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Posts on related blogs:- The Social Media Challenge May 17, 2012T-shirts imprinted with eye-catching sayings are commonplace, each competing with the other in cuteness and cleverness. Your choice of t-shirt is a personal marketing decision. You send the world a message of who you are and how you want to be perceived. Imagine wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with your most personal information. Everyone who sees you knows abo […]Hirhurim
- Parashah Roundup: Behar-Bechukosai 5772 May 17, 2012by Steve Brizel R Ahron Soloveitchik ZL discusses how to understand reward and punishment for Mitzvos: link (audio) R Ephraim Buchwald examines the Mitzvah to live in the Land of Israel, and the unique responsibilities of Jews who live in the Diaspora: link R Berel Wein and R Sir Jonathan Sacks underscore the fact that Shemittah and Yovel should remind us th […]Hirhurim
- Rav Woble zt’l on the husband/wife relationship (link) May 17, 2012Shmuel has the text of a speech he gave at his sister-in-law's wedding, based on a teaching from Rav Woble zt'l...Tikkun!: Sheva Brachot speech […]Neil Harris
- The Coolest Thing in Town May 16, 2012[…]LazerBeams
- Mevakesh Lev 2012-05-16 16:29:00 May 16, 2012Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. Ralph Waldo Emerson […]Mevakesh Lev
- Quantity Vs. Quality May 16, 2012The order of hafrashas trumos and maasros is truma gedola, maaser rishon and then maaser sheni. If one doesn't go in order he trangresses the איסור of מלאתך ודמעך לא תאחר. Rebbe Akiva Eiger and the Minchas Chinuch both say that if ... […]Mevakesh Lev
- Rav Moshe Weinberger – Parshas Emor 5772 – Shabbos Morning Drasha – Who do you Serve? May 16, 2012Below, please find a write-up of Rav Weinberger's morning drasha from parshas Emor. Baruch Hashem, this version reflects his review of the write-up. See here for past write-ups. Also, thousands of Rav Weinberger's shiurim are available online... […]DixieYid (يهودي جنوبي)
- Shadal’s series #11 – coping with the loss of a daughter. May 16, 2012Certainly not to minimize the many tragic losses people suffer every day, yet there can be little doubt that in earlier times untimely death was lurking ever closer, with minor illnesses posing greater threats. Hardly a family was untouched by the Grim... […]Mississippi Fred MacDowell
- Can We Mitigate Some of the Moral Costs of Expensive Jewish Education? May 16, 2012What do you think of these objectives from the article “The Moral Costs of Jewish Day School” from Jewish Ideas Daily? This model corrects many of the current system’s moral deficiencies: It makes the tuition-setting process transparent and predictable. It moves many middle-class families off the rolls of those receiving financial aid. It defines day […]Beyond BT - The Baal Teshuva / Baal Teshuvah site for Baalei Teshuva / Baalei Teshuvah and Other Growth Oriented Jews
- Petach 46 May 16, 2012כשהוצרך לתת שליטה ללבושים בפני עצמם לתקן את עצמם, נתעלם החלק העליון שהיה בנקודים, והוא ענין האצילות שלהם, ואז היו שולטים הלבושים בפני עצמם. וזה נקרא להם נפילה, כי היו נופלים ממה שהיו נכללים באצילות בסוד לבושיו, ושולטים בפני עצמם, ולא בסידור ותיקון, אלא בקלקול, ריקים מן האורות שנתרחקו מהם. ואז היו פונים תמיד לתת […]Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
- Keeping Ethical May 16, 2012Pirkei Avot is commonly translated as Ethics of Our Fathers because many of its statements focus on ethical behavior. For those striving to be ethical, “Nittai the Arbelite says: Keep far from an evil neighbor, do not associate with a wicked man, and... […]Jewish Treats
- Good Neighbors May 16, 2012While Nittai the Arbelite warns to keep far from an evil neighbor, it is good to enhance peace in the world by being friendly with your neighbors. […]Jewish Treats
- The Purpose Of Krias HaTorah May 16, 2012אם כן ניחא מה שהקשינו לעיל מהי התועלת בקריאה נטולת הבנה, התשובה פשוטה, גם...."בקריאה כזו הנפש מתרוממת קידוש הגברא על ידי טיהור האישיות והתעלו... […]Mevakesh Lev
- Happiness Under All Circumstances – The Sequel May 16, 2012The great gaon, HaRav Shimon Moshe Diskin was lying in Hadassa Ein Kerem hospital. Two weeks before he died I went to visit him and invite him to my wedding. HaGaon Rav Shimon Moshe, a person for whom the Yeshiva world rejoiced at every "vort" of his. ... […]Mevakesh Lev
