Teshuvah / Torah as Growth / Uncategorized
by micha · Published ז׳ במרחשון תש״פ – Tue, Nov 5, 2019 · Last modified Thu, Oct 31, 2019
Someone lamented on Mi Yodeya: I wasted my youth. I am 35 years old. I had a toxic relationship with my parents, especially my mother. My career never started, and I am still looking for a fresh start and finding it humiliating at my age. What does the Torah says about wasting your youth? Is redemption possible? My answer: In...
A famous rabbi explains the intent behind establishing the book of Yonah as the haftarah for Minchah on Yom Kippur as follows: וכוונתם, כי האדם חושב כמה פעמים לייאש את עצמו שאין יכול לתקן בשום אופן ועל כן יתנהג תמיד באופן א’, ואם יגזור עליו הקב”ה למות ימות. אבל טעות הוא, שסוף דבר יהיה, כל מה שהקב”ה רוצה מנפשו שיתקן...
by micha · Published ט׳ בתשרי תשע״ט – Tue, Sep 18, 2018 · Last modified Tue, Sep 18, 2018
התכלת אינה מעכבת את הלבן והלבן אינו מעכב את התכלת תפילה של יד אינה מעכבת של ראש ושל ראש אינה מעכבת של יד הסולת והשמן אינן מעכבין את היין ולא היין מעכבן המתנות של מזבח החיצון אינן מעכבות זו את זו. [The absence of] the tekheiles [strings of a tzitzis] does not hold up [the validity of] the white [string],...
user4762 asked the above question on Mi Yodeya, and I liked how my answer turned out so I’m sharing it here. Question: If I’m unconscious about it should I still apologise? Someone else points out to me that I have hurt another person by something I’ve done or said, but any of the following apply, then how should I deal...
by micha · Published ז׳ בתשרי תשע״ז – Sat, Oct 8, 2016 · Last modified Sat, Oct 8, 2016
The primary metaphor of the High Holidays is the King, sitting in judgment. Hashem rules, the world will run according to His Will regardless. On Rosh haShanah we coronate Hashem as King, so that He need not impose that Will as Dictator. However, I thought of another metaphor that holds some appeal to someone living in a 21st century democracy....
Qedushah / Taavah / Taharah / Teshuvah / Torah as Growth
by micha · Published י״ט בתמוז תשע״ו – Sun, Jul 24, 2016 · Last modified Sun, Jul 24, 2016
I was asked the following question, and I was happy with how the reply came out. I just received permission to post the exchange, minus identifying information. Question: I learn in yeshiva kollel in Yerushalayim, and I was bothered by something that I don’t find anyone speaks about or I can ask to help. Every Rosh haShana we want to...
by micha · Published ד׳ בתשרי תשע״ו – Wed, Sep 16, 2015 · Last modified Mon, Feb 1, 2016
There is a new version of my reader for Aseres Yemei Tehuvah, suitable for putting that wandering mind to work while in shul. Contents: Spiritual Planning………………………………1 9/11 and How to Effect Permanent Change…………..3 Teshuvah and Submission…………………………7 The Baal Teshuvah and the Tzadiq…………………9 A Good and Sweet New Year………………………11 Crowning Hashem My King………………………..13 Epilogue: Pragmatics……………………….16 Memories of His Dear Child Ephraim………………18...
by micha · Published כ׳ בכסלו תשע״ה – Thu, Dec 11, 2014 · Last modified Thu, Dec 11, 2014
I commented on Gratitude: What does “todah” mean? As it stands, it means “thanks”. The same root conjugated as “vidui” means to “confess”. Last, when the mishnah wants to stress that something is outside of a dispute, “hakol modim” — “all agree”. What do thanks, confession and agreement have in common? When I thank someone, I acknowledge his actions had...
by micha · Published ד׳ בתשרי תשע״ה – Sun, Sep 28, 2014 · Last modified Sun, Sep 28, 2014
אמר רבי יהודה משום רבי עקיבא … אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא: … ואמרו לפני בראש השנה מלכיות זכרונות ושופרות. מלכיות: כדי שתמליכוני עליכם. זכרונות: כדי שיעלה זכרוניכם לפני לטובה. ובמה? בשופר. Rabbi Yehudah said an idea from Rabbi Aqiva …: The Holy One, blessed be He said, “… say before Me on Rosh haShanah, Malkhios, Zikhoronosand Shoferos. “Malkhios: so that...
Bitachon / Holidays / Teshuvah
by micha · Published כ״ד באלול תשע״ד – Thu, Sep 18, 2014 · Last modified Sat, Sep 27, 2014
תִּקְעוּ בַחֹדֶשׁ שׁוֹפָר, בַּכֵּסֶה לְיוֹם חַגֵּנוּ. כִּי חֹק לְיִשְׂרָאֵל הוּא, מִשְׁפָּט לֵאלֹקֵי יַעֲקֹב. Blow the shofar at the new moon, at the fullness for our holiday. For it is a choq [a trans-rational statute] for Yisrael, a mishpat [just law] of the G-d of Yaaqov. – Tehillim 81:4-5 The Malbim (ad loc) writes (tr. Rabbi Mordechai Torczyner): We do not...
by micha · Published ט׳ בתשרי תשע״ד – Fri, Sep 13, 2013 · Last modified Fri, Sep 13, 2013
(Updated after Rosh haShanah 5774 with idea from the Tanchuma.) The Ramban, in his Derashah leRosh haShanah, writes that a shofar is a keli, a formal utensil in the halachic sense. For this reason, while most rishonim hold that a hole in a shofar invalidates the shofar only if the hole is such that it changes the produced sound, the...
