Learning Mussar
- Excerpts from Chapter 4 “Frumkeit”
- Chapter 13: Summary: Removing the Impediments
- Chapter 14: Summary: A Short Guide to Mussar Study
Mussar Practice
- Chapter 5: Hislamdus [Teaching Oneself / Taking Lessons from Life] (ve’adim)
Intimate Knowledge of G‑d
Compassion Toward People
Splendor in Mind and Heart
Avodah
In the "when it?s so asynchronous that it?s not even toch kdei dibbur" case, I would prefer RAMiller's *derech* (try to answer everyone whom you've heard because "l'halacha, one ought [...]
On Fri, May 30, 2025 at 03:04:21PM +0300, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote: > Multiple Truths-The Ritva (Eruvin 13b) brought in the name of the French > Sages: HKBH showed [...]
On Wed, Jun 11, 2025 at 10:44:17AM +0300, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote: > I've always wondered about this role with regards to the age of chinuch and > having [...]
On Tue, Jun 10, 2025 at 09:58:51PM +0300, Simon Montagu via Avodah wrote: > > question? Because the word is Greek, "stollus". The yud-sav suffix isn't > > the Hebrew [...]
On Wed, May 07, 2025 at 06:17:29AM +0300, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote: > Rabbi Gil Student (aka The Big Boss Man) introduced an interesting issue in > his peace [...]
I've heard some say that in order to be a source of true daat torah, one must be detached from the world. If so, does giving practical advice to real [...]
>From a Times of Israel Blog: The importance a candyman plays in a shul is a matter of consensus. Making sure the blessings that come with that role expand to [...]
On Tue, Jun 10, 2025 at 11:13?AM Micha Berger wrote: > Aside from Ashkenazi acharonim who thought in Yiddish, the word in Chazal, > Rishonim, etc... is either "tallisos" or [...]
Blogs
- YGB - יג"ב
- Aspaqlaria
- Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
- | Modern Uberdox
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDRG5eQ1pkI?si=QIQ8N-ewcj8aHyA0]A recording for the BHP daily Halachic Whatsapp grouphttps://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz8rrxqRcfy9rMOXRLG6GS [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 11 Episode 6:Black Hats and Baseball Caps:Possible Futures and Instructive Historieshttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/102188 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
You are invited to a shiuron the topic of Shavuos on Shavuos (Sunday) night,11:45pm-12:30am, at our home, 3 Zabriskie Terrace in Monsey.I am also giving a shiur on "The Great [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 11 Episode 5:The Brightest Aren't the Best:Why so many Gemara Talmidim remainill-served by their Rabbeimhttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/101699 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
I don't know when the print version will be coming out, but this is the link to my latest article, a review of Rabbi Dr. Adam Mintz's Building Communities: A [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Subsequent episodes in the series will appear in the comments to this post.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujjAlz_SVQU?si=lGhHoG7dMWr3uXy0] [...]
Iggeres D'Rav Sherira Gaon, part 27: Rav Ashi vs The Reish Galusa (Exilarch); The Legend of Bustenai
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
How Rav Ashi made the yeshiva at Masa Mechasya (Sura) permanent; his surpassing the Reishei Galusa in significance and dominance; and the history and legends of Bustenai.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGVFTfj-TSc?si=QSL4ukQ8AWnZ8f6k]Subsequent episodes in the [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 11 Episode 4:Kabbalah's Lasting Impacthttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/101528 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 11 Episode 3:Kavod Zeh Ba'Zeh:The Tandem Template of Jewish Leadershiphttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/101267 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 11 Episode 2: Neturei Karta:Looking Past the Shouts and Sloganshttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/100805 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIOMgmq3EK4?si=s3ijCfmEuXH3XJ2Z]A recording for the BHP daily Halachic Whatsapp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz8rrxqRcfy9rMOXRLG6GS [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Eitan | Growing from Their Strength, Building in Their Memory - GivechakThis drive is for Rabbi Eli Kaplan shlita's Mechina.Reb Eli is the grandson of Rabbi Avrohom Eliyahu Kaplan zt"l [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
No, the line of succession in Britain is not discussed in the podcast. The image for illustrative purpose only! 😏Rischa D'Araisa Season 11 Episode 1:https://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/riscahadaraaisa/100426Succession: Popes,Rebbes, and Roshei Yeshivah [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rabbi Yosef Gavriel and Dr. Shani M. BechhoferScholar in Residence Programs, Lectures, Shiurim We both have a large and varied repertoire of topics and programs. We can also custom design programs. We [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Includes a new (and perhaps true!) insight on the unique language of being "yotzei" a mitzvah vs. being "mekayem" a mitzvah.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D6PCh77lmc?si=e2w9GQBu7e60tuay]A recording for the BHP daily Halachic WhatsApp group [...]
- Micha Berger
I noticed that parshanim explaining the chumash on the one hand, and shas and posqim showing how the pasuq is associated with halakhah on the other, often end up giving [...]
- admin
Rav Dovid Lifshitz zt”l (whose 31st yahrzeit is today) often spoke about the connection between shaleim as wholeness, and that of another conjugation, “shalom“, peace. Shalom is not simply a cessation of violence. That [...]
- admin
Parashas Behar is a list of mitzvos. The first section is all about shemittah and yovel. A family’s ancestral land cannot be sold into perpetuity. Instead, if someone is forced [...]
