Archive for the 'Judaism' Category
Rambam, Rashi, and other Rishonim on Shibbolet Shu’al
Whenever you google “matzo,” or “the five grains,” you’ll read this comment. [They start by naming the grains; wheat, spelt, barley, rye, and then you get;] “oats (according to Rashi) or, two-rowed barley (according to Rambam’s interpretation of Mishnah Kilayim 1:1; Yerushalmi Challah 1:1). שיבולת שועל”
What are they talking about? I asked my husband to show me Kilayim 1:1, and the Rambam there. [’Cause you know: Any actual Torah in these posts comes from my husband, Rabbi Aron Hier. The mistakes, sadly, are all mine.]
Are oats even related to wheat? Or; What were the rabbis thinking?
Some people question what the name shibbolet shu’al actually refers to. No-one translates the term into modern language, until Rashi called it avena (oats in Old French) a thousand years ago and 500 years after the writing of the Talmud. Could he have been mistaken?
Remember the song from Sesame Street?
One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?
(Hint: Don’t look at the drawings, or the colors, just look at the plants.)
***
I hope to get back to this (another “series” perhaps), and do Gluten & Jewish Law: the Sabbath issue…. the Challah issue…. the Kiddush issue….. [We’ll see how long I can eke this out for.] In the meantime, suffice it to say that if you’re not into esoteric Jewish blah, you should skip this whole series.
If you’re into Jewish blah, Passover is an appropriate place to dive in since this is where we first define the five “special grains.”
From R. Chaim Jachter, Gray Matter volume 1, p. 239 n. 1:
Some question exists regarding the identification of the Gemara’s “shibolet shu’al” as oats. Rav Yosef Efrati (Mesorah 13:66-71) notes Professor Yehudah Felix’s claim that shibolet shu’al could not possibly be oats, and Rav Efrati vigorously disputes this claim. He cites Rav Yosef Shalom Eliashiv as supporting the view that shibolet shu’al is undoubtedly oats (the view accepted by almost all Rishonim). Ezra Frazer reports that Rav Aharon Lichtenstein does not flatly reject Professor Felix’s claims, but he believes that one should continue to treat oats as shibolet shu’al, absent absolute proof that shibolet shu’al is something else. Rav Hershel Schachter has told this author that in case of great need one may use oat matzah at the Pesach seder. In general, Rav Schachter wrote this author that one should try to eat other mezonot foods together with oat products to avoid any doubt regarding the berachot before and after oats.
Not everyone agrees, see R’ Michael Broyde’s comment, made over ten years ago.
This excerpt from R’ Jachter caused quite a stir on a blog called Hirhurim a few years ago - see all 58 comments.
See here for a more complete discussion of Felix’s objections to oats.
R’ Efrati’s argument is explained here. I like his ending:
The response concludes with a quote from Rav Moshe Feinstein …that another 1000 such [logical] proofs [such as those offered by Felix] would not change the tradition. Also Rav Eliashiv decided that shibbolet shual is oats for all laws in the Torah without any kind of doubt.
Good enough for me.
