Keeping values and meaning in focus.
I commented on Gratitude: What does “todah†mean? As it stands, it means “thanksâ€. The same root conjugated as “vidui†means to “confessâ€. Last, when the mishnah wants to stress that something is outside...
A gett must be given willingly, and for the past 1,100 years (among Ashkenazim, eventually reaching Sepharadim as well) received willingly as well. However, when a husband is obligated to dissolve the marriage, beis...
וַיֶּעְתַּר יִצְחָק לַה ×œÖ°× Ö¹×›Ö·×— ×ִשְ×תּוֹ ×›Ö´Ö¼×™ עֲקָרָה ×”Ö´×•× ×•Ö·×™ÖµÖ¼×¢Ö¸×ªÖ¶×¨ לוֹ ×” וַתַּהַר רִבְקָה ×ִשְ×תּוֹ And Yitzchaq pleaded with Hashem opposite his wife, for she was sterile, and Hashem responded to his pleas, and Rivqa became...
Here are things my dream Growth Oriented Shul would provide that normal shuls today do not: Qiddush after leining, before mussaf, combined with a devar Torah or text learning. Our attention spans have shrunk....
Why is Sukkos called in our tefillos “zeman simchaseinu – the time of our joy“, or the Torah tell us at this holiday in particular “vehayisa akh sameich – you should only be happyâ€...
The following is the inaugural article (October 2014 issue) in a new column in Yashar: the Newsletter of The Mussar Institute. (Unlike Rabbi Yaakov Feldman, I wrote most of my piece before being told...
×מר רבי יהודה ×ž×©×•× ×¨×‘×™ ×¢×§×™×‘× â€¦ ×מר הקדוש ברוך הו×: … ו×מרו ×œ×¤× ×™ בר×ש ×”×©× ×” מלכיות ×–×›×¨×•× ×•×ª ושופרות. מלכיות: כדי ×©×ª×ž×œ×™×›×•× ×™ עליכ×. ×–×›×¨×•× ×•×ª: כדי שיעלה ×–×›×¨×•× ×™×›× ×œ×¤× ×™ לטובה. ובמה? בשופר. Rabbi Yehudah said...
תִּקְעוּ ×‘Ö·×—Ö¹×“Ö¶×©× ×©×וֹפָר, בַּכֵּסֶה ×œÖ°×™×•Ö¹× ×—Ö·×’Ö¼Öµ× ×•Ö¼. ×›Ö¼Ö´×™ חֹק לְיִשְׂרָ×ֵל הוּ×, מִש×ְפָּט לֵ×לֹקֵי יַעֲקֹב. Blow the shofar at the new moon, at the fullness for our holiday. For it is a choq [a trans-rational statute]...
An intensive exploration into living life more skillfully What if you could … find joy in everyday transitions? get beyond judging the good and bad of transitions? bring order to the chaos of change?...
As far as we can tell, Bar Qamtza comes off as something of a jerk. He is personally offended, so he actually joins with the enemy to take down his own people. A bit...
As long as we continue teaching our kids halakhah (הלכה) without investing the same effort to give them a derekh, a path, we are literally teaching them how to walk (×יך ללכת) but not...
Nefesh haChaim is a collection of Rav Chaim Volozhiner’s writings organized posthumously by his son and successor, R’ Yitzchak. We can see this in the self-description in the title page of the early editions...
Rav Yisrael Salanter wrote to Volozhin, the flagship yeshiva of the yeshiva movement. He offered the Netziv his services as a mashgiach ruchani. The Netziv said that he was welcome to come, but if...
Continuing on the prior post… A recurring topic on Avodah is the Mishnah Berurah’s use of the concept of ba’al nefesh yachmir, that while the halakhah itself allows for some leniency, “one who masters...
Somewhat off topic for this blog, but I hope it will help those following daf yomi who are getting to the topic of astronomy and cross-examining witnesses to determine Rosh Chodesh (Rosh haShanah, mostly...
The gemara (Eirukhin 10b-11a) describes the magreifah, one of the musical instruments in the Beis haMiqdash, which in Biblical Hebrew is either the minnim or the ugav. Shemuel describes it as a box about...
We are here between ourselves, so we may frankly make the confession that we did not invent the art of printing; we did not discover America, in spite of Kayserling; we did not inaugurate...
(This post comes with background music. If you listen to a capella singing during the omer, press play below now. “Ana Hashem”, sung by Nachum Stark, from “A Sefirah Kumzitz”.) There is a story...
AishDas’s motto is lifted from the motto of HaOlim, founded by Dr. Nathan Birnbaum which existed from the 1910s through the 1930s, ending with the decimation of European Jewry. “Da’as, Rachamim, Tif’eres” — Knowledge...
So, I was asked in the middle of the second seder: Why do we break the middle matzah for Yachatz? Is there some significance to it being the middle matzah? Here was my off-the-cuff answer,...
Pesach-time it’s common for people to start discussing how much matzah and wine one is obligated to eat, so why should I be any different? What are we trying to compute? The definition of...
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
