Announcements
Bar Mitzva Invitation
Next Shabbat
To all our friends in
K. K. Shaare Tefila – Moor Lane
please consider this as a
Personal Invitation
as it will give us great pleasure in sharing
our Simcha with you
May we hear Semachot in Kelal Yisrael,
Refua Shelema to everyone who needs it
&
May Hashem grant us all our hearts desire
Naphtali & Esther Bitton
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SHABBAT
Shabbat Times
לוח זמני תפלה לקיץ תשע"ח
Summer Timetable 5778 – 2018
מוצאי שבת | ערבית )מוצ"ש( | סוף זמן קראת שמע | זמן שבת | פלג מנחה (לבוש) | מנחה וקבלת שבת | תאריך | שבת פרשת |
Shabbat Ends | Arbit | Shema to be read before | Candles to be | Earliest Candle lighting | Minha & Kabbalat Shabbat* | Date | Parasha |
PM | PM | AM | PM | PM | PM |
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10:30 | 10:25 | 8:59 | 9:03 | 7:36 | 7:20 | 25 / 26 May | נשא |
* For those not in synagogue, but wishing to bring in Shabbat with the community, candles should be lit about 30 minutes after the time listed for Minha and Kabbalat Shabbat. (Unless the time listed in the ‘latest candle lighting’ column is earlier, when candles should be lit by that time, in all cases.)
Mincha 6:00 pm
Followed by Shiur
Children’s Tehilim straight after Musaf
Anyone wishing to donate a Kiddush
Please email Moorlanenews
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Q & A on Parashat Nasso
All references are to the verses and Rashi's commentary unless otherwise stated
- What is the significance of the number 8,580 in this weeks Parsha?
4:47-48 – It is the number of leviim between ages thirty and fifty. - Besides transporting the Mishkan, what other service performed by the leviim is referred to in this Parsha?
4:47 – Singing and playing cymbals and harps to accompany the sacrifices. - On which day did Moshe teach the command to send those who are temeim (ritually impure) out of the camp?
5:2 – The day the Mishkan was erected. - Name the three camps in the desert.
5:2 – The camp of the Shechina was in the center, surrounded by the camp of Levi which was surrounded by the camp of Yisrael. - Who was sent out of each of the camps?
5:2 – A metzora was sent out of all three camps. A zav was permitted in the camp of Yisrael but excluded from the two inner camps. A person who was tamei from contact with the dead had to leave only the camp of the Shechina. - A person stole from another and swore that he was innocent. If he later confesses his guilt, what are his obligations?
5:6-8 – He pays the principle plus a fifth to the victim, and brings a korban asham. - Who determines which kohen receives the gifts that must be given to the kohanim?
5:10 – The giver. - What does the Torah promise a person who gives matnot kehuna?
5:10 – Great wealth. - Why are the verses about matnot kehuna followed by the verses about the sotah?
5:12 – To teach that someone who withholds the gifts due the kohanimis deserving of eventually bringing his wife to the kohanim to be tried as a sotah. - Why is the sotah given water from the holy basin?
5:17 – The holy basin was made from the mirrors of the righteous women who left Egypt; the sotah strayed from the example set by these women. - What does the kohen do to the hair of a sotah?
5:18 – He uncovers it. - When a sotah who is guilty of adultery drinks the water, she dies in a very specific fashion. What happens to the adulterer?
5:22 – He dies a similar death. - Before the name of G-d is erased, the sotah has the option either to admit guilt or to drink the water. Does she have a third option?
5:27 – Yes, she can refuse both: She can refuse to admit guilt and also refuse to drink the water. (After the Name of G-d is erased, she loses this option.) - What are chartzanim? What are zagim?
6:4 – Chartzanim are seeds. Zagim are peels. - What sin does a Nazir commit against himself?
6:11 – He abstains from enjoying wine. - Where was the cut hair of a Nazir placed?
