Avodah Mailing List

Volume 44: Number 11

Thu, 19 Feb 2026

• 1. Re: Faith Talk? (Micha Berger)
• 2. Re: electronic key card (Akiva Miller)
• 3. useful tools (mco...@touchlogic.com)
• 4. Counting the Aseres Hadibros (Akiva Miller)
• 5. Re: Counting the Aseres Hadibros (Micha Berger)
• 6. nefesh hachayim (Joel Rich)
• 7. Re: Counting the Aseres Hadibros (Akiva Miller)
• 8. A Jewish Philosophy of Man A Lecture Series by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (Joel Rich)
• 9. Rambam Yomi - Mesiras Nefesh (Danny Schoemann)

On Fri, Feb 06, 2026 at 12:35:37PM +0200, Arie Folger via Avodah wrote:
> RJR wrote:
>> Charlie Kirk's widow on faith
>> does our community talk like this?
>> Should we?
>> https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1290467793118078

> Sefardim talk like that and it is very powerful. In Israel you will find
> along those more affected by the water - people who lost loved ones - that
> Ashkenazim also talk like that.

This is a very hard mental state to be in. As having a social expectation
about what the holy thing to say is can end up having people feeling forced
to be echad bepeh ve'echad beleiv.

> I totally think we should do this more often. We could be in the habit of
> thanking G"d more often and more publicly.

This whole discussion makes me think of a comment I recently made to RYGB.
He wrote about the TYH (Thank You Hashem) phenomenon, and the more recent
pushback JLT (Just Learn Torah).

I think there is very much a connection to the amount of God Talk among
the Religious Right.

Anyway, here's the comment:

The Jewish Left have Tikkun Olam which, because they map their idea of a
"fixed world" so the Progressive Democrat vision, turns much of their
Judaism into being a Progressive.

And over in the Orthodox world, where so many Jews identify with the
Republican Right, we get assimilation of the Prosperity Gospel.

There is a reason why the social centers of TYH are the Five Towns and
some of the wealthier parts of Rockland County.

--


es divrei Hashem. They're just starting, they cannot have nuance. By
definition we are talking about revival of a neglected field. So of
course they haven't learned any depth yet!

--



Before this whole conflict, yeshivish camps also had kumzitzen. No one
has figured out how to get spirituality from Mitzvos and Talmud Torah
alone. And this was articulated back during the Pulmus haMussar. JLT
seems like a 2D caricature Volozhin's pushback.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 For a mitzvah is a lamp,
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   And the Torah, its light.
Author: Widen Your Tent                      - based on Mishlei 6:2
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF

.
R' Joel Rich wrote:
> During a shiur I mentioned this program focusing on the use
> of electronic key cards on Shabbat:
>
https://torahinmotion.org/classes/electricity-and-shabbat-the-views-of-rabbi-nahum-rabinovitch
> ...
> There were a number of interesting elements to this discussion
> and I send it out with a bit of trepidation since I really do
> resonate to the concern that people who have never heard of
> Rabbi Rabinovich will act because it?s more convenient, but if
> you're interested, I?d be interested in your comments on that
> and any other parts of the discussion you care to comment on.

Disclaimer: That's a 75-minute video, and I watched only the first 6
minutes. Then I googled "Nahum Rabinovitch electricity shabbat" to *read*
how he holds, and this post is based on what I read. If there's anything
particularly unusual in that video, please summarize it, or point us to
which part of the video we should watch.

Decades ago, I had already read enough of these sort of articles that I
perceived a consensus among the poskim that:

A) If an electronic device generates zero light and zero heat, then it does
*not* violate the melachos of mav'ir nor bishul on a Torah level.
B) There *are* other areas of concern, such as makeh b'patish and molid,
but the poskim don't seem very concerned about them.
C) Nevertheless, even if we cannot point to a specific reason to forbid a
given device, ever since these things were discovered and invented, Klal
Yisrael has accepted - for whatever reason - not to use them on Shabbos, at
least not l'chatchila.
D) But in some Sha'as HaDchak (a/k/a b'dieved) situations, they can be
allowed, and see your LOR for a determination about your specific situation.

R' Rabinovitch's view seems to fit all the above. He seems to hold that the
Oneg Shabbos of entering one's room trumps whatever problems those key
cards have. Other poskim might say that opting in for a vacation which will
require you to use these cards is not a real Sha'as HaDchak, and so you
should find a different vacation or a better workaround.

I can also imagine yet other poskim saying that vacations are important,
and it is becoming so difficult to find one that doesn't involve these key
cards, that the default is to allow it. This is similar to a person who
*could* walk home Friday night using a route that avoids motion detectors,
but it is much farther than his preferred route, so we allow the preferred
route. (Among the factors that the posek will look at is whether the
electricity is doing something Nicha Lei (the amount of benefit that the
person gets), which could be very different for a person walking home from
shul in the ambient light, vs. one who is totally locked out of his hotel
room.)