We open the Shemoneh Esrei by referring to Hashem as “Hashem Elokeinu vEilokei avoseinu — Hashem, our G-d, and the G-d of our ancestors….” Three distinct ways of perceiving G-d are being given here: The tetragrammaton refers to the G-d Who “Will be – Is – Was” (taking the letters as a contraction), who is “the cause of existence” (taking...
by micha · Published ט׳ בתשרי תשע״ג – Mon, Sep 24, 2012 · Last modified Mon, Sep 24, 2012
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...
by micha · Published כ״ז באלול תשע״ב – Thu, Sep 13, 2012 · Last modified Fri, Sep 28, 2012
“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.
by micha · Published ג׳ באלול תשע״ב – Tue, Aug 21, 2012 · Last modified Mon, Aug 20, 2012
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...
I had the severely painful experience this past Sunday of attending the levayah for a six year old boy r”l. Reuven Dovida”h went for a walk with his father R’ Yehuda Herbst and R’ Dovid Reichenberga”h shortly after Hurricane Irene. He touched a fence that was electrified by a downed power line, burning himself and his father. R’ Dovid Reichenberg...
by micha · Published י״ז בתמוז תשע״א – Tue, Jul 19, 2011 · Last modified Sun, Aug 14, 2011
אמר רבא ואיתימא רב חסדא: אם רואה אדם שיסורין באין עליו, יפשפש במעשיו. שנא’ (איכה ג): נַחְפְּשָׂה דְרָכֵינוּ וְנַחְקֹרָה, וְנָשׁוּבָה עַד ה’. פשפש ולא מצא, יתלה בבטול תורה. שנאמר (תהילים צד): אשְׁרֵי הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר תְּיַסְּרֶנּוּ יָּ-הּ, וּמִתּוֹרָתְךָ תְלַמְּדֶנּוּ. ואם תלה ולא מצא, בידוע שיסורין של אהבה הם. שנאמר (משלי ג): כִּי אֶת אֲשֶׁר יֶאֱהַב ה’ יוֹכִיחַ[, וּכְאָב אֶת בֵּן יִרְצֶה]....
by micha · Published ז׳ בתשרי תשע״א – Tue, Sep 14, 2010 · Last modified Tue, Sep 14, 2010
Caveat: Most of these entries are extrapolations from something I learned. In this case, the entry is a chidush on top of an earlier chidush. In Mesilas Yesharim ch. 24, the Ramchal describes the various types of yir’ah (awe / fear). This is the topic of an earlier entry. To quote: 1- Yir’as ha’onesh: fear of punishment. This is the...
by micha · Published ה׳ בתשרי תש״ע – Tue, Sep 22, 2009 · Last modified Tue, Sep 22, 2009
(My first attempt at this post was seriously flawed, both typographically and in flow. This is a significant reworking. If you have ideas for further improvement, they’re eagerly invited.) I Why is it that we established the custom to read the Torah once annually from Shemini Atzeres to Shemini Atzeres, thereby turning the second day of Shemini Atzeres (the only...
by micha · Published כ״ט באלול תשס״ט – Thu, Sep 17, 2009 · Last modified Thu, Sep 17, 2009
Many thanks to Jon Baker for recording my talk before selichos at the Yavneh Minyan last motza’ei Shabbos. The material: An audio recording is here. And here is the handout. The first two pages were the topic of the opening of the talk, about the Rambam’s two kinds of vidui. The second sheet contains quotes from Mesilas Yesharim discussing the...
(Significantly expanded in response to writing on the subject for Yashar, the magazine of The Mussar Institute. -micha) I The most powerful High Holidays experience of my life was eight years ago. A week before I went to an office from which one could still see the World Trace Center. By that Rosh haShanah I hadn’t yet returned to work...
Eschatology / Holidays / Teshuvah
by micha · Published ב׳ באייר תשס״ח – Tue, May 6, 2008 · Last modified Tue, May 6, 2008
(Significantly expanded May 6th.) When someone hears bad news, such as a death, the gemara (Pesachim 50a) tells them to say the berakhah of “Dayan haEmes“. This phrase is often translated “the True Judge” as though it were a noun-adjective pair. But that would have a hei hayedi’ah (a leading “ha-” prefix meaning “the”) on both words. If “emes” were...
In Tomer Devorah, Rav Moshe Cordevero explains the 13 attributes of Divine Mercy, in particular showing them as exemplars for us to follow — “just as I Am Merciful, so too you be merciful.” Rather than following the original revelation of these attributes in seifer Shemos, he uses the version in seifer Mikhah (7:18-20) which we say during tashlikh, and...
by micha · Published י״א בתשרי תשס״ז – Mon, Oct 2, 2006 · Last modified Thu, Apr 17, 2008
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 Hashem created the world with “eser ma’maros — ten utterances”. Ma’amar means utterances, and in particular, Chazal associate it with the ten statements through which Hashem...