Until adultery became too commonplace (in the days of Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai, shortly after the destruction of the Beis haMiqdash) a wife whose husband suspected her of having an affair could forbid her from secluding herself with that man. If they are caught in seclusion, she is brought to the Beis haMidqash where a kohein would write the relevent...
צריך שיהיו תפילין עליו בשעת ק”ש ותפלה. A man must have tefillin on at the time of reading Shema and prayer [Shemoneh Esrei]. – Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 25:4 בשעת ק”ש ותפלה: ר”ל לכל הפחות בשעת ק”ש ותפלה וכדלקמן בסימן ל”×– ס”ב ו××ž×¨×™× ×Ÿ ×‘×’×ž×¨× ×›×œ ×”×§×•×¨× ×§”ש בלי תפלין הרי ×”×•× ×›×לו מעיד עדות שקר בעצמו ×—”ו ופירשו בתוספות לפי...
(This post is a different treatment of the same themes as “Mas’ei — the Journey as a Name of G-d“.) וַיֵּשֶ×ב יַעֲקֹב בְּ×ֶרֶץ מְגוּרֵי ×ָבִיו בְּ×ֶרֶץ ×›Ö°Ö¼× Ö¸×¢Ö·×Ÿ. And Yaaqov settled in the land of his fathers’ dwelling, in the land of Canaan. - Bereishis 37:1 (×יוב ט) “×× ×©×•×˜ ימית פת×וׅ” ×× ×˜×•× ×™× ×•×¡ ש×ל ×ת ×¨×‘×™× ×•, ×מר לו: מהו דכתיב: ×× ×©×•×˜...
The story so far… Words are how we divide the space of ideas into more specific “countries”. Our choice of vocabulary therefore not only reflects our thoughts, but shape them. And more importantly, they change what parts of our experience we notice, remember, and reinforce in our memories. We can’t really work on our yir’as Shamayim if we continue dividing...
What is the role of the laws of business listed in Choshein Mishpat (the quarter of the Tur and Shulchan Aruch on financial matters)? One approach could be that working for income is a necessary evil. It’s Hashem’s punishment to Adam for eating the forbidden fruit — “with the sweat of the brow shall you eat bread” (Bereishis 3:19). However,...
The time it took me to write my previous post grew long, so I cut it down to being set-up material for this one just to get it out the door. Here was the summary with which I left things: 1- Words are how we divide the space of ideas into more specific “countries”. Our choice of vocabulary therefore not...
In a relatively recent post (“Confrontation and Babel“) I invoked a quote from R’ J.B. Soloveitchik’s Confrontation to highlight the linkage between language and worldview, and thus between language and religion. Rabbi Soloveitchik writes: The great encounter between God and man is a wholly personal private affair incomprehensible to the outsider – even to a brother of the same faith...
There is a 3 way dispute on Yuma 28b about whether the avos kept all of halakhah, or just those mitzvos already given: Rav: The avos kept the entire Torah R’ Ashi: … even the rabbinic enactments! R Shimi bar Chiya: Avraham only kept the 7 mitzvos benei Noach and beris Milah. (If we’re talking all three avos, presumably the...
In my previous post I discussed the basic problems with effective interfaith dialog. All of which may be unimportant if Judaism is a prosletizing religion. Not in the sense that anyone would suggest that Jews are obligated to convert all people to Judaism. But if there is an obligation to bring all humans to conform to the 7 mitzvos benei Noach then perhaps...
וַיְהִי כָל-×”Ö¸×ָרֶץ שָׂפָה ×ֶחָת, ×•Ö¼×“Ö°×‘Ö¸×¨Ö´×™× ×ֲחָדִי×. And the whole earth was of one speech and of one set of ideas. – Bereishis 11:1 I blogged in the past about the difference between thinking in Biblical Hebrew tenses and in the tenses one finds in most contemporary languages and how the Holy Language does not distinguish between “he is a builder”...
I discussed the following medrashim in more detail in Mesukim MiDevash for parashas Pinechas and in earlier blog posts “The Origins of Imperfection” and “Simchas Beis haSho’eivah“. In this post, I want to look at how each step in the progression I outlined before is addressed by the mitzvos of Sukkos. Enlarging the theme of what I said about Simchas...
We don’t feel a need to observe Mother’s Day, because the mitzvah of kibud av va’eim means that every day is Mother’s Day. – Rabbi Shpitzer, my 5th grade rebbe This sentiment is far from uniquely Rabbi Shpitzer’s — but he was my first rebbe from the chareidi world, and so the first person to give me this explanation. Twenty five...
