A Kingdom of Priests
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...
Aspaqlaria Blog
Ana Hashem
(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...
Pesach, Matzah, Maror
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...
Why the Middle Matzah?
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,...
Units of Measure
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...
Esther’s Modesty – Adar’s Joy (Anavah and Anvanus)
Yoshiahu’s Downfall The only qinah, elegy, that we recite on Tish’ah beAv that dates back to the days of Tanakh (other than the Book of Eichah itself) is Yirmiyahu’s qinah for King Yoshiahu. Yoshiahu...
For the Jews, There Was Light
×œÖ·×™Ö°Ö¼×”×•Ö¼×“Ö´×™× ×”Ö¸×™Ö°×ªÖ¸×” ×וֹרָה וְשִׂמְחָה וְשָׂשֹׂן וִיקָר. For the Jews, there was light, happiness, joy and preciousness. – Esther 8:16 קִיְּמוּ וקבל [וְקִבְּלוּ] ×”Ö·×™Ö°Ö¼×”×•Ö¼×“Ö´×™× ×¢Ö²×œÖµ×™×”Ö¶× ×•Ö°×¢Ö·×œ ×–Ö·×¨Ö°×¢Ö¸× ×•Ö°×¢Ö·×œ כָּל ×”Ö·× Ö´Ö¼×œÖ°×•Ö´×™× ×¢Ö²×œÖµ×™×”Ö¶× ×•Ö°×œÖ¹× ×™Ö·×¢Ö²×‘×•Ö¹×¨ לִהְיוֹת עֹשִׂי×...
Amoraim and Amoraim
I am not a fan of the revadim (layers) method of gemara study. In short, this is a way of analyzing the gemara by teasing out the various layers of halachic discourse through the centuries we...
A Messenger of…
I became convinced two disputes are related. I am not 100% sure of the nature of the relationship, but as it’s related to parashas Ki Sisa, I want to post what I have so...
What is Frumkeit?
The word “frum” has become a near-synonym for Orthodox. How this came to be is noteworthy. “Frum” descends from the German “fromm“, meaning pious or devout. In pre-war Yiddish, usage appears to have varied...
The Value of Money
There is an often-cited dispute between Rabbi Yishma’el and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. ת”ר ו×ספת ×“×’× ×š (×“×‘×¨×™× ×™×:יד) מה ת”ל לפי ×©× ×’ (יהושע ×:×—) ×œ× ×™×ž×•×© ספר התורה ×”×–×” מפיך יכול ×“×‘×¨×™× ×›×›×ª×‘×Ÿ ת”ל...
Tools and Goals
Is observance the ends, the purpose, of our lives, or is it the means and the goal lies beyond it? And if they are the means, do we need to consciously frame the purpose of our lives, or should we just concern ourselves with following the halakhah, and rest assured that the goal will take care of itself?”
…
How would this play out communally?
One possible outcome is … that black letter halakhah — that which can be measured, laid out in clear obligated or prohibited terms — takes center seat without any attempt to become the kind of person more capable of fulfilling the full breadth of its commandments. There would be mixed reports of business ethics, scandals… yet others abusing their power over their students in other ways.
Another possible outcome is an idealistic community, but one whose ideals are not Torah derived. In such a community ideals would be taken from some segment of the surrounding culture, and halakhah would be reduced to a means of “blessing†goals that we assimilated from the outside…
A third possibility is particular to a community that teaches the need to engage the world around it…. Without a firm eye and a constant striving toward an ideal, the energy it takes to maintain this delicate balance too easily collapses into a life of compromise…..
Do these portraits sound familiar?
Eilu va’Eilu part II
[Updated 1/9/2014. The story so far: In part I I gave a survey of opinions from rishonim discussed in essays by RM Halbertal and Rav Michael Rosensweig.] RMHalbertal spelled out three approaches to machloqes:...
Compassion for Our Enemies
Updated 1/8/2014. We have a minhag to pour out 16 drops of wine, once at each mention of a makah that befell the Egyptians. The earliest mention of this custom is in the Maharil...
Bread, Meat and Wine
Rav Aharon Rakeffet recently noted a contrast in wording between the Rambam and the Rama, and mentioned that someone might find “a whole pilpul” in the difference. (Listen to the shiur on YUTorah.org: Responsa...
Rabbi Meir’s Rhetoric
Rav Meir disagrees with the other sages on a number of topics involving logic. 1- When framing a tenai, a condition on a business dealing, an oath, a pledge or the like, the majority opinion...
Toward a Torah Definition of “Ethics”
A short thought, maybe a conversation starter… There is a paradoxic obligation: it is prohibited to conform in all ways only to the letter of the law. One must stay well within it (lifnim...
The Miracle of Oil
Ask someone why we celebrate Chanukah, and of course the first answer out would be about the miracle of the oil lasting eight days. This allowed the reconsecration of the Beis haMiqdash to be...
Temimus and Deveiqus
The mitzvah of Beris Milah is introduced with the words, “×Ö²× Ö´×™ קֵל ש×ַקַּי, הִתְהַלֵּךְ ×œÖ°×¤Ö¸× Ö·×™ וֶהְיֵה ×ªÖ¸×žÖ´×™× — I am Kel Shakai, walk yourself before Me, and be whole.” To me, this pasuk addresses...
Halakhah and Orthodoxy
(Much of this is a popularization of things already posted in this category, originally posted to Facebook.) As I see it, halachic decision-making involves the weighing of numerous items — the strength of the...
Rav Wolbe’s World part II: Middos
This is the second part of a translation of Rav Shlomo Wolbezt”l‘s contribution to Bishvilei haRefu’ah [In the Paths of Medicine], volume 5, Sivan 5742, “Psychiatria veDat” [Psychiatry and Religion], section beis (pp 60-70)....
Rav Wolbe’s World part I: Yedidus
Rav Shlomo Wolbe was a transitional figure in Jewish thought, presenting pre-Holocaust yeshiva mussar to students steeped in modern Charedi idiom. A German-born, university-educated ba’al teshuvah, he studied in one of the premier East...
Who in his time?
There were two lines from the Shemoneh Esrei of Rosh haShanah that particularly spoke to me this year — “mekhalkeil chaim bechesed – Who sustains the living with lovingkindness”, and the line from Unsaneh...