6:18 – It was placed on the fire under the pot in which the nazirsshelamim offering was cooked. - A kohen should bless the people "with a full heart". What word in the Parsha conveys this idea of "a full heart"?
6:23 – "Amor." - What is the meaning of the blessing "May G-d bless you and guard you?"
6:24 – "May G-d bless you" that your property may increase, "and guard you" from robbery. - What is the meaning of the blessing "May G-d lift up His countenance upon you?"
6:26 – "May He suppress His anger." - The tribe of Yissachar was the second tribe to offer their gifts. Why did they merit this position?
7:18 – The Tribe of Yissachar was well versed in Torah. Also, they proposed the idea that the nesiim should offer gifts.
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Halachot from Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Ztz'l
להתפלל על נס
שאלה: האם מותר להתפלל לה' שיעשה נס באופן שאינו על פי דרך הטבע?
Praying for a Miracle
Question: May one request that Hashem perform a miracle for him in a supernatural way?
Answer: The will of Hashem is that this world run according to the laws of nature, as the great Rishonim (including Rabbeinu Sa’adia Gaon in his book and the Ran in his discourses) write. Similarly, the Gemara in Masechet Ta’anit (25a) states that Hashem does not wish to change the laws of nature even slightly except for certain select situations.
In the previous Halacha, we have discussed the statement of the Gemara in the beginning of the ninth chapter of Masechet Berachot that if one’s wife is pregnant and one prays (during her pregnancy) that one’s wife should give birth to a baby boy, this is considered a prayer in vain since the gender of the child has already been determined and it is improper to pray for miracles. The Gemara records the incident regarding our Matriarch, Leah, where the fetus in her womb was originally a boy and turned into a girl, and our Sages teach us that this was indeed a miraculous event and one should not mention miraculous events (in his one’s prayer). Based on this, it would seem that one should not pray for miraculous events to occur.
Maran Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef zt”l uses this idea to question the words of the Rama (in Chapters 187 & 682) who rules that one who forgets to mention the “Al Ha’Nissim” text in Birkat Hamazon during Chanukah (for which one does not repeat Birkat Hamazon) should recite at the end of Birkat Hamazon, “May the Merciful One perform ‘miracles and wonders’ for us, just as he has performed for our forefathers during those days at this time. In the days of Matityah son of Yochanan etc.” (A similar text is quoted earlier by Rav Hai Gaon and in Machzor Vitri.) The difficulty with this is that the Gemara states that one should not request miraculous events in one’s prayer.
Maran zt”l answers this question based on the words of Hagaon Bechor Shor (Shabbat 21b) who writes that although the defeat of the Greeks by the Hashmonai family was certainly miraculous, nevertheless, this miracle can still be considered “natural,” for it is conceivable that a few individuals who are brave-hearted may defeat many, even naturally. Regarding such a miracle, one may request that Hashem perform such a miracle for us. Alternatively, only a person praying on his own behalf should not request a miracle; however, one may request for actual miraculous events to occur to the Jewish nation as a whole.
Thus, based on what we have discussed above, the answer to our question will be that it is permissible to pray for a miracle which is in the confines of the laws of nature, although it seems farfetched that such an event will occur naturally. Similarly, one may even pray for a complete miracle to occur to the Jewish nation collectively; however, one should not request a complete miracle for a single person. It is therefore permissible to pray to Hashem to heal an ill person although according to the doctors, the patient’s chances of survival are almost none, since such an event can conceivably occur within the confines of a “natural event.”
Similarly, when the Arab nations joined forces to fight against the Jewish nation, although the chances of victory against them was almost none because they completely outnumbered us, nevertheless, it was permissible to pray to Hashem for the salvation of Israel, for such a miracle would apply to the entire Jewish nation collectively and not merely to some individuals. Indeed, the Jewish nation is worthy of Hashem performing miracles and wonders for them out of His tremendous love for them.
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