Intimate Knowledge of G‑d
Compassion Toward People
Splendor in Mind and Heart
Avodah
. R' Joel Rich asked: > ... when one sees the eventual reward and punishment for each > of their acts they will never sin. ... > > ... if [...]
. I was listening to a shiur from Rav Shmuel Fuerst of Chicago. You can get the shiur at https://torahanytime.com/lectures/307384 At approximately 42:51 in the audio version, or 42:43 in [...]
"Response to a piece on Kamtza /Bar Kamtza: The interesting question to me is whether there is self-awareness. If your analysis of R. Zechariah b. Avkulas is correct, was he [...]
Has anyone heard of the following being practiced or advocated in recent times? The RaMBaMs ruling that one must confess their interpersonal sins in public? Bein Adam LaMakom RaMBaM rules [...]
In Pirkei Avot chapter 2 mishna 9 the question is raised as to what is the most important characteristic that one can attach to. Rabbi Simon says that it?s the [...]
Response to a piece on Kamtza /Bar Kamtza: The interesting question to me is whether there is self-awareness. If your analysis of R. Zechariah b. Avkulas is correct, was he [...]
AhSY is learning Hil' Bekhoros, and a recurring issue is who owns a safeiq bekhor. See in particular YD 315:2, but the same idea is repeated in the contexts of [...]
I was under the impression that we so ignore a mi'ut that there is no sefeiq sefeiqa unless each safeiq is roughly balanced. This is easy to explain if we [...]
Blogs
- YGB - יג"ב
- Aspaqlaria
- Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
- | Modern Uberdox
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
https://www.aishdas.org/raek/2shehein1.pdfRAEK quotes Ahad Ha'Am. You can find the passage at https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH990011673710205171/NLIpp. 94-95 in the book's internal pagination. Here are pictures of those pages:Podcast format at:https://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TAzMJ3GYO0?si=wh4FLiluT5UG04mV] [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 10 Episode 2:Hashgacha Pratis GPS:Was that Errant Turn the Right One?The Besht and Chazon Ishhttps://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/86614For further insight, please see my article, Bitachon, Hishtadlus, Histapkusat https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=https://agudah.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/JO2007-V40-N03.pdf&hl=en_US Please click on this link to [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
This episode (and the next one IYH) are perhaps more relevant today than they were 100 years ago. The current war entails the issues of cruelty vs. mercy, humanitarianism vs. [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 10 Episode 1:זֶ֖רַע אַבְרָהָ֥ם אֹהֲבִֽיGimmel Elul, Shever and Zikaron:1. The Towering Achievement of Rav Avremel Ausband zt"l; 2. The Recognized Halachic Greatness of Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook zt"lhttps://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/86341Please click on this link [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Knock-Your-Socks-Off History of Churban Bayis II & the Bar Kokhba Rebellion part 6, ConcludedHow many Kohanim Gedolim were there and why?and When and why did the learning of Kodashim flourish?From [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPNLMEWkiBA?si=MeQO_JQUAd-cVJIx]RSZA zt"l on some Selichos IssuesA recording for the BHP daily Halachic Whatsapp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz8rrxqRcfy9rMOXRLG6GS [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Podcast format at https://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/86107https://www.aishdas.org/raek/2shehein1.pdf[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR4og2NWoVg?si=TuH-v-woTxM3QYGL] [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Zohar Al Pi Pshat Day 99. 12b: The Fourth Commandment:An Amazing Ralbag as Pshat in the ZoharThe Ralbag on והייתם כאלקים.I don't think the Ralbag ever learned Zohar, but it [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Knock-Your-Socks-Off History of Churban Bayis II & the Bar Kokhba Rebellion part 5, The Real Third MikdashThe evidence that there was a functioning third Beis HaMikdash at the time of [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
A new Facebook page for theDailyZohar al pi PshatRecordings is at:Daily Zohar Al Pi Pshat | FacebookAll past recordings are posted there, and IYH it will be updated daily. [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Knock-Your-Socks-Off History of Churban Bayis II and the Bar Kokhba Rebellion Part 4:Changes to the Rules of WarHow the rules of war changed over time from not allowing even defensive war [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
My number in Israel for the next two weeks is 055-331-0940. [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Tisha b'Av Proram and Kinnos at Cong. Anshei Palisades Tisha b'Av 5784/2024The sections in which I do not appear in front of the camera are the times at which we [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Leniencies on the 10th of Av for Someone Who is Travelling Before Midday and Other Extenuating Circumstances[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvdBoURIbIo?si=0pA66b4iGwxrpdVm]A recording for the BHP daily Halachic Whatsapp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz8rrxqRcfy9rMOXRLG6GS [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Knock-Your-Socks-Off History of Churban Bayis Sheni and the Bar Kokhba Rebellion Part 3, Churban and AftermathThe first two of the ten martyrs (Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel and Rabbi Yishmael Kohen [...]
- 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 [...]
- Micha Berger
Dear R Dr Broyde (Cc: Avodah), Over Shabbos, I read your article about getting ChatGPT to discuss whether a kohein in a same-sex marriage may go up to duchen. I [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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. [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]
- 68ae324f7fa7d37a4fc5ffd2006fc91b
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 [...]