Patience and Anger

Hi,

"A man of anger will stir up litigation; a person of patience will silence quarrels."

(Proverbs 15:18)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Theories

Hi,

The Talmud records a novel legal theory proposed by R' Yochanan, and then notes that R' Yochanan himself, when presented with a case in which his theory would have resulted in a unique ruling, declined to apply his own, novel theory, and instead went with the norm.

As R' Yochanan asked rhetorically, "Because we imagine something to be so, shall we therefore act on it?"

The lesson: We would do well to be skeptical of our own theories...

(Talmud, Gittin 37a)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

A response to pain

Hi,

We generally don't teach 'turn the other cheek' philosophy, but note this passage:

"Rav Gviha of Argiza explained a biblical passage (from Yehoshua 15): If one is pained because another has harmed him, but remains silent, then the Eternal One will perform justice for him."

(Talmud, Gittin 7a)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

The value of a mitzvah

Hi,

"Rabbi Natan taught: Every Mitzvah, regardless of how easy it is, has reward in both this world and the next."

(Talmud, Menachot 44a)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Torah Lessons, as Legacy

Hi,

"Rabbi Yochanan said, citing Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai: When a scholar's lesson is taught in his name in this world, his lips move in the grave."

(Talmud, Yevamot 97a)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

The perils of hiring a trial lawyer

Hi,

On maintaining honesty in the courtroom:

"A defendant may not appoint an attorney to make independent claims; how could someone who does not know the truth make a claim and say, ‘Such and such happened,’ without knowing?"

(Responsa of Rashba 2:393)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Mashiach arrives after we return to Israel

Hi,

"I have written that Gd will infuse a spirit of purity into us after we return and are in Israel, and not when we live in the lands of the nations.

"This is explicit in the words of the prophet Ezekiel (36:24-28), 'And I will take you from the nations, and I will gather you from all of the the lands, and I will bring you to your land. And I will put in you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit into you, and I will remove the stone heart from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My spirit into you, and I will do this, for you will walk in My ways and guard My laws, and you will practice this. And you will dwell in the land which I have given to your forefathers, and you will be a nation for me, and I will be Gd for you.'"

(Rabbi Yissachar Techtel, Em haBanim Smeichah, Chapter 1)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Intent and Action

Hi,

"Gd does not consider a wicked plan equivalent to a wicked deed."

This means that a person who plans to do something wrong, but is unsuccessful, is not considered to have performed the act.

The Talmud notes one exception to the rule: Idolatrous thoughts.

(Talmud, Chullin 142a)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Exile, and hope for return

Hi,

"The Sanhedrin (the high Jewish court and legislative body of the Second Temple period) went into exile in ten steps, parallel to the ten steps of exile which Gd experienced.

"Our tradition is that they went from the Lishkat haGazit in the Temple to the market area, from there into Yerushalayim, from there into Yavneh, from there to Usha, from there back to Yavneh, from there back to Usha, from there to Shifraam, from there to Beit She'arim, from there to Tzippori, from there to Tiberias, and Tiberias was the lowest of them all...

"Rabbi Yochanan said: From there they will be redeemed, as it is written (Isaiah 52), 'Be aroused, rise from the dust and return!'"

(Talmud, Rosh haShanah 31a-b)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Sitting before the Sages

Hi,

"There are four traits among those who sit before the Sages: Sponge, Funnel, Sieve and Nafah. The Sponge absorbs everything, the Funnel brings it in one side and out the other, the Sieve extrudes the wine and retains the sediment, and the Nafah extrudes the poor flour and retains the better-quality flour."

Midrash Chachamim notes: Students are described here as those who "sit before the sages," rather than simply "students." True learning takes place only when a person establishes himself, regularly, in day and night learning before a sage.

(Pirkei Avot 5:15)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

The power of "Ashrei"

Hello,

Apparently, the power of Ashrei is a combination of the simple trust in HaShem it expresses, and the poetic beauty with which that simple trust is presented:

"Rabbi Elazar said, citing Rabbi Avina: Any person who recites the 'Ashrei' paragraph (Psalm 145) thrice daily can be certain that he has a share in the next world.

"But why should this be so? If it's because the psalm uses an alphabetical acrostic to praise Gd, Psalm 119 does that eight times over! And if it's because the psalm includes the phrase 'You open up Your hand and sate the desire of every living thing,' that sentiment is also found in Psalm 136!

"It's because this psalm contains both of those elements."

(Talmud, Berachot 4b)

Be well,
Mordechai

The 17th of Tammuz

Hello,

Today, the fast day of the 17th of Tammuz, commemorates five tragedies:

1. Moses descended from meeting Gd and receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai, saw the Jews celebrating with the Golden Calf, and broke the two tablets Gd had given him.

2. The daily Tamid offering, which had been brought regularly in the Jerusalem Beit haMikdash [Temple] from the time the Jews built the Mishkan for over one thousand years, was halted during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem before the Beit haMikdash was destroyed.

3. The Romans invaded Jerusalem, prior to destroying the second Beit haMikdash. (The Babylonians invaded Jerusalem to destroy the first Temple on the 9th of Tammuz.)

4. A Greek or Roman official named Apostimos held a public burning of the Torah.

5. Idols were set up in the Temple itself; it is not clear what year this happened.

(Mishneh Berurah 549:2)

In Allentown, the fast begins at 4:36 AM and ends at 9:10 PM.

