by micha · Published כ׳ באדר א׳ תשע״ט – Mon, Feb 25, 2019 · Last modified Mon, Feb 25, 2019
The opening of the middle berakhah of Shabbos Morning Admidah is somewhat famously odd, “Moshe will be rejoicing with the giving of his portion, for You called him a loyal servant. A crown of splendor descended on his head when he stood before You in Mount Sinai, and two stone luchos he brought down in his hand. And Shabbos was written in them,...
by micha · Published י״ג בניסן תשע״ו – Wed, Apr 20, 2016 · Last modified Wed, Apr 20, 2016
(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 charoses is a mitzvah from the Soferim, as a commemoration of the mortar that they worked in in Egypt.” (Laws of Chameitz and Matzah 7:11)....
Holidays / Shabbos / Simchah / Yom Tov
by micha · Published כ״ב באדר א׳ תשס״ח – Wed, Feb 27, 2008 · Last modified Thu, Apr 17, 2008
Simchah is related to wanting and having, because Ben Zoma defines the wealthy person as “sameiach bechelqo — happy with his lot”. The Tanya speaks about how each aspect of the soul lives in tension between “ratzon – desire/will” and ta’anug. Thus we see that “oneg” too is related to wanting and having. However, the mitzvah on Yom Tov is...
by micha · Published ד׳ בתמוז תשס״ו – Thu, Jun 29, 2006 · Last modified Wed, Nov 1, 2006
This week’s shiur picks up from “HaKel besa’atzumos uzekha”, the point where the Chazan begins on Yamim Tovim.Some of the key topics raised: The impossibility of understanding Hashem, and the resulting consequence of tending to describe Him in conflicting dialectics. Immanence — Hashem is everywhere; Trancendence — Hashem is in shamayim. The impersonal G-d of nature, and the G-d of...
by micha · Published כ״ז בסיון תשס״ו – Thu, Jun 22, 2006 · Last modified Wed, Nov 1, 2006
This week’s shiur skips to Nishmas, under the assumption that davening in shul runs too quickly for slow and careful recitation, and it would be more practical to skip to around the point where we switch Chazanim and assume a more contemplative pace.Just some of the discussed subjects: Who wrote Nishmas? The Peter connection and what it says about the...
by micha · Published י״ח בתשרי תשס״ו – Fri, Oct 21, 2005 · Last modified Mon, Sep 27, 2010
As an example for explaining the idea of tefillah behispa’alus, I raised a number of questions about the meaning of the phrase “Yismach Mosheh“. I wrote: Yismach Mosheh — Moses will be happy bematenas chelqo — with the giving of his portion, ki eved ne’eman — because a reliable servant qaraso lo — You have called to him. The line...
Fundamentals / Qedushah / Shabbos
by micha · Published כ״ד בתשרי תשנ״ו – Wed, Oct 18, 1995 · Last modified Wed, Apr 9, 2008
This week I’d like to discuss three seemingly unrelated questions about the words of the tephillah: The focus of Shabbos Mussaf davening is the paragraph that begins “Tiqanta Shabbos…” What most readily jumps to the eye about the tephilla is that the 22 words it opens with are an anagram of the Hebrew alphabet in reverse. (“Tiqanta” starts with a...