Yearly Archive: 2010

Balancing Community and Authenticity 0

Balancing Community and Authenticity

This post, like the one I blogged last week, reflects a conversation with R’ Rich Wolpoe and R’ Ben Hecht on NishmaBlog and email, on the topic of R’ Nathan Lopez Cardozo’s “On the...

Book Announcement: Every Day, Holy Day 0

Book Announcement: Every Day, Holy Day

Now available. Alan’s newest book! (assisted by Rabbi Micha Berger) “You shall be holy,” teaches the Torah, and the masters of Mussar have always taken that command very seriously. Mussar is a system of...

Balancing Simplicity and Authenticity 0

Balancing Simplicity and Authenticity

This post is in response to R’ Nathan Lopez Cordozo’s “On the Nature and Future of Halakha in Relation to Autonomous Religiosity” on the Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals web site. First to...

Halakhah leMosheh miSinai 0

Halakhah leMosheh miSinai

מעשה ברבי ישבב שעמד והחליק את כל נכסיו לעניים. שלח לו ר”ג, “והלא אמרו חומש מנכסיו למצות?” ור”ג לא קודם לאושא היה? ר’ יוסי בר’ בון בשם ר’ לוי: כך היתה הלכה בידם, ושכחוה,...

Qorach’s Heart 0

Qorach’s Heart

The title verse of this week’s parashah reads “ויקח קרח” (Bamidbar 16:39). The simple translation would be “And Qorach took”. However, the Midrash Rabbah takes it slightly differently, using an equally valid if less...

How Does Prayer Influence? 0

How Does Prayer Influence?

As a memorial to R’ Mordechai Eliyahuzt”l, here is a translation of the introduction to his siddur, “Sefatei Tiftach”: How Does Prayer Influence? One must read well the verses that speak about the creation...

The Pashkevil To End All Pashkevilin 0

The Pashkevil To End All Pashkevilin

R’ Yaakov Haber put this up at his blog, and I think it SO warrants further distribution, I’m mentioning it here. To quote: … [E]veryday there were posters about how, in the opinion of...

The Time of the Ivrim 0

The Time of the Ivrim

Note this map of Israel, as it was divided into the territories for the various shevatim: There are two things odd about the south-west corner of the map. First, the Gaza Strip is not...

Two Ideals 0

Two Ideals

(Split off from last week’s post “Shavuos Reading” because I thought of a number of points I wanted to add.) Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, in the Naso 5770 issue of his weekly Parashah Sheet...

Shavuos Reading 0

Shavuos Reading

I just wanted to share some of what I came across this Shavuos… 1- From YU’s “Shavuos-to-Go”, R’ Mordechai Torczyner writes about the connection between Shavuos and chessed. Often cited is the idea that...