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Avodah
Zchia by reuvain for an unknowing shimon is contingent on the acceptance by Shimon and if he declines then it was never his. I?ve always wondered about the status of [...]
All things being equal would you say a person (including a parent) waving his ?right? to a hesped or nihugei aceilut was positive neutral or negative? KT Joel Rich [...]
On Sun, Jun 07, 2026 at 2:35pm CDT, Jay F. Shachter wrote: >> ... living in the land is but one of many mitzvos. >> ... there are other mitzvos [...]
> > ... living in the land is but one of many mitzvos. > > It's one of the 7 or 8 mitzvos hashequlos. (See R Wolbe's book by > [...]
On Wed, Jun 03, 2026 at 05:57:46AM +0300, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote: > In a recent shiur, Rav Asher Weiss summarized his understanding concerning > differences between halachic reality [...]
In a recent shiur, Rav Asher Weiss summarized his understanding concerning differences between halachic reality and scientific reality. They are two different realities where the former is set at sof [...]
On Mon, Mar 09, 2026 at 09:03:32PM -0400, Michael Poppers via Avodah wrote: > If I may add one point that I don't think RJIR and R'Micha raised in their [...]
On Mon, Apr 20, 2026 at 10:58:33AM +0300, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote: > Of course, I fully support what R' Micha Berger and R' Harry Maryles wrote > about [...]
Blogs
- YGB - יג"ב
- Aspaqlaria
- Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
- | Modern Uberdox
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Play EpisodeDownload EpisodeSupport This EpisodeRischa D'Araisa Season 13 Episode 8:Rabbinic Kings Declare War;Rischa Prize Finalistshttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/118729 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
A recording for the BHP daily Halachic Whatsapp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz8rrxqRcfy9rMOXRLG6GS [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Meeting Purpose Discuss how to implement Torah im Derech Eretz (TIDE) principles in the home. Key Takeaways TIDE's core principle is integration, not isolation. It's a mission statement for active [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
We have opened a Discourse site for public and accessible interactions:https://discourse.torahimderecheretz.comPlease join us! [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
An optional shiur on a day on which school was canceled because of flooding in the building. Below is an AI summary. I am sure there are typos.Girls' Shiur - [...]
Rischa D'Araisa Season 13 Episode 7: Dying on the Sword of Hashkafah: The Magen David; Giyus; Aliyah
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Play EpisodeDownload EpisodeSupport This EpisodeRischa D'Araisa Season 13 Episode 7:Dying on the Sword of Hashkafah:The Magen David; Giyus; Aliyahhttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/118467 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Zohar Al Pi Pshat Day 686.87a: The Primary Level of David is the Level of Nefesh, & What That Means [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
The "Exercise" Piece:Rav Kook for People who are not Adherents of Rav Kook's Thought: Orot part 72 Orot HaTechiyah 34:The (In)famous Perspective on Exercise and Sport as Holiness and Spirituality!Subsequent episodes [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Play EpisodeDownload EpisodeSupport This EpisodeRischa D'Araisa Season 13 Episode 6:The Baal Shem Tov:Still the Mechanech For Our Timeshttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/118057 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
A recording for the BHP daily Halachic Whatsapp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz8rrxqRcfy9rMOXRLG6GS [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Play EpisodeDownload EpisodeSupport This EpisodeRischa D'Araisa Season 13 Episode 5:Between the Tactically Wrong and the Morally Indefensible:Kars-4-Kids Deceptions and Yom Yerushalayim Riotshttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/117890 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Ihtesham Ali@ihtesham2005·8hA Norwegian neuroscientist spent 20 years proving that the act of writing by hand changes the human brain in ways typing physically cannot, and almost nobody outside her field [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
At Suburban Torah Center in Livingston, NJ [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Focusing on the Gemara in Eruvin 54a.Learning and mastering Torah would have been different had we stayed with the first Luchos. And why our current way is "better".L'fum tzara agra, [...]