Be well,
Mordechai

Mercy

Hi,

"And Gd said [to Jonah]: You had mercy on the Kikayon tree, for which you did not struggle and which you did not raise, which sprang up in a night and which was destroyed in a night. Shouldn't I have mercy on Nineveh, the great city, which holds more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who don't know their right from their left, as well as great numbers of animals?"

(Jonah 4:10-11)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Expectations of Reward

Hi,

"Do not seek great status for yourself, and do not desire more honor than your learning deserves. Put your knowledge into practice.

"Do not desire a king's table, for your table is greater than theirs, your crown is greater than theirs, and your employer is trustworthy to pay the salary of your work."

(Pirkei Avot 6:5, as explained by Rabbi Yosef Yaavetz)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Ambivalence toward the Death Penalty

Hi,

"How do I know that even capital punishment must be carried out in a respectful manner, and not by taking a butcher's cleaver to the back of the guilty person's neck?

"Rav Nachman said, citing Rabbah bar Avuha: It is written, 'Love your neighbor as yourself' - Choose a good and speedy death for him."

(Talmud, Ketuvot 37b, as explained by Rashi)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Prayer and Battle

Hi,

"It is written (Bereishit 48), 'And I [Jacob] am giving you the portion of Shechem...which I took from the Emorites with my sword and with my bow.'

"But did Jacob take Shechem with his sword and with his bow?! It is written (Psalms 44), 'I will not trust my bow, and my sword will not save me!'

"Rather, Jacob's sword was his prayer on behalf of his children who were fighting, and his bow was his request from Gd."

(Talmud, Bava Batra 123a, as explained in Rashi's commentary)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Clean speech

Hi,

"Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: A person should never produce a disgusting word from his mouth, for we see that the Torah went eight letters out of its way to avoid stating a disgusting word, saying (Genesis 7), 'From the pure animals, and from the animals that are not pure.'"

(The other choice would have been to write 'Tamei,' which refers more directly to a non-pure state.)

(Talmud, Pesachim 3a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Prioritizing mitzvot

Hi,

"A Torah scholar may not take on optional fasts, because that would decrease his work of Heaven."

(Talmud, Taanit 11b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The equality of all mitzvot

Hi,

"Be careful with a light Mitzvah, as you would with a difficult Mitzvah."

(Pirkei Avot 2:1)

The "Tashbetz" commentary explains: The Torah does not list levels of reward for the vast majority of commandments, in the way it lists levels of punishment for violation of prohibitions. This indicates the equivalence of all commandments.

Further, we have a rule that a person involved in one Mitzvah is exempt from all other Mitzvot, regardless of the importance of the individual Mitzvah. (This is suspended in certain specific cases, but the rule is generally true.) This, again, shows that all Mitzvot are equally important.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Prayer of the wise on behalf of others

Hi,

"Rabbi Pinchas ben Chama taught: One who has an ill person in his household should go to a wise person and ask that he pray for him, as it is written (Proverbs 16), 'The rage of the King is with the angels of death, but a wise man can wipe it away.'"

(Talmud, Bava Batra 116a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The extent of personal accountability

Hi,

"Know before Whom you will have to give an accounting for your deeds."

(Pirkei Avot 3:1)

The Maharil commented: The word, "before" דע "לפני" מי אתה עומד, is superfluous; it could have said "Know to whom you will...!"

Rather, "before" refers not to Gd, but to the fact that many actions impact not only upon the actor, but also upon the people who are present - "before whom he stands," as it were.

A person should realize that his actions do not take place in a vacuum, and that just as he will have to account for his personal deeds, so he will have to account for those upon whom his deeds impacted.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Torah of our Ancestors

Hi,

"We see that our ancestor, Avraham, practiced the entire Torah before it was given, as it is written (Genesis 26:5), 'Because Avraham listened to My voice, and he guarded My prohibitions, My mitzvot, My decrees and My teachings.'"

(Talmud, Kiddushin 82a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Promise of Zionism

Hi,


"The Jewish movement for nationhood is like a field which has been blessed by Gd.

"We have yet to see full results, due to the destruction wreaked in our exile, but this movement is fit to yield the world's greatest products via practical and spiritual work, to bring from it great and elevated souls which will illuminate the world with their glory."

(Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak haKohen Kook, Orot haTechiyah 12, 1920)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Gd's openness to prayer

Hi,

"Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Even an iron barrier cannot interrupt between the Jewish people and their father in Heaven."

(Talmud, Sotah 38b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Jewish Reincarnation?

Hi,

"One who does not fulfill all of the 613 Mitzvot will have to come back again."

(Vilna Gaon to Talmud Berachot 31)

"How does one know where he erred in a previous incarnation?

"There are two signs: (a) He stumbles many times in the same area in this incarnation, and (b) He has great desire for this transgression. He became accustomed to it in the past, and it became part of his nature. Therefore, some people desire one transgression more than another."

(Vilna Gaon to Jonah 4:3)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Israel and other lands

Hello,

"Regarding all lands, what one land possesses another lacks, but Israel lacks nothing."

(Midrash, Yalkut Shimoni, Mishlei 942)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

I am with you

Hi,

In Parshat Beshalach, as the Jews first begin their journey from Egypt to Israel, they run out of water. HaShem tells Moshe to go out to a stone, and strike the stone. As part of HaShem's instructions, HaShem says, "Behold, I will be standing in front of you, by the stone."

The Midrash Tanchuma comments, "Gd said to him: Wherever you find the mark of the feet of Man, I will be there in front of you."

(Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 22)

Have a great day,
Mordechai