The weight of Truth

Hi,

"The sages of ethical instruction have said: Truth is a heavy load, which is why so few people carry it."

(Meiri, Sefer haMidot, Emet v'Sheker (based on Mishlei 1:4))

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Speak gently

Hi,


"Accustom yourself to utter all of your words gently when speaking with anyone, at any time, and so you will be saved from anger - a bad trait which causes people to sin."

(Iggeret haRamban)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The need for self-confidence

Hi,


"Just as it is not possible to achieve any goal without will and to maintain consistency without commitment, so it is not possible to achieve any growth without faith in one's self and trust in the power of one's efforts."

(R' Klonymus Kalman of Piaseczna, Chovat haTalmidim, Chapter 13)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

On Shabbat, keep the floor clean

Hi,

An oft-overlooked way to create honor for Shabbat:

"In order not to dirty the house, one should not allow anything to fall off the table at the Friday night meal, unless one will sweep the floor afterward in a permitted fashion. The same is true for the Shabbat morning meal, unless will sweep the floor afterward."

(Mishneh Berurah 262:3)

[Of course, this is easier said than done when one has small children...]

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The generation of Mashiach

Hi,

"R' Zeira said, citing R' Yirmiyah bar Abba: In the generation when the son of David arrives, there will be persecution of Torah scholars."

(Talmud, Ketuvot 112b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Smile!

Hi,

On the importance of smiling to other people:

"Rabbi Yochanan said: Better to expose the white of one's teeth (ie smile) to another person, than to provide him with milk to drink.

"It is written (Genesis 49), 'And the whiteness of teeth from milk,' which could be read (homiletically) as 'And exposing the white of one's teeth (is better than milk).'"

(Talmud, Ketuvot 111b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Becoming a home for the Shechinah

Hi,

"Since the time of the destruction of the Temple and the exile of the children from their Father’s table, the Shechinah wanders, as it were, and cannot find rest, and the only thing that remains is the Torah.

"When the Jews, holy nation, speak appropriate words of Torah, then they become a mini-Temple for the Shechinah…as it is written, ‘From the day when the Temple was destroyed, Gd has nothing in His world other than the four cubits of Jewish law.’"

(R' Chaim of Volozhin, Nefesh haChaim 4:34, citing the Zohar)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Blessing with warmth

Hi,

When Yaakov wants to bless Yosef's children (Parshat Vayyichi), Ephraim and Menasheh, he has Yosef bring them before him. He then asks, "Who are these children?" To which Yosef replies, "They are my children."

Does Yaakov not realize who Yosef has brought to him for a blessing?

Ohr haChaim, R' Chaim Ibn Attar, suggested that this exchange between Yaakov and Yosef is really about the berachah (blessing) itself. In order to truly bless someone, in order to pray to Gd on that person's behalf, one must know that person and feel emotionally connected to him.

Yaakov knows who Ephraim and Menasheh are, but he wants to feel that emotional warmth - and so he asks Yosef who they are, in order to hear Yosef's proud, paternal, emotion-charged "These are my children," which will then inspire a truly meaningful berachah.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

What remains when all has been stripped away

Hi,

"Suffering comes into your dwelling and curbs your presumption and teaches you the limitations of your power. They remind you of the frailty of your health, the feebleness of your wit, the impotence of your will, the instability of your possessions, the inadequacy of your means, which have only been lent to you...

"If they take away from you all that you have in life other than your very self and show you how perishable is everything on which you thought to build your prosperity, at the same time they teach you the lasting character of the greatness which you yourself are, of the goods which alone are yours - the awe of Gd, the love of Gd and trust in Gd."

(R' Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 79)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Asarah b'Tevet - The Tenth of Tevet

Hi,

"And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it. They built forts against it, all around. The city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah."

(Kings II 25:1-2)

This was the siege that led to the destruction of the first Beit haMikdash, and so the day the siege began - the 10th day of the 10th month, which is Tevet - is marked by Jews worldwide as a day of fasting.

This year, the fast is Wednesday December 19th. In Allentown, it begins at 6:08 AM and ends at 5:19 PM.

Have an easy and meaningful fast,
Mordechai

Judge by reality, not legality

Hi,

The following is from a 1965 letter sent by Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik to a young rabbi, regarding a business venture in which his congregation was engaged. The congregation was taking advantage of a legal loophole, and Rabbi Soloveitchik wrote:

"Needless to say, the high standards of Jewish morality demand that we judge situations in the light of their underlying reality rather than by the sheen of a superficial legality. They insist that we deal with essence rather than appearance, with legal realism rather than formalism, with concrete situation rather than abstract classifications."

(Community, Covenant and Commitment, page 158)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Remember Gd

Hi,

"The essence of awe of Gd (Yirat HaShem) is awe of Gd's greatness; a person must think, while he prays or performs a mitzvah, that he is praying or performing that action before the King of Kings."

(R' Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Mesilat Yesharim, Chapter 19)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

R' Hirsch and Universalism

Welcome to our new format! (After ten years of daily emails, I'd say it's about time...)

"Judaism is not a mere adjunct to life: it comprises all of life. To be a Jew is not a mere part, it is the sum total of our task in life. To be a Jew in the synagogue and the kitchen, in the field and the warehouse, in the office and the pulpit ... with the needle and the graving-tool, with the pen and the chisel — that is what it means to be a Jew…

"The more, indeed, Judaism comprises the whole of man and extends its declared mission to the salvation of the whole of manking, the less it is possible to confine its outlook to the synagogue. [Thus] the more the Jew is a Jew, the more universalist will be his views and aspirations [and] the less aloof will he be from ... art or science, culture or education ... [and] the more joyfully will he applaud whenever he sees truth and justice and peace and the ennoblement of man…

"The Jew will not want to accomplish anything that he cannot accomplish as a Jew. Any step which takes him away from Judaism is not for him a step forward, is not progress. He exercises this self-control without a pang, for he does not wish to accomplish his own will on earth but labours in the service of Gd."

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Religion allied to progress)

Have a great day,
Mordechai