[Avodah] A Prayer During Operation Cast Lead

[Yitzhak Grossman]

On Wed, 7 Jan 2009 15:06:29 -0500 I wrote:

> we burn a
> Sefer Torah written by a Min since Halachah assumes that it has
> certainly been written "Leshem Avodas Kochavim" (Rashi Gittin 45b s.v.
> yi'saref, Maggid Mishneh Tefillin 1:13, Taz YD 281:1 and Shach YD
> 281:1). Masorati are not ovdei avodah zarah any more than Muslims are.

Someone correctly pointed out to me off-list that my assumption that
the Halachah of 'yisaref' doesn't apply to a Sefer Torah written by a
non-Orthodox Jew, as long as he isn't an idol worshiper, is not quite
so clear.

1)  Although the Poskim I cited all mention AZ, Rambam doesn't.  He
simply writes (Yesodei Ha'Torah 6:8) "for he doesn't believe in the
holiness of the Name and he has merely written it believing it to be as
other things".  It is still not clear, though, that this would apply to
a believing Jew, even if he rejects some fundamental dogmas, such as
certain aspects of Torah Min Ha'Shamayim.

2)  Several Aharonim (Mahariz Hajes ibid., Gilyon Maharsha on SA ibid.,
Resp. Yehudah Ya'aleh YD 273) had an alternate text of the Rashi I
cited: "Min Yehudi.  she'aino ma'amin le'divrei Hazal".  As R. Leiter
notes in his Mi'Torasan Shel Rishonim, though, these Aharonim seem not
to have realized that this is clearly not authentic, but merely an
emendation for the censor.

3)  RMF (IM OH II:50) makes my original point, that according to Rashi
(the correct text, as we have it), the Halachah wouldn't apply to
"apikorsim such as Reform 'Rabbis', who still don't believe in AZ".  He
still suggests, however, that Rashi may accept Rambam's point that a ST
that they have written has no holiness because of the writer's lack of
acceptance of the Name's specialness, and that although Rashi does not
obligate one to burn it for that reason, one is still permitted to do
so, just as he may burn any ordinary object that has no holiness.  As
I've mentioned earlier, this may not apply to a non-Orthodox individual
who does believe in the Creator.

4)  See Ozar Me'forshei Ha'Talmud (Gittin ibid., column 1183) for a
discussion of these issues, from which I took these sources, and which
includes additional ones.

Yitzhak
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