User talk:Omedyashar

Hi, sorry it has taken so long for us to get around to welcoming you, but better late than never!

I received the following table as a welcome message and have found it so useful that I've incorporated it on my user page with the addition of a few of my own links.

Rambam and Dor Daim
Hello Omedyashar, thanks for registering and for your good work on Mishneh Torah. I saw on Talk:Halakha that you've travelled a long way.

A quick word about some of your contributions. You seem to belong to a particular school of thought that takes the Yad as halakha in every instance, even when contradicted by later sources. I am fully aware that this school of thought exists, and it bears rough parallels with similar schools of thought popular in early 20th century Eastern Europe (e.g. Rav Yosef Rosen, and Rav Chaim Soloveitchik to a lesser degree). What I find difficult is that you often seem to suggest all (or the majority of) Yemenites follow this school of thought. I am quite sure that this is not the case, and neither am I sure to what extent Rav Yosef Kappah identified with this movement. The sources you provide are not quite conclusive on that matter. Please have a quick look at WP:NPOV to see where I'm coming from. Also, please avoid including long direct quotes (e.g. from the Rambam), as per the guideline Don't include copies of primary sources.

What I would also suggest is that you adjust your terminology. I have pointed out repeatedly that transcribing Hebrew on Wikipedia should not be done according to personal preference; the less "q"'s and diacriticals the better. Nor should you be referring to Rav Kappah as "Mori" all the time, as most readers will not consider him "my teacher". It bears remembering that Wikipedia is a resource aimed at the English-speaking nonaffiliated public who will be massively confused if you blast them with untranslated technical terms, oddly transcribed names and effusive titulature.

I'm eager to help you out, as you appear to be very knowledgeable in several areas. Please let me know what you think. JFW | T@lk  19:39, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the welcome and for informing me of Rav Yosef Rosen. It is not my intentino to suggest that all or the majority of Yemenites go according to the Mishneh Torah in regard to every halakha. I'ld like to see what I wrote that you're referring to. I do suggest (I know) that the majority of Yemenites go according to the Mishneh Torah much more than the majority of non-Yemenite Jews, in some cases even when it is contrary to Shulhhan Arukh. It is also true, as is documented in many books and papers, that historically Yemenite Jews were even more strictly going according to the Mishneh Torah than most are today. In fact, this is the case with many Middle Eastern Jewish communities; See. Mori Yosef Qafehh without a doubt identified with that aspect of the Yemenite Jewish community which promoted more strict adherence to the Mishneh Torah - which they considered a return to the way Yemenites traditionally were. One who has read his intro to the Mishneh Torah and is familiar with his commentaries should have no doubt about this. I myself know so not only from books but also from affiliating with some of his most serious students (before his passing away) which I have been doing for the past 3 years. I have attended shiurim from Rav Rasson Arusi in what was his beit knesset (synagogue) in the Nahhlayot neighborhood of Jerusalem as well as attend every week a more local beit knesset of the same mindset located in the Shmuel haNavi/Bar Ilan area of Jerusalem - the Gabbai of who was also one of Mori Yosef Qafehh's closest students. As for sources, I don't know how more conclusive you want. About long quotes, my mistake for not having thoroughly read through all the guidelines. Thanks for pointing these things out to me. -- I'll try to keep in mind to not write Mori as well... though I think it should be noted somewhere that Yemenite Jews as a whole traditionally (and very many still do) call their community leaders/rabbis Mori in much the same way that Ashkenazim called their Rabbi and Sefaradim called their Hakham, and Ethiopian Jews called their leaders Kessim. The use of Mori in this context isn't limited to the meaning 'my teacher.' It was used as a general title. Someone who was an actual student of such and such Yemenite rabbi would not call him 'Mori Yosef Qafehh' for example, but would instead only say 'Mori.' One last thing, please check out the discussion board on Tachanun. Thanks for the encouragement in your message. All the best. Yosef Omedyashar 09:53, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Prostration
Thanks for your edifying contributions to both the main article and Talk page of Prostration. Thoughtful, scholarly, broad-ranging and well articulated. Kudos! LarryR 12:59, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi! I am wondering if you might be interested in starting an article titled Prostration in Judaism or similar giving what you've collected about the history of the custom and its surviving practice. It sounds like there's a lot of history and other detail here that might possibly better be in a separate article than the Amidah article. Thanks for all your research. Best, --Shirahadasha 16:11, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

I think that this is a great idea... but I don't have consistent access to a computer or the internet... I can give you information, sources, references, etc.. if you or someone else could organize the article. Thanks a lot. Omedyashar 16:52, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Dor Daim
Please can we discuss the Dor Daim article. At present it looks like a personal notebook entry. frummer 23:43, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I'ld be happy to.. but may response may not always be so quick being that I don't have my own computer. Omedyashar 19:36, 3 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I don't think the article is neatral and lean's towards the beleifs of this group, presenting them as info. frummer 16:54, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Lurianic Kabbalah
There are many mekubalim who were against Luria (or Vital). Could you make some mention of them?

e.g. "This claim depends on the assumption that the Lurianic Kabbalah is a dogma of Judaism binding upon all Jews. Not only the Dor Daim and talmide ha-Rambam, but many other Orthodox groups, such as the followers of the Vilna Gaon and many Modern Orthodox, would disagree with this assumption, whether or not they personally accept the Lurianic Kabbalah." Would be a good place to make mention. Also on the Luria article.