Shabbos in the shtiebel with new books... tough to get away and daven...

Hirshel: This Shabbos in shul I saw 2 new fat volumes, totally new, (a few years ago they printed already 2 volumes) of Reb Akiva Yosef Shlesinger, Baal Lev HaIvri. I really could not daven... Let me tell you and readers what I saw there. Maybe add some Torah to this blog. I hope I won't bore them; I definitely was fascinated by it. Well, as usual he does not disappoint, Each teshuvah is a treasure. I'm suffering from information overload and cannot recall all that I read. [There was no yotzros at davening.] He has a teshuva about wearing and accepting a medal with a cross, something that many of the European countries would do, and still do; he is machmir and says don't accept it! Write a nice letter, he says, tell them that your religion forbids it, they'll respect you for that. In the footnotes they bring the Arugas haBosem who agrees with that psak, but they bring מקילים too. He has another interesting question on some roof trusses that were built by a company who built like a cross, with some missionary emblem on it, that came to Palestine to try propagate and do missionary work in every way possible. He writes some history which I never knew about an early BDS movement that was leading a campaign against buying by Jews. Whatever they sold they put a cross on the packaging to know its was not Jewish.... He has a long teshuvah against the big shiur of the צל"ח, he writes nobody is doing it....some interesting important facts......

He has a teshuvah about photography, if it is prohibited, he claims that our new photography is good even al pi Nistar, and the יערות דבש that the קנאים like to quote as the source of the איסור of being photographed is irrelevant. and especially pictures are very important for shidduchim, (I assume that was probably the reason of the Arugas haBosem sending his picture for a friend,,,,, it was probably for a shidduch) has a long teshuvah about 70th birthday brocho.... has a long teshuvah about the new law enacted then which required all Jewish kids to attend public school, he writes that he attended SCHOOL in Pressburgh WITH the CHASAM SOFER FAMILY. He himself he got out of going to school after a while because he was a genius as a kid and he answered a tough mathematical question, and his father pushed him up some grades. So he was out of school very quickly. That's his father, pictured here above, not him. Rav Kornitzer, son in law of Reb Shimon Sofer of Krakow, paid the fine for each day not sending his kids, from his nadan money, till the money ran out!! after that he couldn't pay the fines, so they threatened the parents with prison, to which he said to prison I don't have to go for this cause so off to public school they went......BTW, I heard this Shabbos from an elderly Jew from Munkacs that when the city was in Czechoslovakia, you could get out of going to Public School, but not when the Hungarians took over, they were very strict about it.

Back to Reb Akiva Yosef : he  has a teshuvah if homosexuality is of the 3 cardinal sins, he paskened it is. He has a teshuvah about a weak person eating before davening, he writes he should rather daven early than eat. This e-mail is getting to be a bit too long, but I have to mention that in the "Ami" interview last week of Rav Reuven Feinstien with Itche Frankfurter he reveals that his father davened all the Shabbos morning tefilos early B'yechidus, since the shul davened too late. He then would make kiddush - which his kids never heard because they were either still asleep or in shul davening. Reb Akiva Yosef has a teshuvah before that, on eating early before a fast day, he writes that everyone should eat, and he ate also, and it helps that you say some tefila so the דאורייתא part of davening is done and you can then eat before the rest of davening. He has a teshuvah about davening early on Friday afternoon, he writes about the Kosover Rebbe - who he calls "Harav Hakodosh"- who davened very early, he visited him he writes. The Chasam Sofer davened very early on Friday afternoon and stayed in shul for a long time with bochurim saying for them a derush, and then he repeated Kerias Shma. Reb Akiva Yosef was very unpredictable,,,,,, I don't think it will be on otzar haChochma any time soon.I think you should get all 4 volumes.