Today, the 9th of Nissan, is R’ Aryeh Levin’s 41st yahrzeit. A man who was called “The Tzadiq of Yerushalayim” at a time when Yerushalayim held such greats as Rav Kook, R’ Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, R’ Zundel Salant, Rav Zvi Pesach Frank… “The Father of the Prisoners”. Every Shabbos and Yom Tov, from 1927 until frailty overtook him nearly 40...
I recently reworked and expanded an older piece on the structure of the Seder as a whole, and why it comes in fifteen steps grouped by the cups of wine into four. This section is also a rewrite, reflecting parallel changes to Maggid in particular. Within our framework, Maggid is the substance of the second cup of the seder. It...
Chassidim have a tendency of finding lessons in Jewish practices on the basis that “if they are not prophets, they are the ‘children of prophets’”. (“Children of prophets” is an idiom in Tanakh for those studying for prophecy.) Along those lines… I don’t know about the rest of you, but I lack the patience to sing the entire Dayeinu, all...
I found the following on a web site called “Two Tzaddiks: The Teachings of Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz and His Disciple, Rebbe Raphael of Bershad”: “In his teachings, R. Pinchas preached universal love, even love of the most sinful people in humanity, because only such love can hasten the coming of the Redeemer”. (Ideas and Ideals of the Hassidim, by...
ב: פָּרַק וְטָעַן וְחָזַר וְנָפַל, חַיָב לִפְרֹק וְלִטְעֹן פַּעַם אַחֶרֶת, וַאֲפִלּוּ מֵאָה פְעָמִים, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר, עָזֹב תַּעֲזֹב, הָקֵם תָּקִים עִמּוֹ. לְפִיכָךְ צָרִיךְ לֵילֵךְ עִמּוֹ עַד פַּרְסָה, שֶׁמָּא יִצְטָרֵךְ לוֹ, אֶלָּא אִם כֵּן אוֹמֵר לוֹ בַּעַל הַמַּשָּׂא, אֵינִי צָרִיךְ לָךְ If he unburdened and loaded [the animal] and it fell again, he is obligated to unburden and load it another time, even...
The Keneset will be holding a special commemoration today for the 13 “olei hagardom”, those who went up to the noose, hanged during the British occupation: Eliyahu Hakim, Eliyahu Beit-Zuri, Mordechai Alkachai, Yechiel Drezner, Eliezer Kashani, Meir Feinstein, Moshe Barazani, Yaakov Weis, Avshalom Haviv, Meir Nakar and Mordechai Schwartz. All but the last, members of Etzel (Irgun Tzeva’i Le’umi —...
ה: כְּשֶׁבָּא לְהַחֲזִיר אֶת הַפִּקָּדוֹן, לֹא יַחֲזִירֶנּוּ לְאֶחָד מִּבְּנֵי בֵיתוֹ ֹשֶל הַמַּפְקִיד שֶׁלֹּא מִדַּעְתּוֹ. וְכֵן כְּשֶׁבָּא לְהַחֲזִיר לוֹ אֵיזֶה חֵפֶץ שֶׁהִשְׁאִיל לוֹ אוֹ לִפְרֹעַ חוֹבוֹ. אֲבָל יָכוֹל לְהַחֲזִיר לְאִשְׁתּוֹ, כִּי מִן הַסְּתָם הִיא נוֹשֵׂאת וְנוֹתֶנֶת בְּתוֹךְ הַבַּיִת, וְהַבַּעַל מַפְקִיד כָּל אֲשֶׁר לוֹ בְּיָדָהּ When he comes to return the desposit, he should give it to someone of the depositor’s household...
ג: חַיָב לִשְׁמֹר אֶת הַפִּקָּדוֹן בְּאֹפֶן הַיוֹתֵר טוֹב כְּפִי הַדֶּרֶךְ לִשְׁמֹר חֲפָצִים כָּאֵלּוּ. וַאֲפִלּוּ אִם הוּא אֵינוֹ מְדַקְדֵק כָּל כָּךְ בִּשְׁמִירַת חֲפָצִים שֶׁלּוֹ בַּפִּקָּדוֹן, חַיָב לְדַקְדֵּק יוֹתֵר One is obligated to guard the deposit in a manner that is better than he would guard his own property. And even if he isn’t all that careful with the guarding of his...
One of the more amazing pieces of history of the Mussar Movement was that Rav Yisrael Salanter, despite his own antipathy for Haskalah (Enlightened Judaism), promoted a seifer written by a maskil, Rabbi Mendel (Leffin) Satanover. Admittedly, Reb Mendel Satanover was from the early Haskalah and was himself a fully observant Orthodox Jew. However, if you think of how Orthdox...
ג: כָּל הַמּוֹצֵא אֲבֵדָה, בֵּין שֶׁיֵשׁ בָּהּ סִימָן בֵּין שֶׁאֵין בָּהּ סִימָן, אִם מְצָאָהּ דֶּרֶךְ הַנָּחָה, כְּגוֹן טַלִּית וְקַרְדֹּם בְּצַד הַגָּדֵר, וַאֲפִלּוּ יֵשׁ לְהִסְתַּפֵּק אִם הִנִּיחָם שָׁם בְּכַוָּנָה אוֹ אִבְּדָם ֹשָם, אָסוּר לִגַּע בָּהֶם Anyone who finds a lost item,whether it has an [identifying] sign or whether it has no sign, if he found it in a manner in which...