- Micha Berger
I left off back in March, so here is a reminder of where we were up to:We were looking at Shabbos Minchah, and noted that Atah Echad follows the same [...]
- Micha Berger
The first thing you may notice about the middle, Shabbos-related, berakhah of Shabbos Minchah is that the opening parallels the berakhah immediately before it. אַתָּה קָדושׁוְשִׁמְךָ קָדושׁ!וּקְדושִׁים בְּכָל יום יְהַלְּלוּךָ [...]
- Micha Berger
Current events here in Israel have meant that I haven’t gotten a good night sleep between alarms and sirens, which translated to not writing here as often as I had [...]
- Micha Berger
The gemara on Berakhos 6a states something very intriguing: אָמַר רַבִּי אָבִין בַּר רַב אַדָּא, אָמַר רַבִּי יִצְחָק: מִנַּיִן שֶׁהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַנִּיחַ תְּפִילִּין שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״נִשְׁבַּע ה׳ בִּימִינוֹ וּבִזְרוֹעַ עֻזּוֹ״. [...]
- Micha Berger
Esther 8:16: לַיְּהוּדִ֕ים הָֽיְתָ֥ה אוֹרָ֖ה וְשִׂמְחָ֑ה וְשָׂשֹׂ֖ן וִיקָֽר׃ The Jews enjoyed light and joy, happiness and glory. The gemara (Megillah 16b) explains that each item on the list refers to [...]
- Micha Berger
Shabbos Mussaf The middle berakhah of Shabbos Mussaf begins with a rare acrostic — the Alef-Beis, but in reverse order: starting with ת and ending with א: תִּכַּנְתָּ שַׁבָּת רָצִיתָ [...]
- Micha Berger
Shabbos Morning Last time we looked at the opening of Friday night’s Amidah, today, the next Shacharis. (We will deal with the common portion of the middle berakhah for Shabbos [...]
- Micha Berger
Or: Starting Shabbos Now that I covered “the thoughts I have while davening Shemoneh Esrei the times I think while davening”, let’s move on to the Amidah for Shabbos. The [...]
- Micha Berger
The Torah only uses the phrase “לֹא־טוֹב / it is not good” twice:Once when Hashem created Adam before Chavah — “לֹא־ט֛וֹב הֱי֥וֹת הָֽאָדָ֖ם לְבַדּ֑וֹ / It is not good for [...]
- Micha Berger
:רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר הַקַּפָּר אוֹמֵר: הַקִּנְאָה וְהַתַּאֲוָה וְהַכָּבוֹד מוֹצִיאִין אֶת הָאָדָם מִן הָעוֹלָם Rabbi Elazar haKappar said: envy, desire and [the pursuit of] honor take a person out of the world. [...]
- Micha Berger
Moving on from Shemoneh Esrei proper to Elokai Netzor, the first question is: If it’s not really part of Shemoneh Esrei, just what is Elokai Netzor? I think the prayer [...]
- Micha Berger
In Nusach Ashkenaz, there are two versions of the last berakhah of the Amidah — in the mornings we say “Sim Shalom” and Minchah and Maariv we say “Shalom Rav.”* [...]
- Micha Berger
Or: Modim, part IV Modim ends, “בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה’ הַטּוֹב שִׁמְךָ וּלְךָ נָאֶה לְהוֹדוֹת – … Your name is ‘The Good’, and it is pleasant to praise You.” Yes, I [...]
- Micha Berger
Or: Modim, part III In the last installment, I noted how in Modim we thank Hashem “al …”, for, four things. And how this is an example of something we [...]
- Micha Berger
Or: Modim, part II In part I, we looked specifically at the word “Modim“, and how R Hutner shows it means here both “thanks” and “admission”. That the berakhah isn’t [...]
- Micha Berger
The next berakhah of Shemoneh Esrei, the center of the closing berakhos about gratitude is Modim. In this post we will look at the meaning of the opening word, “Modim“, [...]
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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 [...]
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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 [...]