- Happiness Under All Circumstances May 16, 2012A young Breslover Chossid, not the superficial-external-funny-dressing-type but a deep, sincere, intense servant of Hashem, was lying on his death bed. He was surrounded by his friends and the atmosphere wasn't, may we say, at the peak of Mitzvah Gedol... […]Mevakesh Lev
- Know Thyself May 16, 2012עקב הלב מכל אנוש מי ידענוירמיהו יז"A human being has so many skins inside, covering the depths of the heart. We know so many things, but we don't know ourselves! Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, as thick and hard as an o... […]Mevakesh Lev
- Mevakesh Lev 2012-05-16 00:55:00 May 16, 2012"Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it." […]Mevakesh Lev
- Even Eliyahu… May 16, 2012The Satmar Rav, zt”l, teaches a powerful lesson from a surprising statement of our sages. “In Menachos 32 we find that if Eliyahu were to come and say that we may not use a soft shoe to do chalitzah we would not heed him since the custom is to use ... […]micha
- On Jacob’s Blessing to Joseph May 16, 2012Prof Shlomo Karni / In Genesis 49:22 we find the expression בָּנוֹת צָעֲדָה which is problematic in that the subject is feminine plural, while the verb is feminine singular. A majority of the English versions read, with small variations, “[Joseph is a fruitful bough,] his branches run [over the wall.]” We are interested here in the פשט meaning, not its דרש s […]Hirhurim
- Announcement: Rav Schachter Shabbos in Flatbush May 16, 2012Cong. Nachlas Yehoshua-Montastrich is pleased to host Rav Hershel Schachter this Shabbos, Parashiyos Behar-Bechukosai Shabbos night: 9:30 pm – Oneg Shabbos Hosted by Dr. and Mrs. Yechiel Zagelbaum, 1082 E. 26th St. (bet. J & K) Shabbos day: ... […]Hirhurim
- The Social Media Challenge May 17, 2012
Monthly Archives: Marcheshvan / Kislev 5765 - November 2004
Emunah Peshutah vs Machashavah
A basic problem when approaching Jewish philosophy is the appropriateness of studying it altogether. As Prof. Sholom Carmy wrote on Avodah: The people who keep insisting that it’s necessary to prove things about G-d, including His existence, seem to take … Continue reading
Posted in Faith and Proof
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Other Tines on the Fork
The hashkafic fork in the road that I’ve been referring to repeatedly has two approaches: sheleimus / temimus, the perfection of the self, and deveikus, cleaving to G-d. If you’d like, derekh Hashem as following the path G-d takes, and … Continue reading
Today’s Daas Torah
Here’s a theory that I developed recently…The gemara uses the term “da’as Torah” in a sense totally different than today’s usage. It appears once, in Chullin 90b, to ask whether a cited opinion on a halachic matter was logincally necessary … Continue reading
Posted in Dei`os, Process
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The Fall of Mimeticism and Forks in the Hashkafic Road
In a famous article in Tradition titled “Rupture and Reconstruction“, Dr Haym Soloveitchik describes a change in how we relate to Judaism from pre-war Europe to post-war US and Israel. The rupture in Jewish life caused by the Holocaust forced … Continue reading
Posted in Forks
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Aspaqlaria
I’m sure a reasonable number of readers are wondering just what is an Aspaqlaria anyway, and why would someone choose it as the name of a blog? The gemara contrasts Moshe’s prophecy as being as though he saw through an … Continue reading
Welcome
We recently concluded Mesukim MiDevash, a weekly collection of divrei Torah on the subjects of machshavah, mussar, and the meaning of various teflillos. If you’re curious about what I was thinking about before starting this blog, many of the articles … Continue reading
Posted in Chumash, Machashavah, Mussar, Tefillah
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Miqeitz: Time and Process
The parashah opens “Vayhi mikeitz sh’nasayim yamim — and it was at the end of a pair of years of days”. After Yosef spent two years in prison, Par’oh’s dream leads the wine steward to remember Yosef and eventually leads … Continue reading
Posted in 1- Bereishis
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