. We ought to be grateful al nishmotenu ha-pekudot lakh, for the religious freedom we Jews enjoy in our beloved America. Compare our situation with those of our brothers in Russia, where the Jewish neshamah is stifled cruelly. We ought be grateful al nisekha she’be’khol yom imanu, for life, health, family, friends. In our Nishmat prayer we speak of thanks al ahat me’elef alfei ribei revavot pe’amim—thousands and millions of thanks. For in this prayer, mentioned in the Talmud, wethank G-d for rain—indeed for every single raindrop! And it is not only things that we thank G d for. Gratitude is a state of mind, a psychological attunement to G-d, a climate of conscience, a cast of character, a matter not so muc…