Chapter 1: Does winning a Sefer Torah in a raffle fulfill the mitzvah?
Okay, everybody, welcome back to another week of Answering Yerushalayim. And once again, this is L'Chosra For Shalema, for Rabbi Jonathan Cohn, Yehonasan Eitan, Ben Basheva, Bracha, Yishlava For Shalema, B'Soch, Shar Chol Yisrael, and we thank him so, so much for arranging this year, each and every week, arranging all the questions.
Chapter 2: Are digital photo frames and screens permitted on Shabbat?
and organizing them. I want to start with a follow-up from last week. You know, I do get feedback every now and then from some of the shaylas that we discussed. So last week we discussed if a person wins a raffle for a Sefer Torah.
Chapter 3: What is the halachic status of the Manhattan Eruv?
And I had said that l'chara depends on what the on what the nature of the mitzvah of ksiva sefer Torah is. Is it the mitzvah of ksiva sefer Torah, or a mitzvah to have the sefer Torah? They pointed out that it's a machlok esri shonim.
Chapter 4: How does God’s influence affect non-Jews?
It is explicit in the Gemara, and in the Shulchan Orch, in Simmon, Ayin, Resh, Tzefal, and Yerudea, that if a person is Yoresh, a sefer Torah, that they're for sure not Yotze, the mitzvah. The Ramah then adds that if you commission a Sefer Torah to be written, or buy a puzzle of Sefer Torah and repair it, then you get credit for writing it.
Chapter 5: Is it preferable to daven in a shul if there is a house minyan on your block?
However, then there's something in between. If a person buys a kosher of Sefer Torah, so he didn't fix the Sefer Torah, he didn't commission the Sefer Torah, but nor did he yarsh in the Sefer Torah. He bought a Sefer Torah that was already in existence, and he bought it. So the Ramah says you're grabbing a mitzvah minashuk and you're a night yotzeh.
Chapter 6: How strictly should we follow the rule of Paska (not splitting verses)?
So the grah says, no, chotev mitzvah minashuk means you are yotzeh. Machlok es ramah in the grah whether you're yotzeh when you buy a kosher Sefer Torah. So we paskin that buying a Sefer Torah, most poskin from what I understand, do paskin like the grah that if you buy a Sefer Torah that that does qualify as something.
Chapter 7: Does seeing the top of the Golden Dome require Keriah?
Certainly commissioning a Sefer Torah like the Ramah we paskin is fulfillment of the mitzvah. So after I mentioned this, I got feedback from a world-renowned sofer, Rav Uve Mendelowitz, a shlita, who said that he thought that when you win a Sefer Torah in a raffle, it's similar to inheriting a Sefer Torah, which is mefurish that you're not Yotze.
I don't know, I thought it was more similar to commissioning a Sefer Torah. So he said, why do you think it's more similar to commissioning a Sefer Torah?
Chapter 8: How do sins transform into merits through teshuva?
Because you're buying a ticket, and buying a ticket is like buying the Torah. So he argued the fact that you bought a ticket is not the same as buying a Sefer Torah. So I would just argue that everybody's buying a ticket. So everyone's buying a ticket with the understanding that the winner is the ultimate buyer. So let's say, you know, I can't afford, let's say a Sefer Torah costs $100,000.
and I can't afford all $100,000. So I put together a group of wealthy relatives, and they all agree that they all have Sefer Torah already. So they all agree that this will be my Sefer Torah, and they want to do this for me. They want to do this for me, that I should be able to have a Sefer Torah.
So I contribute $10,000, and a bunch of other people contribute $10,000 also, and I'm the one that goes home with the Sefer Torah. So I would think that you are Yotze in such a case. meaning that's like buying a Sefer Torah.
I think that's the understanding of a raffle, that you know somebody's going to go home with it, and therefore you're all agreeing that we're all paying for it, and somebody's going to go home with it.
My other argument was that the difference between yarshening a Sefer Torah where you're not Yotze, versus winning a Sefer Torah in a raffle, is that that Sefer Torah that you yarshened was somebody else's mitzvah of Ksiva Sefer Torah, meaning that Sefer Torah was written by your father before he died, for his mitzvah of Ksiva Sefer Torah.
So the whole idea that if you're Yorish, you need to write your own is because you need to do your mitzvah of Ksiva Sefer Torah. But if a Sefer Torah is written for whoever wins the raffle, it's like a B'rera type of situation, for whoever wins the raffle. So I still think I'm right. I don't know. That it might be like buying a Sefer Torah. Anyway, just a little follow-up from last week.
But I didn't even quote what it says in Shulchan Aruch last week. I was just quoting the Rishonim. So it's important to know what it says in Shulchan Aruch. And, you know, always appreciate feedback, especially from Tamir Chacham of Rabbi Mendelitz's caliber. Okay, question number one.
Many homes now have digital picture frames or screens that display rotating photos, and sometimes headlines or sports scores is permitted for such screens to be on during Shabbos. So let's first take the headlines and sports scores off the table a little bit. Meaning, if it's putting live headlines and sports scores, you're probably not allowed to read such things on Shabbos.
The Shulchan Aruch says you're not allowed to read captions under pictures and things like that. So probably there's some level of a gzerimish m'kosev and of the d'chol and other things relating to headlines and sports scores that flash across Shabbos.
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