Keeping values and meaning in focus.
President Ford a”h‘s passing brought something into sharp focus for me. Here is how the OU remembers Mr. Gerald R. Ford: The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish...
My son (4th grade) had a class Chanukah party, for which he was aked to prepare a devar Torah. A short vertl, a question and answer to fit in less than a minute. My...
This entry is a continuation of the previous one. I – Shilu’ach haQein ×”×ומר על קן צפור יגיעו רחמיך ועל טוב יזכר שמך ×ž×•×“×™× ×ž×•×“×™× ×ž×©×ª×§×™×Ÿ ×ותו: One who prays, “Upon the birds nest...
I – Ru’ach Memalela Here’s the creation of man, as described in the Torah. וַיִּיצֶר ×™Ö°-הוָה ×Ö±-×œÖ¹×”Ö´×™× ×ֶת-×”Ö¸×ָדָ×, עָפָר מִן-×”Ö¸×ֲדָמָה, וַיִּפַּח בְּ×ַפָּיו, × Ö´×©×ְמַת ×—Ö·×™Ö¼Ö´×™×; וַיְהִי ×”Ö¸×ָדָ×, ×œÖ°× Ö¶×¤Ö¶×©× ×—Ö·×™Ö¼Ö¸×”. Hashem G-d formed man, dust of...
This week’s shiur rounds out our discussion of Shema with the third paragraph. In the first paragraph we accept Hashem as King, and that evolves to the theme of Vehayah im Shomo’ah, accepting the...
1. Buying Ma’aras haMachpeilah It is interesting to note that Judaism’s holiest sites were not conquered but bought. Parashas Chayei Sarah opens with Avraham purchasing the Ma’aras haMakhpeilah and the fields around it. Later,...
There are two places in halakhah where the criterion for whether something is significantly changed is whether there was a shinui sheim, a change in name. The first is in the laws of Shabbos,...
Updated by user suggestion. Element added: tzimtzum. We can’t really understand how the Ribbono shel olam does anything, and so in contemplating the concept of creation we have to fall back on simplifications, models...
We entered Shema last week by following the detailed look at the text started with Birchas Ahavah, Kel Melekh Ne’eman and the rich first sentence of Shema. This week we looked at the second...
Given the thought of my previous post we need to subdivide reality into three categories: that which no person could have observed, that which someone could have observed, but didn’t, and that which someone...
It’s interesting to note that in Jewish terminology, existence is phrased in terms of the thing-as-experienced, not the thing-in-itself, as it would be objectively known if it were possible. For example, the Rambam opens...
In this week’s shiur we concluded Birkhas Ahavah and started Shema with the origin of “Kel Melekh Ne’eman” and some thoughts on its first sentence. Some of the topics discussed: Veha’eir eineinu beSorasekha —...
The Gemara (Pesachim 88a) discusses the future return to the Beis Hamikdash in terms of a quote from this week’s parashah. And R. Elazar said: What is it when it says (Yeshaiah 2) “And...
Rabbi Ephraim Becker wrote in a reply to a comment on one of his posts: The Yetzer hijacks our urgency (we get more excited about playing with the latest PDA than about getting up...
The Tefillah: Beyond the Words shiur resumed this week, picking up where we left off, with birkhas Ahavah.Some of the topics discussed: Two dimensions for discussing a middah: “Ahavah Rabba” and “Ahavas Olam” How...
Anu ma’amirekha ve’Atah ma’amireinu. Artscroll renders this line from the machzor as referring to we as Hashem’s designated, and Him as our designator.I would like to suggest a different translation. The mishnah says that...
Modified: Transcription of text in Hebrew added. – 30-Sep-2006.(Hat tip to the One Family Fund. May they be put out of business soon!) Benaya Rein Hy”d fell toward the end of the war on...
I was recently discussing the ideas in my essay “Coronating G-d“. In it I utilized the Vilna Gaon’s distinction between a melekh (king) and a mosheil. A melekh rules with the support of his...
I highly recommend the essay “Frum or Erlich” by Dr. Yitzchok Levine. Teaser: The American Orthodox Jewish community of today is drastically different from the community that existed in America 75 years ago. Orthodox...
(Hat tip to my daughter Shifra, who made this point the centerpiece of her speech at her bas mitzvah celebration.)Halachically, a shofar must be a simple instrument. If it has a crack or anything...
בעון × ×‘×œ×•×ª פה צרות רבות וגזירות קשות מתחדשות ובחורי ×©×•× ××™ ישר×ל ×ž×ª×™× ×™×ª×•×ž×™× ×•××œ×ž× ×•×ª צועקין ו××™× ×Ÿ × ×¢× ×™×Ÿ ×©× ×’ (ישעיהו ט) על כן על בחוריו ×œ× ×™×©×ž×— ×”’ For the sin of vulgar speech many...
Say you were a chip designer, and you wanted to know why this particular trace (wire) on some particular microprocessor chip went from 0 volts to 3 volts….The answer could be given at various...
See the previous discussions of Yotzeir Or here (part I) and here (part II). This week we concluded our discussion of the berakhah of Yotzeir Or, as well as the shiur’s run until after...
י״ט באלול תשפ״א – Fri, Aug 27, 2021
כ״ו באב תשפ״א – Tue, Aug 3, 2021
י׳ באב תשפ״א – Sun, Jul 18, 2021
The Source that a Reshus haRabbim Requires 600,000 People
י״ב בתמוז תשפ״א – Mon, Jun 21, 2021
The King’s Highway, A Metaphor
י״א בתמוז תשפ״א – Sun, Jun 20, 2021
Emunah Peshutah vs Machashavah
י״ז בכסלו תשס״ה – Tue, Nov 30, 2004
Balancing Simplicity and Authenticity
כ׳ בתמוז תש״ע – Thu, Jul 1, 2010
י׳ באדר א׳ תשע״ד – Sun, Feb 9, 2014
י״א בטבת תשס״ה – Wed, Dec 22, 2004
When Science and Torah Conflict
ט״ו בטבת תשע״א – Tue, Dec 21, 2010
