RSS
In Print!
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
Yearly Archives: 5767 / 5768 - 2007
Halachic Process, addenda
With this post, I am closing the series (for now) with three other thoughts that came up during the Avodah discussion, but aren’t part of my core thesis. I The concept of minhag hamaqom impacts two different things — actual … Continue reading
Posted in Process
Leave a comment
Halachic Process, part II
So far, I’ve discussed how I think halakhah works, and how I think it doesn’t. To refresh — fitting devar Hashem into this world an our minds requires simplifying modeling, “shadows” that only capture aspects of the fuller truth. These … Continue reading
Halachic Process, interlude: What it isn’t
(I am going to do something I try to avoid when writing in public — dedicate a post to criticism. This post may someday disappear, if I ever change my mind, so read it now while you can.) The story … Continue reading
Posted in Process
14 Comments
Halachic Process, part I
“Eilu va’eilu divrei E-lokim Chaim, vehalakhah keBeis Hillel — These and those are the words of the ‘Living’ G-d, but the halakhah is like Beis Hillel.” The voice rung out from heaven that even though the law is ruled according … Continue reading
Posted in Process
5 Comments
Halachic Change
Pesaq “changes” in a number of very different ways. I put the word in quotes, because I’m including things I do not consider an actual change in pesaq. R’ Herschel Schachter writes in a number of places of the difference … Continue reading
Posted in Process
2 Comments
Angry at G-d
A friend of mine wrote this morning about his three experiences with cancer in his immediate family. He was equipped to handle his wife’s bout, abut by the time he had to deal with it for the third time, he … Continue reading
Posted in 1- Bereishis, Anger
5 Comments
Yisrael, Yaaqov and Beis Yaaqov
Someone asked on soc.culture.jewish: Today in my Women In Hebrew Bible class we talked about how Yaakov (Jacob) was renamed Yisrael (Israel). This was a way of redeeming him of all his past trickery. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve … Continue reading
Posted in 1- Bereishis
Leave a comment
Anger and the Golden Mean
(I invite people to visit my analysis of the Orchos Tzadiqim’s psychological model. Among the points I discuss is the relationship between dei’os and middos. In painful brevity: a dei’ah is a feature of one’s psyche — which in turn … Continue reading
Posted in Anger
2 Comments
Shemittah
( You will notice that this entry is pretty much straight lomdus rather than my usual fare. When I wrote Rafi’s bar mitzvah speech, I ran overly long. Here is an even longer earlier edition, but one that is more … Continue reading
Posted in 1- Bereishis, Ta`amei haMitzvos
3 Comments
כג אלול תשס”א
Tonight begins the 6th yahrzeit. It can be no coincidence that it is a weak before Rosh haShanah that we have the reminder of how a beautiful sunny day can, in the blink of an eye, turn into the most … Continue reading
Posted in Fundamentals
Leave a comment
