[Avodah] kenignaot

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Simon Krysl wrote:
> The Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh (126.4), based on Magen Avraham
> 224.3, prohibits attending "animal shows" presented by
> goyim, as well as dances and other joyful occasions, as
> moshavei leicim. R. Avrohom Davis translates "kenignaot"
> as "animal shows" which, I assume, would concern circuses
> and similar, yet an explanatory note ( in the text of the
> Kitzur itself?) in the Hebrew explicates kenignaot as
> "ceid hayot", that is, hunts. (I do not find any etymology
> or explanation of the word "kenignaot" elsewhere.) That
> seems to be a difference: can anyone help understanding
> it? Is it because we understand, hunting as halachically
> problematic (while not prohibited) for different reasons?

I have, I think, a pretty well-established reputation on these pages for highlighting the need for accurate definitions of words. But I think that "kenignaot" might be a case where this can be taken too far. "Kol hamosif gorea", and in this case I think that the effort to define a specific word will tend to obscure the halacha being discussed.

It is evident to me that the Kitzur is giving *examples* of moshavei leitzim, *all* of which are to be avoided. He is not specifying certain moshavei letzim to avoid, with the implication that others are okay. It is also evident to me, from context, that the concern has nothing to do with hunting, but with the moshav leitzim. As the Kitzur writes in that same paragraph: "It is assur to go even to kenignaot of Jews, because it is a moshav leitzim."

That's why I feel that an accurate definition of "kenignaot" is unnecessary. If the Kitzur was saying that "If it's not a kenigna that it is okay", then of course we'd want a good translation. But that's not what's happening. It's only an example. Whether kenignaot are circuses or hunts, either way, they're both moshavei leitzim, and both assur.

(OTOH, one could argue that it is a kiyum (chiyuv?) of Talmud Torah to understand every word of the Kitzur, in which case one *must* find an explanation of this word, and I'd have no objection to that. I just don't think that my understanding of the Halacha L'masseh suffers from the lack of this word.)

Akiva Miller

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