KBLH challenge
Aug. 11th, 2005 11:44 amPart of the reason I prefer Jewish KBLH is that it doesn't have all the blinds put in CM KBLH. You'll see bits and pieces of this information "through the blinds" in simple Rabbinical columns.
Here's one about wedding rings and the appropriate finger, see if you can spot the unblinded information:
The first mention of placing the ring on the right forefinger as a wide-spread custom dates back at least about a thousand years asmentioned by Rabbi Elazar of Worms (1165-1238).
Teshuvot Maharam Mintz (No. 109) explains that in those days women would wear their rings on the right forefinger and therefore this custom has remained. Another reason is suggested in Nachalat Shiva (12:2) based on the idea that the right forefinger is the most prominent of all the fingers. There was a custom amongst some Sephardim to place the ring on the left middle finger. The reason is that just as one winds the tefillin strap around this finger as an expression of being bound to G-d, so the ring on this finger represents the bond between bride and groom. Aruch HaShulchan (27:4) states that all customs are valid, and it makes no difference how the ring is given.
Nevertheless, there are Kabbalistic explanations for placing the ring on the right forefinger. The Zohar explains that the reason the ring is placed on the right hand is because the right hand represents giving and loving-kindness. Maharich (Likkutim 3:133a) offers a beautiful idea as to why the forefinger. The chatan gives the ring with his right hand, which is opposite the left hand of the kallah. The giving is accompanied by seven blessings. The seventh finger from the kallah's left hand is her right forefinger. Therefore it is symbolic that the "seventh" finger should be the one that ring is placed on, as the giving of the ring is the moment that the kiddushin is sealed.
http://ohr.edu/yhiy/article.php/2244
Here's one about wedding rings and the appropriate finger, see if you can spot the unblinded information:
The first mention of placing the ring on the right forefinger as a wide-spread custom dates back at least about a thousand years asmentioned by Rabbi Elazar of Worms (1165-1238).
Teshuvot Maharam Mintz (No. 109) explains that in those days women would wear their rings on the right forefinger and therefore this custom has remained. Another reason is suggested in Nachalat Shiva (12:2) based on the idea that the right forefinger is the most prominent of all the fingers. There was a custom amongst some Sephardim to place the ring on the left middle finger. The reason is that just as one winds the tefillin strap around this finger as an expression of being bound to G-d, so the ring on this finger represents the bond between bride and groom. Aruch HaShulchan (27:4) states that all customs are valid, and it makes no difference how the ring is given.
Nevertheless, there are Kabbalistic explanations for placing the ring on the right forefinger. The Zohar explains that the reason the ring is placed on the right hand is because the right hand represents giving and loving-kindness. Maharich (Likkutim 3:133a) offers a beautiful idea as to why the forefinger. The chatan gives the ring with his right hand, which is opposite the left hand of the kallah. The giving is accompanied by seven blessings. The seventh finger from the kallah's left hand is her right forefinger. Therefore it is symbolic that the "seventh" finger should be the one that ring is placed on, as the giving of the ring is the moment that the kiddushin is sealed.
http://ohr.edu/yhiy/article.php/2244