Learning Mussar
- Excerpts from Chapter 4 “Frumkeit”
- Chapter 13: Summary: Removing the Impediments
- Chapter 14: Summary: A Short Guide to Mussar Study
Mussar Practice
- Chapter 5: Hislamdus [Teaching Oneself / Taking Lessons from Life] (ve’adim)
Intimate Knowledge of G‑d
Compassion Toward People
Splendor in Mind and Heart
Avodah
Nowadays/in recent times, the *tzibbur* arguably is also involving itself in/enunciating other aspects of *t'fila* that originally were meant to be enunciated only by the SHaTZ -- three examples are [...]
Fascinating quantum physics/observer effects from the gemara chulin 121. Any thoughts, halachic or philosophical would be appreciated. 1 a jew shechts a non-kosher animal for a non-jew. If the jew [...]
I recently heard R H Schacter say that R YBS took an infusion in his old age in order to be able to fast on Yom Kippur. Anyone know any [...]
. In today's Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Yomi, halacha 17:10 is mostly about a couple of different scenarios where a person is in shul while the tzibur is saying Shema, and [...]
> > The name "Yishmael" .... I think it would be quite reasonable for > the Ayin to have a shva, and the Aleph to have a tzere, forming a [...]
. The name "Yishmael" means "G-d heard". I don't even need Rashi for that; Bereshis 16:11 says it explicitly. If so, I think it would be quite reasonable for the [...]
For purposes of a seasonal shehechiyanu, if a fruit is available all year, but in certain seasons the cost is exorbitant, is shehechiyanu still said? bsorot tovot joel rich [...]
R H Schacter and R A Weiss speak of pikuach nefesh as including non-immediate threats to life. Is there a materiality standard or does any decrease in life expectancy qualify? [...]
Blogs
- YGB - יג"ב
- Aspaqlaria
- Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
- | Modern Uberdox
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
One of Reb Avrohom Elya's most famous pieces. We end part 1 with a cliffhanger: Yes, we learned and grew much from and through Herzl. But what about Zionism itself? Text below.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R4Wd0_VWRI?si=wuA11Fka1RDqCZtT] [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
A guest speech I gave in honor of Rabbi YCD Cohen's Shiur in Yerushalmi's Siyum on Meseches Bikkurim and Seder Zerai'mRead about Rabbi YCD Cohen's Yerushalmi Shiur in Manchester at [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 10 Episode 10:Can Thanksgiving help heal the divisions among us?(My answer: No)https://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/91467 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdZYqg8kd-M?si=phNRWelWwaEh_0wo]A recording for the BHP daily Halachic Whatsapp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz8rrxqRcfy9rMOXRLG6GS [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Q&A relating to Talmid Yerushalmi, in connection with Daf Yomi Yerushalmi.I am sitting at a Siyum on Zera'im Yerushalmi and was asked to start such a group. 🤷♂️ Doesn't hurt. Follow [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 10 Episode 9:Yeshiva System Failures:A Three-Pronged Responseto Two Epistleshttps://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/91240Please click on this link to contribute whatever you can to keep this podcast on the air: https://thechesedfund.com/yeshivaofnewarkpodcast/keeping-the-ark-afloat With downloads approaching the [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 10 Episode 8:In Bava Basra's Last Daf Yomi Month, We Consider Alternative Daily Learning Optionshttps://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/90798Please click on this link to contribute whatever you can to keep this podcast on [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8PgI_6L3ko?si=rcZ0fvi6VtpMjZ2i]Idealism in the wake of World War. The symbolism of the Magen David.part 2Podcast format at https://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/91245 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Yerushalmi Bikkurim 26, the last Daf In Zera'im!Mazal Tov on the Siyum!A nachas note I received this week:Hi Rabbi, I hope you are well. Just wanted to let you know [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
The Siyum is Coming! The end of Yerushalmi Yomi Zera'im, and the beginning of Yerushalmi Yomi Mo'ed!Go to Home | Daf Yerushalmi https://www.dafyerushalmi.com and fill out form for a FREE Gemara - Artscroll Yerushalmi Shabbos!(and then [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Women and Birchos HaShachar[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEAoFqiANIY?si=ePMfuLrU1pnPzxli]A recording for the BHP daily Halachic Whatsapp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz8rrxqRcfy9rMOXRLG6GS [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT5Y7TEPJ5Q?si=hqCihWmEodLGNJQm]Idealism in the wake of World War. The symbolism of the Magen David.part 1Podcast format at https://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/91243The reason you don't see the text is explained at the beginning of [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 10 Episode 7:?דידן נצחThe Enticement of Swagger:Reflections on Trump's Victoryhttps://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/90389Please click on this link to contribute whatever you can to keep this podcast on the air: https://thechesedfund.com/yeshivaofnewarkpodcast/keeping-the-ark-afloatWith downloads approaching [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Davening and serving Hashem by habit and rote vs. with novelty and renewal. Second of two unfinished pieces on bursting out of constriction into broad expanses. Supplemented with material from [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 10 Episode 6:וַיִּ֤פֶן כֹּה֙ וָכֹ֔ה וַיַּ֖רְא כִּ֣י אֵ֣ין אִ֑ישׁElection Special:Looking Back and Forthhttps://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/89827 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
History and the Future should impact the Present, not vice versa. First of two unfinished pieces on bursting out of constriction into broad expanses.Podcast format at https://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/89930https://www.aishdas.org/raek/2shehein1.pdf beginning on p. [...]
- admin
Rav Dovid Lifshitz zt”l (whose 31st yahrzeit is today) often spoke about the connection between shaleim as wholeness, and that of another conjugation, “shalom“, peace. Shalom is not simply a cessation of violence. That [...]
