[Avodah] Hand Washing During a Drought

[Micha Berger]

On Sat, Dec 04, 2010 at 09:43:34PM -0500, Zev Sero wrote to Areivim:
> Halacha?  The halacha requires only a revi'is.  But one who sticks to
> this bare minimum is mezalzel bemitzvah and puts himself at risk of
> poverty...

You *define* zilzul mitzvah as using the minimum shiur.

I don't see that in the words. What I see (OC 158:9) is that someone who
is mezalzel bentilas yadayim is chayav nidui, will become poor, and is
ne'eqar min ha'olam. And (158:10) there is a separate concept, to use more
than a revi'is, quoting R' Chisda "... veyehavu li melo chfnai tivusa".

There is no implication that using a bare revi'is for reasons other
than zilzul comes with a curse, or that using the shiur is by definition
zilzul, regardless of motive.

The AhS (158:15) does link them as one din, but he also doesn't presume
that using the shiur is inherently zilzul. Rather, he warns those who
use the minimumbecause they are mezalzelim umefaqpeqim al divrei Chazal.

Now that we looked in my neck of the woods, I went to RZS's, the SA
haRav also at OC 158:15. "Tzerikh lizaher me'od bentilas yadayim shekol
hamezalzel".. and even if he uses a revi'is metzumtzam he could be
struck with poverty and neeqar min ha'olam. Clearly linking what the SA
writes as two seperate ideas. But still, not that a revi'is metzumtzam
is definitionally a zilzul, but that a mezulzal is likely to use the
least he could get away with.

BTW, what is "metzumtzam" here? I went with RZS's assumption that the
SAhR means the exact shiur. But had I learned it without prejudice,
I would think it's a "small revi'is", ie not even using the usual
definition of a revi'is but some smaller pesaq.


WRT our other discussion of doing things for segulos... See the MB s"q
38, who makes a point of quoting the Shelah warning you not to turn this
into al menas leqabel peras. An interesting thing to have in particular
besheim haShelah, whose works are often mined for segulos to implement.

As for other hidurei mitzvah... Yes, I would say that anyone who is trying
to decide whether to spend money on tzedaqah or on getting better kesav
for their mezuzah should give the tzedaqah. The truth is, though, that
we don't spend all our disposable income on tzedaqah that such decisions
are a zero sum game between chumeros BALM and performing more BALC.


As I hope is yadu'ah among the chevrah by now, my perspective on the
central questions of Yahadus is essentially that of RSS as he spells
them out in the introduction to Shaarei Yosher. Which begins:

    Yisbarakh HaBorei VeYis'alah HaYotzeir, Who created us in His
    "Tzelem" and in the "demus Tavniso", and planted eternal life within
    us, so that our greatest desire should be to do good to others, to
    individuals and to the masses, now and in the future, in imitation
    of the Creator (as it were). For everything He created and formed
    was according to His Will (may it be blessed), [that is] only to
    be good to the creations. So too His Will is that we walk in His
    ways. As it says "and you shall walk in His Ways" -- that we, the
    select of what He made -- should constantly hold as our purpose to
    sanctify our physical and spiritual powers for the good of the many,
    according to our abilities. In my opinion, this whole concept is
    included in Hashem's mitzvah "Be holy, [for I am Holy]."

This is Hillel's explanation to the geirus candidate, and R' Aqiva's and
Ben Azai's respective kelal gadol that everything boils down to BALC.
Even BALM is to enable bringing real Tov to the rabim rather than trying
to do so without the true concept of Tov. One must be nidvaq to the
Borei in order to be a conduit of His Tov to others.

Whereas I think a chassid would see hatavah as part of deveiqus, and
not reduce deveiqus to handmaiden status.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A pious Jew is not one who worries about his fellow
micha at aishdas.org        man's soul and his own stomach; a pious Jew worries
http://www.aishdas.org   about his own soul and his fellow man's stomach.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                       - Rav Yisrael Salanter