Keeping values and meaning in focus.
Let’s just look at Ben Zoma (Avos 4:1): ×ֵיזֶהוּ עָש×ִיר? הַשָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ. Who is wealthy? Someone who is sameiach, happy, with their lot.  Ben Zoma isn’t arguing for complacency. Look at his prooftext: ש×Ö¶× Ö¼Ö¶×ֱמַר:...
Rashi writes on Bamidbar 30:2: “Zeh haDavar — This is the Idea“: Moshe gave nevu’ah with “Koh amar Hashem — Like this said Hashem, ‘Like in the middle of the night’” (Shemos 11, about...
There is a new, slightly enlarged, version of my reader for Aseres Yemei Tehuvah for 5781, suitable for putting that wandering mind to work while in shul. Contents: Spiritual Planning………………………………………………………… 1 9/11 and How...
I think many discussions of the gemara about rice not producing chameitz head in the wrong direction. The definition of chameitz isn’t entirely scientific. After all, if you mix wheat flour with 100% apple...
×מר רבי יהודה ×ž×©×•× ×¨×‘×™ ×¢×§×™×‘× … ×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...
This blog post is with gratitude to Rabbi Pesach Sommer, for asking: Anyone aware of any interesting conceptual, philosophical, theological, or derush ideas connected to koreich, and the idea of eating Pesach, matzah and...
×“Ö·Ö¼×‘Ö¶Ö¼×¨Ö¾× Ö¸Ö–× ×‘Ö°Ö¼××‡×–Ö°× ÖµÖ£×™ ×”Ö¸×¢Ö¸Ö‘× ×•Ö°×™Ö´×©Ö°××ֲל֞וּ ×ִ֣יש× ׀ מֵ×ֵ֣ת רֵעֵ֗הוּ וְ×ִשָּ××”Ö™ מֵ×ֵ֣ת רְעוּתָ֔הּ כְּלֵי־כֶ֖סֶף וּכְלֵ֥י זָהָֽב׃ Please tell the people to borrow, each man from his friend and each woman from her friend, silver utensils and gold utensils....
קִיְּמ֣וּ וְקִבְּל֣[וּ] הַיְּהוּדִי×Ö© the Jews fulfilled and accepted says the Megillah (Est 9:27), which is darshened “they fulfilled that which they accepted already.†(Shavuos 39a) Purim not only introduces the redemption season, it represents...
Here are three thoughts related to the siman, the mnemonic practice, of eating an apple dipped in honey. (Aside from the ear-worm you or your kid learned in preschool that starts with the words...
I was asked the following question, and the author thought enough people want to know the answer that it pays to share it here: Q: “Siman“, as on Rosh Hashanah night, is translated as...
כָּל מִי שֶ××œÖ¹Ö¼× ×¨Ö¸×ָה שִׂמְחַת בֵּית הַשּ×וֹ×ֵבָה – ×œÖ¹× ×¨Ö¸×ָה שִׂמְחָה מִיָּמָיו! Whomever didn’t see Simchas Beis haShoeivah did not see simchah in all his days! –Mishnah Sukkah 5:1 The talmud on this mishnah...
The story of Qamtza and Bar Qamtza is very well known. It is introduced by Rabbi Yochanan, who asks, “’What is the meaning of the verse in Mishlei which reads, ‘Fortunate is the one...
Rav Shelomo al-Qabetz actually addresses much of Lekha Dodi to Jerusalem: “×žÖ´×§Ö°×“Ö·Ö¼×©× ×žÖ¶×œÖ¶×šÖ° עִיר מְלוּכָה — Sanctuary of the King, the Royal City.” “×”Ö´×ªÖ°× Ö·×¢Ö²×¨Ö´×™ מֵעָפָר קוּמִי \ לִבְשִ××™ בִּגְדֵי תִפְ×ַרְתֵּךְ עַמִּי — Arise, get...
In his first comment, Rashi opens his study of Chumash by repeating a medrash that asks why the Torah start with creation rather than with the first commandment to the Jewish People: ×”Ö·×—Ö¹Ö§×“Ö¶×©× ×”Ö·×–Ö¼Ö¶Ö›×”...
Someone named Ray asked on Mi Yodea (in part), “What is the special fundamental significance of the number four that God’s primary Name has four letters”? I liked how my answer came out, so...
(Updated again for 2009, 2013 and now in 2016.) One line in Ma’oz Tzur I particularly love. The 5th verse of Ma’oz Tzur describes the Chanukah story. One phrase in this verse is “ufortzu...
Most young Yeshiva children come home sometime around Shavuos with the story of how Hashem offered the Torah to all the nations of the world, but only the Jews accepted it. The medrash, as...
Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto opens Mesilas Yesharim with this questionable claim: הקדמה – ×מר המחבר: החיבור ×”×–×” ×œ× ×—×‘×¨×ª×™×• ללמד ×œ×‘× ×™ ×”××“× ×ת ×שר ×œ× ×™×“×¢×•, ××œ× ×œ×”×–×›×™×¨× ×ת הידוע ×œ×”× ×›×‘×¨ ×•×ž×¤×•×¨×¡× ×צל×...
The gemara says that the preferred vegetable for maror is chasah — lettuce. The problem is that the lettuces sold today aren’t mar, bitter. One could try to find wild lettuce. The lettuce that was native to...
(Embellished with thoughts from my daughter Noa’s recent bas mitzvah speech. Yay, Noa!) If you think about it, charoses is quite strange. On the one hand, as we learn in preschool and the Rambam writes,...
The Mishnah (Pesachim 10:5, TB 115a-b), in a section quoted by the Hagadah, states: רבן גמלי×ל ×”×™×” ×ומר, כל ×©×œ× ×מר שלשה ×“×‘×¨×™× ×לו בפסח, ×œ× ×™×¦× ×™×“×™ חובתו. ו×לו הן: פסח, מצה, ומרור…. בכל דור...
There are four mitzvos one must fulfill on Purim: reading the megillah, matanos le’evyonim (gifts to poor people), mishloach manos (“shalachmonesâ€), and the Purim se’udah. The first, reading the megillah, relates directly to the...
No, the title of this post doesn’t refer to HQBH, although clearly it could. (Or can it: Can we define “heroism” with respect to One for Whom there are no risks to take?) Nor...
Here are two possibilities for the source of the minhag. The Yerushalmi makes the same statement that we have in the Bavli, that dough made from rice and water undergo a sirchon, not chameitz. Then it continues...
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The Source that a Reshus haRabbim Requires 600,000 People
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The King’s Highway, A Metaphor
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Emunah Peshutah vs Machashavah
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Balancing Simplicity and Authenticity
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י׳ באדר א׳ תשע״ד – Sun, Feb 9, 2014
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When Science and Torah Conflict
ט״ו בטבת תשע״א – Tue, Dec 21, 2010
