The price of usury

Hi,

In Europe, a moneylender passed away. He had made his fortune by collecting interest from the poor of the town. In vengeance, the Chevra Kadisha (burial society) demanded a large sum of money for the grave, angering the heirs.

The matter came to R' Akiva Eiger. "How appropriate," he responded. "The normal price of a grave assumes that the purchaser will use it for a limited time, until the resurrection of the dead. We are taught that one who takes interest, though, does not get resurrected. As such, he will remain in the grave for eternity, and he should therefore pay a higher price for use of the grave!"

(Cited in introduction to "Laws of Ribbis" by R' Yisroel Reisman)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The price of arrogance

Hi,

"If a person acts arrogantly, then if he is a prophet he loses his prophecy, if he is a sage he loses his wisdom."

(Talmud, Pesachim 66b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Power of Communal Prayer

Hi,

"Rav Shmuel bar Unya said, citing Rav... How do we know that even if Gd decrees punishment for a community, the decree may be torn up?

"For it is written, 'Who is like HaShem, our Gd, who responds whenever we [plural] call Him.'"

(Talmud, Yevamot 105a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Creativity and Diversity in Jewish Thought

Hi,

"Because in the sphere of knowledge of the law everything rests on traditional principles peculiar to this sphere, and no individual view on the significance of or reason for a law can have any binding force, a greater measure of freedom has therefore been given to every individual mind to work out and form such views according to the thinker's own will.

"As a result, we possess a collection of the most diverse views of men of the highest gifts from the earliest times down to our own day. Nevertheless, the cautious thinker will find guidance for himself in the legal tradition itself."

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Foreword to Horeb)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Pursuing honor

Hi,

"Honor is different from any other acquisition. For any other acquisition, one who works at acquiring it may succeed, even if for a limited time. For honor, the very act of working hard and struggling to get it causes honor to be removed from him."

(Mili d'Avot on Pirkei Avot 1:13)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The opening letter Bet ב

Hi,

[Note: The letter Bet (ב) is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet.]

"R' Yehudah ben Pazi taught: Why does the Torah begin the account of Creation with the letter Bet (ב)? Because Gd created two worlds - this world, and the next."

(Midrash, Bereishit Rabbah 1:10)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

War as Punishment, or perhaps Consequence?

Hi,

"War comes into the world when there is delayed judgment and perverted justice, and when the Torah is taught incorrectly."

(Pirkei Avot 5:11)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Wisdom

Hi,

"Rabbi Elazar taught: If a person develops wisdom, it is as though the Beit haMikdash [Jerusalem Temple] had been built in his lifetime."

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 92a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Shmini Atzeret

Hi,

"On all of the days of Succot the Jews bring [70] offerings, parallel to the 70 nations. They then prepare to leave. Gd says to them, 'Please, make Me a small meal, so that I will benefit from you, too.'"

(Midrash Tanchuma Pinchas 16 - explaining the holiday of Shmini Atzeret with its single bull-offering to Gd)

Moadim l'Simchah,
Mordechai

Succah as Exile under Divine Protection

Hi,

"The mitzvah of Succah is to leave permanent dwellings and shelter in all ways beneath His wings, on HaShem’s oversight. This itself is the clarification which comes through exile, to shelter in HaShem through all of the oppression and trouble, so that we will know that everything comes from HaShem’s direction."

(Rav Tzadok haKohen of Lublin, Pri Tzaddik, Devarim, Chag Succot #8)

Moadim l'Simchah,
Mordechai

Simchat Beit haShoevah: The Succot Water-Drawing celebration

Hi,

"Our sages taught: One who never saw the Simchat Beit haShoevah (the Water celebration in the Temple, conducted on Succot,) never saw joy. One who never saw Jerusalem in its glory never saw a beautiful city. One who never saw the standing Temple never saw a beautiful building."