- Micha Berger
This week I’d like to discuss three seemingly unrelated questions about the words of the tephillah: The focus of Shabbos Mussaf davening is the paragraph that begins “Tiqanta Shabbos…” What [...]
- Micha Berger
Here’s my theory about the origin of this minhag. My point here is not really about advocating for the minhag. I just feel a need to push back when people [...]
- admin
והיה רגיל להוכיח אותי על שראה שאינני משתתף בצערא דאחרינא. וכה היה דברו אלי תמיד שזה כל האדם. לא לעצמו נברא רק להועיל לאחריני ככל אשר ימצא בכחו לעשות. [My [...]
- Rabbi Seth Mandel PhD zt"l
Micha’s note: The following was a post written to the Mesorah email list by Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel zt”l, a rebbe-chaver of mine (more: a rebbe who insisted on treating [...]
- Micha Berger
(I put these thoughts together for a reply for my daughter Gavi, who pointed me to a medrash that “everyone in her neighborhood” were talking about, but I then was [...]
- Micha Berger
“Poteach et Yadekha“, oil on canvasHaim Masliach, 2021 A comment by Ilana Elzafun* brought this Seforno to my attention. This week’s parashah (Lekh Likha), Bereishis 16:13, describes Hagar’s prayer to [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:13 1. T The things we say can also link celestial worlds, rectify this one, and interconnect with the upper worlds, as we’ll now see. After all, we’re [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:7 (¶ 118 [middle]) 1. We’d do well to take something into consideration, Ramchal adds here. It’s that just because something or someone is imperfect doesn’t mean [...]
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The Way of G-d 2:6:4 1. G-d allowed for a prosecutor in His court, famously known as satan 1. His role is to argue against the accused, which them enables [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:12 1. R. Chaim already spoke 1 of the fact that we could only link celestial worlds, rectify this one, and interconnect with those upper worlds after we’d [...]
- bf61cd94975385fed8cbdd16766a3ee4
Da’at Tevunot 3:6 (¶ 118 [beginning]) 1. Ramchal reiterates here 1 that wrong is a created entity 2 that was only designed to last for as long as G-d wanted [...]
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The Way of G-d 2:6:3 1. Given the above, the fact is that G-d doesn’t judge the world according to His foreknowledge but rather according to the way He wants [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:11 1. Following up on the thought offered in the last chapter that despite our being connected to physicality we’re nevertheless superior to angels, R’ Chaim now [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:5 (¶s 116 [end] – 117) 1. Ramchal says that he’s going to expand upon things he’d said above 1 and reveal things that are “deep” about [...]
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The Way of G-d 2:6:2 1. G-d appears in each Sanhedrin and court, influences it, and sees to it that justice is served 1. Now, in some instances [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:10 1. Given all of the above concerning our makeup and capacities, it’s reasonable to wonder whether angels are loftier than we are or we’re loftier than they. [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:4 (¶ 116 [beg.]) 1. Ramchal is about to offer something that will serve as a prelude to what’s to follow 1. It’s that even though G-d [...]
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Derech Hashem 2:6:1 In the course of His interactions with the world 1, G-d arranged it so that phenomena that affect both the things that humankind brings about 2 and [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:9 1. Following through on the discussion of the previous chapter, R’ Chaim contrasts the situation of the generation that dwelt in the Sinai Desert 1 with that [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:3 (¶’s 103- 115) 1. It seems logical, doesn’t it, that goodness would be a product of something that emanates goodness while wrongfulness would be a product of [...]
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Da’atTevunot 3:2 (# 98 – 102) 1. Ramchal starts to explain the role of wrong and injustice in the world with a proposition derived from Rambam1. It’s that when G-d [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:8 1. R’ Chaim offers a rather complex discussion here about the positioning of the Cherubs in the Tabernacle and Holy Temple in order to illustrate his point [...]
- Neil Harris
The website 18FORTY has a fantastic and thoughtful multimedia post on OTD that is worth watching, reading, and listening to. If you are reading this then you know I don’t [...]
- Neil Harris
Spoiler, there isn’t much substance to I what have to say. Also, I am spoiling the end of the Skywalker saga. After reading an excellent essay by Rabbi Harry Maryles [...]
- Neil Harris
I checked my recent writing history today and the last legit post of mine was really 3.5 years ago. For some that’s a long chunk of time. In that time [...]
- Neil Harris
My wife’s comment on Simchas Torah pretty much summed it up, “I feel like this is the biggest tease for you.” You see, my mom a”h was niftar right before [...]
- Neil Harris
When today comes around I usually think about things my father missed since he has been gone. I decided that this year I’ll attempt to list a number of things [...]
- Neil Harris
Walking out of shul, the morning after Yom Kippur, a follow early Sunday morning riser casually said to me, “Back to normal, right?” I was taken off guard (and also [...]
- Neil Harris
I have started this post about 2 dozen times over the past 3 years and I never seem to get more than about 300 words written about why I stopped [...]
- Neil Harris
I want to share something that Rav Efraim Twerski said at his Shabbos HaGadol drasha. After starting off with 10 questions Rav Twerski said over an amazing Torah from Rav [...]
- Neil Harris
So, tonight’s the 6th yahrtzeit for my dad, Avraham ben Zorach a”h (Al, of blessed memory). Like everyone else that has lost a parent I lit my 24 hour yahrzeit [...]
- Neil Harris
“WARMED BY THE FIRE OF THE AISH KODESH– Torah from the Hilulas of Reb Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piaseczna” by Rav Moshe Weinberger and adapted by Binyomin Wolf is more [...]