ת”ר: שתי ×©× ×™× ×•×ž×—×¦×” × ×—×œ×§×• ב”ש וב”×”. הללו ×ומרי×, “× ×•×— לו ל××“× ×©×œ× × ×‘×¨×, יותר ×ž×©× ×‘×¨×.” והללו ×ומרי×, “× ×•×— לו ל××“× ×©× ×‘×¨×, יותר ×ž×©×œ× × ×‘×¨×.” × ×ž× ×• וגמרו, “× ×•×— לו ל××“× ×©×œ× × ×‘×¨×, יותר ×ž×©× ×‘×¨×.” עכשיו ×©× ×‘×¨×, יפשפש במעשיו. ו×מרי לה: ימשמש במעשיו. Our Rabbis repeated: For two and a half years, Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel were divided. These were...
“Aspaqlaria: Aseres Yemei Teshuvah” (49 pages) is a collection of essays adapted from those that appeared here on the subjects of teshuvah, shofar, vidui, and the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah. It is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format, ready for printing.
I was at a Mussar conference once, and Rabbi Dr. Meir Levin asked me about the programming. He asked, roughly, “When did Mussar shift from being about giving to others to being about working on my own middos?” In general, this kind of self-focus is an error that is all too easy in many spiritual paths. Rabbi Shem Tov ibn...
At one point in my career I was working at a bank that took on a large initiative to formalize its processes. Everything done within the bank had to follow procedures, with the requisite paperwork completed, and every procedure had to conform to a standard called “Six Sigma“. Part of Six Sigma is an idea called Hoshin Kanri, or in...
A thought that I had amidst all the talk about the start of Daf Yomi Cycle #13… But first: Mazal Tov to all the mesaymim! There has been much talk lately about one of AishDas’s central themes: seeing the forest for the trees. Eg the Spring 2012 issue of Klal Perspectives, and R’ Dr Gidon Rothstein’s recently published seifer, “We’re...
Here’s a theory that I developed recently [when this was posted in its first, much shorter, version on 26-Nov-04]… The gemara uses the term “da’as Torah” in a sense totally different than today’s usage. It appears once, in Chullin 90b, to ask whether a cited opinion on a halachic matter was from sources, which it calls “da’as Torah“, or whether...
Why do bad things happen? ×מר ×ביי ×œ× ×—×¨×‘×” ×™×¨×•×©×œ×™× ××œ× ×‘×©×‘×™×œ שחללו בה ×ת השבת… ×מר ר’ ×בהו ×œ× ×—×¨×‘×” ×™×¨×•×©×œ×™× ××œ× ×‘×©×‘×™×œ שביטלו ק”ש שחרית וערבית… ×מר רב ×”×ž× ×•× × ×œ× ×—×¨×‘×” ×™×¨×•×©×œ×™× ××œ× ×‘×©×‘×™×œ שביטלו בה ×ª×™× ×•×§×•×ª של בית רבן… ×מר ×¢×•×œ× ×œ× ×—×¨×‘×” ×™×¨×•×©×œ×™× ××œ× ×ž×¤× ×™ ×©×œ× ×”×™×” ×œ×”× ×‘×•×©×ª ×¤× ×™× ×–×” מזה… ×מר ר’ יצחק ל×...
×œ× ×—×¨×‘×” ירושלי×, ××œ× ×‘×©×‘×™×œ ×©×œ× ×”×•×›×™×— ×–×” ×ת ×–×”. Yerushalayim was only destroyed because they didn’t give tokhachah to [usually translated: rebuke] one another. – Shabbos 119b Not the sin we usually associate with the destruction of the Beis HaMiqdash. More often quoted is: מקדש ר×שון ×ž×¤× ×™ מה חרב ×ž×¤× ×™ ×’’ ×“×‘×¨×™× ×©×”×™×• בו ×¢”×– וגלוי עריות ושפיכות דמיׅ...
Not long ago, CERN announced that the Large Hadron Collider produced evidence of the Higgs Boson, a fundamental particle Peter Higgs predicted in 1964, and was a major missing piece from the Standard Model. In order to explain mass, and thus why certain particles differ in mass, which in turn influences things like why the Weak Force (carried by particles...
You might have noticed on the AishDas home page the motto “Da’as, Rachamim, Tif’eres” and wondered what it meant. It was something lifted from Dr Nathan Birnbaum’s organization “HaOlim”. (Note to the skimmer: Please do me the favor of at least skipping down to the conclusion of this post. You’ll get the final explanation, without the sources.) I recently found...
There Chinuch famously states in his introduction that there are six mitzvos that because they refer to a state of mind, can be performed constantly or perpetually. (At least, while awake; I won’t speak to whether you fulfill them while sleeping.) … והחיוב של ×לו לעשותן ××™× ×• בכל עת רק ×‘×–×ž× ×™× ×™×“×•×¢×™× ×ž×Ÿ ×”×©× ×” ×ו מן היו×. חוץ מששה מצוות...
We often speak of gedolim who pursue the learning and teaching of Torah as both their vocation and avocation — rashei yeshiva and other great rabbanim. Today (10 Sivan 5772) is the 108th yahrzeit of a role model that may be easier for those of us who have full-time jobs outside of religious work to take life lessons from. Reb...