Akiva Miller
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fyi

transcription tools, OCR of Seforim, and more

https://www.sofer.ai/
 
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.
Data point: Fourteen of the Taryag Mitzvos as listed in the Sefer HaChinuch
are sourced in the pesukim of the Aseres Hadibros in Parshas Yisro.
Clearly, we do not have a one-to-one correspondence between what
constitutes a mitzvah and what constitutes a dibbur. Thus the question of
"Is Anochi Hashem a mitzvah or not?" is irrelevant to whether or not it
counts as the first of the Aseres Hadibros.

My question: Are there any authoritative Jewish sources which clearly
identify these ten? Do Chazal ever say "This is the first, and this is the
second"?

I have always understood that different religions count the ten
differently. I will not give examples, because then we'll get bogged down
in the specifics of that example. Suffice it to say that, as far as I can
recall, every Paroches and Torah Mantel that I've ever seen (counting the
ones that give words, not numerals) breaks them up the same way: "Anochi
Hashem" is first, "Lo yihyeh" is second, etc.

But do we have any *writings* which tell us the proper breakdown? Something
more authoritative than the consensus of the Embroiderers Union?

Akiva Miller
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On Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 09:25:31AM -0500, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> My question: Are there any authoritative Jewish sources which clearly
> identify these ten? Do Chazal ever say "This is the first, and this is the
> second"?

Taam Elyon has one sof pasuq per diberah.

Chodesh Tov!
Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

?? ????? ??? ? ??? ?
?? ???? ???? ?????? ????? ??? ???? ???????. ??????? ??? ????? ?'. ?????
???? ???. ???? ????? ???? ???? ???? ????? ??????? ???? ???? ?????:
"Similarly, one is permitted to interrupt and neglect learning briefly in
order to contemplate for a bit the fear/awe of HKBH. And he need not be
concerned about this being neglect of Torah (learning), since this is what
causes his wisdom of Torah to be sustained." (my translation)

Fascinating,  is he saying that the only reason contemplating yirah during
learning is that it is intrinsic to learning because it causes his torah to
be remembered, not as an independent value. Thoughts?


KT
Joel Rich
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.
R' Micha Berger wrote:

> Taam Elyon has one sof pasuq per diberah.

If so, then I count only nine dibros.

I can't find a sof pasuq anywhere from "Anochi Hashem" until "Ulshomrei
mitzvosai". The word which I *thought* ended the first diberah, namely
"avadim," has a revi'i in Taam Elyon. (Even if it were an esnachta I'd
question it, but a revi'i? I'd really like to see someone who wrote, "Even
though there's no sof pasuk here, this is where the first dibrah ends and
the second begins.")

If anyone is wondering why I brought up this whole question, it is because
of what Rabbi Jonathan Sacks wrote in his new chumash, on page 529. After
mentioning the idea that the first five dibros are Bein Adam L'Makom, and
the next five Bein Adam L'Chaveiro, he adds:

> ... it seems to me that the commandments are also structured,
> like the ten plagues, in three groups of three, with a tenth
> that is set apart from the rest.
>The first three - no other gods besides Me, no graven images,
> and no taking of God's name in vain - define the Jewish people
> as "one nation under God."

This struck me as odd. My understanding is that Christians consider "I am
Hashem..." to be an introduction, and then the first three of the ten are
numbered as Rabbi Sacks wrote. I contrast, I've understood the Jewish view
to be that "I am Hashem..." is the first, and the second is "no other gods"
together with "no graven images". I suppose it is possible that Rabbi Sacks
was simply following a minority view, and I'd like to see where it is
discussed.

Akiva Miller
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Audio Roundup Special: Rav Soloveitchik 2 - Torah Musings
<https://www.torahmusings.com/2026/02/audio-roundup-special-rav-soloveitchik-2-2/>

A serious lecture series. unfortunately incomplete, for those interested in
a deep dive into Jewish philosophy and a brilliant teacher's intellectual
and emotional world.  Thank you to R' Mark Smilowitz for all his effort in
bringing this to us.
KT
Joel Rich
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We're up to Yesodei HaTorah Ch. 5.

You have to give up your life rather than transgress if:

If the goy's intent is to make you transgress any Mitzva and it's public
(in front of 10 Yidden).

If it's a time if evil decree to eradicate Judaism or a specific Jewish
practice.

What justification did they use in the concentration camps and ghettos to
do forced labor on Shabbos? (Or to eat chometz on Pessach.)

There has to be a simple answer since it was the accepted practice.

- Danny
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