חודש טוב ומבורך
to all our members & friends of the Bet Hakeneset
and to moorlanenews readers
*****
מזל טוב
to
Daniel & Sara Sweiry
on the safe arrival
of their new baby boy
שיזכה לברית בזמנה לתורה לחופה ולמעשים
Special מזל טוב
to honoured grandparents
Emanuella Hodari
&
Antony & Loretta Hodari
on their new grandson
מזל טוב
to families
Sweiry, Hodari & Jacobs
****
Moor Lane Women’s Nach Group
*****
לוח זמני תפלה לחורף תשפ״ו
Winter Timetable 5786 – 2025/26
מוצאי שבת | ערבית (מוצ״ש) | שקיעה | מנחה שבת | סוף זמן קריאת שמע | הדלקת נרות | מנחה וקבלת שבת | תאריך | שבת פרשת |
Shabbat Ends | Arbit | Sunset | Minha | Shema before | Candle Lighting | Minha & Kabbalat Shabbat | Date | Parasha |
PM | PM | PM | PM | AM | PM | PM |
|
|
6:41 | 6:37 | 5:49 | 5:15 | 10:23 | 5:37 | 5:37 | 24/25 | נח |
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It is now ten generations since the creation of the first man. Adam's descendants have corrupted the world with immorality, idolatry and robbery, and Hashem resolves to bring a flood which will destroy all the earth's inhabitants except for the righteous Noach, his family and sufficient animals to re-populate the world. Hashem instructs Noach to build an ark in which to escape the flood. After forty days and nights, the flood covers the entire earth, including the tops of the highest mountains. After 150 days the water begins to recede. On the 17th day of the 7th month, this ark comes to rest on Mount Ararat. Noach sends forth a raven and then a dove to ascertain if the waters have abated. The dove returns. A week later, Noach again sends the dove, which returns the same evening with an olive leaf in its beak. After seven more days, Noach once again sends forth the dove, which this time does not return. Hashem tells Noach and his family to leave the ark. Noach brings offerings to Hashem from the animals which were carried in the ark for this purpose. Hashem vows never again to flood the entire world and gives the rainbow as a sign of this covenant.
Noach and his descendants are now permitted to eat meat, unlike Adam. Hashem commands the Seven Universal Laws: The prohibitions against idolatry, adultery, theft, blasphemy, murder and eating the meat of a living animal, and the obligation to set up a legal system. The world's climate is established as we know it today.
Noach plants a vineyard and becomes intoxicated from its produce. Ham, one of Noach's sons, delights in seeing his father drunk and uncovered. Shem and Yefet, however, manage to cover their father without looking at his nakedness, by walking backwards. For this incident, Canaan is cursed to be a slave. The Torah lists the offspring of Noach's three sons from whom the seventy nations of the world are descended.
The Torah records the incident of the Tower of Bavel, which results in Hashem fragmenting communication into many languages and the dispersal of the nations throughout the world. The Torah portion concludes with the genealogy from Noach to Avram.
Ohr Somayach Institutions www.ohr.edu
עשיית סימן בשבת
שאלה: אדם הקורא בספר בשבת, ומעוניין לסמן בצד הדף “סימן”, על ידי חריטה קלה באמצעות הציפורן. או קיפול בצד הדף, האם מותר לעשות כן בשבת?
אולם מדרבנן, כלומר, מגזירת חכמינו זכרונם לברכה, אסור לעשות “רישום” על גבי עץ באמצעות שריטה בשבת. ומכאן נבוא לדון, לגבי אדם העושה סימן על ידי שריטה קלה בנייר הספר, על ידי הצפורן, האם הדבר אסור לכל הפחות מדרבנן, כדין העושה שריטות על גבי נסרים, או שהשריטה על גבי הנייר אינה נחשבת כלל לרישום האסור בשבת.
ויש מרבותינו האחרונים, ובהם הטורי זהב, שכתבו שאין להקל בזה אלא בספרים העשויים קלף, שאז אין הרושם נשאר אלא לזמן מועט ממש, אבל בספרים העשויים נייר, אין להקל בדבר. אולם מדברי מרן השלחן ערוך משמע שאין לחלק בזה, שהרי בזמן מרן כבר היו מצויים בעולם ספרים מודפסים על נייר, ואף על פי כן כתב להקל בזה.
הלכך, מותר לעשות רישום כעין “קו” בצד העמוד, משום שרישום זה אינו מתקיים, וכפי שנתבאר.
Making a Bookmark on Shabbat
Question: If one is reading a book on Shabbat and would like to mark a certain page by making a slight scratch with one’s nail or by slightly folding the corner of the page, would this be permissible on Shabbat?
The Forbidden Work of Writing
Answer: One of the forbidden forms of work on Shabbat is writing. Even if one merely writes two letters on Shabbat, one is liable for Shabbat desecration (even writing one letter is prohibited, but it is not as grave as writing two letters).
Making a Mark by Scratching Wooden Boards
The Mishnah in Masechet Shabbat (103a) states that the Tannaim disagree whether or not scratching a mark on wooden boards and the like will make one liable for the forbidden work of “marking” or does the Torah only prohibit actual writing. According to Rabbi Yoseh, if one makes a scratch onto a wooden board on Shabbat, one is liable for performing a forbidden work on Shabbat. Halachically speaking, the Tur (Chapter 340) writes that the Halacha does not follow Rabbi Yoseh. Similarly, Rabbeinu Ovadia of Bartenura and the Mishnah Berura (Be’ur Halacha ibid.) rule likewise. Indeed, Maran Ha’Shulchan Aruch and most Rishonim rule likewise.
Nevertheless, it is still forbidden to scratch a mark onto wooden boards on Shabbat as a result of a rabbinic decree. We shall now discuss whether scratching a light mark onto the page of a book with one’s nail constitutes at very least a rabbinic prohibition similar to scratching a mark onto a wooden board on Shabbat or is scratching on paper not considered a forbidden form of marking on Shabbat at all.
Scratching Paper or Parchment on Shabbat
Indeed, the Tur (Chapter 340) writes that one may scratch a mark onto paper on Shabbat. Maran Ha’Shulchan Aruch (ibid. Section 5) rules likewise. Their rationale is that any scratch which does not last for a prolonged amount of time is not prohibited at all on Shabbat. This is because our Sages only prohibited scratching on Shabbat when the mark will last for a long time, such a scratching wooden boards; however, a scratch made in a book only lasts for a short while and is not considered a forbidden form of marking on Shabbat. (We should point out though that making a scratch skin on Shabbat is forbidden.)
Some Acharonim, including the Turei Zahav, write that there is only room for leniency when the scratching is being done on parchment, for only then does the mark only last for a short while. However, one may not act leniently by scratching a mark onto a book. Nevertheless, the words of Maran Ha’Shulchan Aruch imply that there is no distinction between them, for in the days of Maran there were books being printed on paper and he nonetheless rules leniently in this regard.
Thus, one may scratch a mark, such as a line and the like, on the side of a page, for this kind of marking does not last for a prolonged amount of time, as we have discussed.