Sometimes, the rabbis were pretty funny

Three prime examples from yesterday's halacha (law) class. We were discussing whether or not you can ask/get a non-Jew to do something that you are forbidden to do on Shabbat.

1. We were discussing doing something you shouldn't "for the sake of a mitzvah": The classic example of this is climbing a tree on Rosh HaShanah (which you're not supposed to do) to get down a shofar. Don't ask what on earth the shofar is doing in the tree. That's the example the rabbis use.

2. On whether or not you're allowed to speak in code: Apparently, it was a well-known code (different rabbis use it in different regions/periods) that "Clean your nose" meant to clean the charcoal off of a lamp wick, allowing the lamp to burn better. (The answer, for those of you who are wondering, is that you cannot command a non-Jew to "clean your nose" on Shabbat directly, but you can hint: "your nose is dirty" or "it's getting dark in here".)

3. So there's this term called a Pseik Reisha-פסיק רישא. It refers to doing something that is allowed, but that will cause something forbidden to happen as a consequence/side effect. The example that came up in class is if you need to open up your fridge to get food out on Shabbat, but when you open the door, the light is also going to go on. Literally, פסיק רישא means "cut off the head"...so where does this term come from? Say it's Shabbat, and your kid wants something to play with. So, you decide to cut the head off a chicken to give it to your kid as a toy. Its forbidden to kill a chicken on Shabbat. But you're not trying to kill the chicken, you're just trying to get the head! As the Gemorrah says, "פסיק רישא ולא ימות"-"Cut off the head and it won't die?!" You are effectively killing the chicken, and so you're not allowed.

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In other news, its a new semester, and I have a new roomate. Adi is also a Pardes student and recent college grad, and I think we're going to get along well. Carra was just here for the 1st semester, and went back to the States on Thursday :-(. Last week, I was supposed to go on a Pardes tiyul (trip) to the Arava (southern desert) and Eilat during our break. But Carra and I ended up getting sick and staying home...so we missed out on hiking in the hail, 40mph winds, and crazy desert flash floods! I heard a rumor that Eilat got 10 years worth of rain in about 24 hours.