Page 9 - HaMizrachi Tu BiShvat 5782 - USA

Jerusalem and was niftar there. Rabbi Glas- was held, see Making of a Godol, by Rabbi Rotting vegetative material in landfills is a
ner was one of very few Hungarian rabbis Noson Kamenetsky zt”l. prime cause of excess methane emissions,
who supported Zionism and was bitterly Rabbi Dr. Aaron Rakeffet which promote global warming.
criticized for this by his colleagues, despite Professor of Rabbinic Literature at Steve
his being a grandson of the Chatam Sofer.
Yeshiva University’s Caroline and Joseph Central Illinois
The second photo accompanying Yehuda S. Gruss Institute in Jerusalem
Geberer’s article, “Mizrachi in the Interwar
Second Polish Republic”, is also mislabeled; Editor’s Note (based on the guidelines of
it is in fact a photo of the Central Com- Compost the Torah VeHa’aretz Institute):
mittee of the 1919 Mizrachi conference in I ENJOYED RABBI Yosef Zvi Rimon’s The challenge with using a composter during
Poland. The men in the picture include article, “Operating the Kitchen During Shemitta is that peels and leftovers are added
Gedolei Yisrael who were leaders of Shemitta” (Vol 4, No. 5), in which daily, which directly causes the Shemitta peels
Mizrachi. Seated at left is Rabbi I learned that “one is permitted from earlier days to rot. This is forbidden, as one
Moshe Avigdor Amiel, who to eat [Shemitta produce]... but may not directly spoil Shemitta produce.
later became the chief rabbi not to destroy or waste.” As
of Tel Aviv. Standing at left Rav Rimon writes, there It is permissible to place peels and leftovers in a
is Rabbi Yehuda Leib will inevitably be some paper bag or newspaper (and thus not directly
Zlotnick, a well-known leftovers and inedi- cause rotting) in the compost bin/pile, but one
author, folklorist and ble trimmings, such must wait a week after the last fruit or vege-
communal rabbi. For as orange peels and table peels/leftovers are added before mixing
the content of the composter. At this point, it is
details about the men the like. Rav Rimon
in the picture, see A explains that these left- permissible to add materials that accelerate the
decomposition process (red worms, etc.).
Movement in a Period of overs and peels should
Transition (Hebrew) by Rabbi Amiel be placed in a separate It is permissible to place scraps and peels of food
Abraham Rubinstein, Ramat Shemitta can and ultimately without Shemitta sanctity together with sacred
Gan: 1981, p.333–334 and fold- in the trash. Shemitta leftovers – provided that the former do
out photo reproduction. Personally, I think that the injunction not cause the Shemitta produce to spoil.
Thank you again for a well-produced issue! against wasting Shemitta produce would When the compost is ready, it is permissible to
be best fulfilled by establishing a compost remove it from the composter, bag it, and place
Zalman Alpert system on the household grounds. This will it in storage in an organized fashion. However,
Librarian, Mendel Gottesman Library, prevent much valuable organic material one should not pile it in the yard. It is permissible
Yeshiva University (Retired) from ending up in a smelly landfill. The to add dry twigs to the compost pile since their
Shemitta leftovers will eventually break purpose is to keep the compost
down and produce new soil to nur- from drying out.
The greatest gadol ture the next season’s growth.

I REJOICE IN seeing Mizrachi resuscitated
and reborn as a vibrant world institution.
In the latest issue of HaMizrachi (Vol. 4,
No. 7), there is a picture accompanying
Rabbi Doron Perez’s article, Trailblazers
of Partnership, picturing participants in a
convention of Chovevei Tzion groups in
Katowice in 1884. Many may not realize
that the greatest gadol to associate with
the new movement is the little rabbi in
the first row, Rabbi Dovid Friedman of
Karlin. Rabbi Friedman was the author of
the Sheilat David and Yad David, significant
contributions to halachic literature. For
some evaluation of the awe in which he

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