- admin
Parashas Behar is a list of mitzvos. The first section is all about shemittah and yovel. A family’s ancestral land cannot be sold into perpetuity. Instead, if someone is forced [...]
- Micha Berger
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 [...]
- Micha Berger
Here’s my theory about the origin of this minhag. My point here is not really about advocating for the minhag. I just feel a need to push back when people [...]
- admin
והיה רגיל להוכיח אותי על שראה שאינני משתתף בצערא דאחרינא. וכה היה דברו אלי תמיד שזה כל האדם. לא לעצמו נברא רק להועיל לאחריני ככל אשר ימצא בכחו לעשות. [My [...]
- Rabbi Seth Mandel PhD zt"l
Micha’s note: The following was a post written to the Mesorah email list by Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel zt”l, a rebbe-chaver of mine (more: a rebbe who insisted on treating [...]
- Micha Berger
(I put these thoughts together for a reply for my daughter Gavi, who pointed me to a medrash that “everyone in her neighborhood” were talking about, but I then was [...]
- Micha Berger
“Poteach et Yadekha“, oil on canvasHaim Masliach, 2021 A comment by Ilana Elzafun* brought this Seforno to my attention. This week’s parashah (Lekh Likha), Bereishis 16:13, describes Hagar’s prayer to [...]
- Micha Berger
Dear R Dr Broyde (Cc: Avodah), Over Shabbos, I read your article about getting ChatGPT to discuss whether a kohein in a same-sex marriage may go up to duchen. I [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:13 1. T The things we say can also link celestial worlds, rectify this one, and interconnect with the upper worlds, as we’ll now see. After all, we’re [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:7 (¶ 118 [middle]) 1. We’d do well to take something into consideration, Ramchal adds here. It’s that just because something or someone is imperfect doesn’t mean [...]
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The Way of G-d 2:6:4 1. G-d allowed for a prosecutor in His court, famously known as satan 1. His role is to argue against the accused, which them enables [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:12 1. R. Chaim already spoke 1 of the fact that we could only link celestial worlds, rectify this one, and interconnect with those upper worlds after we’d [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:6 (¶ 118 [beginning]) 1. Ramchal reiterates here 1 that wrong is a created entity 2 that was only designed to last for as long as G-d wanted [...]
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The Way of G-d 2:6:3 1. Given the above, the fact is that G-d doesn’t judge the world according to His foreknowledge but rather according to the way He wants [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:11 1. Following up on the thought offered in the last chapter that despite our being connected to physicality we’re nevertheless superior to angels, R’ Chaim now [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:5 (¶s 116 [end] – 117) 1. Ramchal says that he’s going to expand upon things he’d said above 1 and reveal things that are “deep” about [...]
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The Way of G-d 2:6:2 1. G-d appears in each Sanhedrin and court, influences it, and sees to it that justice is served 1. Now, in some instances [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:10 1. Given all of the above concerning our makeup and capacities, it’s reasonable to wonder whether angels are loftier than we are or we’re loftier than they. [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:4 (¶ 116 [beg.]) 1. Ramchal is about to offer something that will serve as a prelude to what’s to follow 1. It’s that even though G-d [...]
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Derech Hashem 2:6:1 In the course of His interactions with the world 1, G-d arranged it so that phenomena that affect both the things that humankind brings about 2 and [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:9 1. Following through on the discussion of the previous chapter, R’ Chaim contrasts the situation of the generation that dwelt in the Sinai Desert 1 with that [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:3 (¶’s 103- 115) 1. It seems logical, doesn’t it, that goodness would be a product of something that emanates goodness while wrongfulness would be a product of [...]
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Da’atTevunot 3:2 (# 98 – 102) 1. Ramchal starts to explain the role of wrong and injustice in the world with a proposition derived from Rambam1. It’s that when G-d [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:8 1. R’ Chaim offers a rather complex discussion here about the positioning of the Cherubs in the Tabernacle and Holy Temple in order to illustrate his point [...]
- Neil Harris
The website 18FORTY has a fantastic and thoughtful multimedia post on OTD that is worth watching, reading, and listening to. If you are reading this then you know I don’t [...]
- Neil Harris
Spoiler, there isn’t much substance to I what have to say. Also, I am spoiling the end of the Skywalker saga. After reading an excellent essay by Rabbi Harry Maryles [...]
- Neil Harris
I checked my recent writing history today and the last legit post of mine was really 3.5 years ago. For some that’s a long chunk of time. In that time [...]
- Neil Harris
My wife’s comment on Simchas Torah pretty much summed it up, “I feel like this is the biggest tease for you.” You see, my mom a”h was niftar right before [...]
- Neil Harris
When today comes around I usually think about things my father missed since he has been gone. I decided that this year I’ll attempt to list a number of things [...]
- Neil Harris
Walking out of shul, the morning after Yom Kippur, a follow early Sunday morning riser casually said to me, “Back to normal, right?” I was taken off guard (and also [...]
- Neil Harris
I have started this post about 2 dozen times over the past 3 years and I never seem to get more than about 300 words written about why I stopped [...]
- Neil Harris
I want to share something that Rav Efraim Twerski said at his Shabbos HaGadol drasha. After starting off with 10 questions Rav Twerski said over an amazing Torah from Rav [...]
- Neil Harris
So, tonight’s the 6th yahrtzeit for my dad, Avraham ben Zorach a”h (Al, of blessed memory). Like everyone else that has lost a parent I lit my 24 hour yahrzeit [...]
- Neil Harris
“WARMED BY THE FIRE OF THE AISH KODESH– Torah from the Hilulas of Reb Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piaseczna” by Rav Moshe Weinberger and adapted by Binyomin Wolf is more [...]