(Talmud, Succah 51b)

Moadim l'Simchah,
Mordechai

The joy of Simchat Torah

Hi,

"The [Vilna] Gaon, z”l, was very joyous on Succot…and on Simchat Torah he would go before the Torah, very happy, with great strength and happiness. The wisdom of man lit his face like a burning torch, and he clapped his hands and danced wildly with all his strength before the Torah…When the Torah was returned to the Ark he didn’t have the same joy, just the same as any Yom Tov."

(Maaseh Rav 233)

Moadim l'Simchah,
Mordechai

The Pleasant and Safe Hadas [myrtle]

Hi,

"The Torah says [that one of the Four Species waved on Succot is] 'A braided branch,' meaning that the leaves should cover the wood. What is that? That is the Hadas [myrtle]...

"But perhaps it is the Harduf? Abayye answered: No - It is written, 'The Torah's ways are pleasant,' and the spiny Harduf is not pleasant.

"Rava disqualified the Harduf for a different reason - It is written, 'You should love truth and peace.' The poisonous Harduf is the opposite of this verse."

(Talmud, Succah 32b as explained by Rashi)

Have a great Yom Tov,
Mordechai

Beautiful mitzvot

Hi,

Preface: The Jews say, as they cross through the Red Sea, 'This is my Gd, and I will praise Him.' The word אנוהו means I will praise Him, but the gemara ties it to the word נאה, meaning beautiful, therefore reading the passage, I will beautify Him:

"'This is my Gd, and I will beautify Him' - Make yourselves beautiful before Him with mitzvot. Make a beautiful succah, make a beautiful lulav, make a beautiful shofar, make beautiful tzitzit, make a beautiful Torah scroll and write in it with proper intent using beautiful ink and a beautiful quill and an expert scribe, and wrap it in beautiful silks."

(Talmud, Shabbat 133b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The out-of-season Succah

Hi,

The Torah says to sit in the succah in order to commemorate HaShem's protection for us, when we left Egypt. However, we left Egypt in the Spring - why do we celebrate Succot in the Fall?

"Because that would be the summertime, and people ordinarily prepare huts for shade, so that our creation of a succah would not be identifiable as fulfillment of a Divine command. Therefore, Gd instructed us to prepare the succah in the seventh month, a time of rain, when most people leave their huts for their homes, and we leave our homes to sit in the succah. In this way we demonstrate that are doing this to fulfill a Divine command."

(Tur Orach Chaim 625)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Ideal Yom Kippur

Hi,

"This is the fast I will choose - Open the chains of wickedness, untie the ropes of tyranny, set free the crushed and release all who had been under tyranny. Break your breead for the hungry, and bring the desperately poor into your home; when you see an unclothed person, clothe him, and do not ignore your flesh [family].

"Then your light will break forth like the morning, and your healing will speedily sprout, your justness will travel before you and the glory of HaShem will gather you in. Then you will call and Gd will answer, you will cry out and Gd will say 'Here I am.'..."

(Isaiah 58:5-9 - The Haftorah of Yom Kippur morning)

May we all be sealed for a great new year, and have an easy and meaningful fast,

Mordechai

Atonement requires action

Hi,

"There is no such thing as atonement without an associated action." (Or, to eliminate the Talmudic double-negative: Any atonement requires action.)

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 4a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Repentance for missed opportunities

Hi,

"A person must work harder to fulfill a Mitzvah than to avoid violating a prohibition.

"If a person violates a prohibition, he can repent or he can receive his punishment and so erase the sin. If one does not fulfill a Mitzvah, though, then the gap remains regardless of his repentance."

(From a biography of the Chafetz Chaim)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

True Repentance

Hi,

"One who admits his sins verbally, but has not decided to abandon them, is like a person who immerses in a mikvah while holding an impure entity - the immersion is ineffective until he casts away the impure entity. It is written, 'Gd will have mercy upon a person who admits and abandons his sin.'"

(Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 2:3)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The opportunity to repent

Hi,

"Among the kindnesses which Gd has performed with His creations is that He has prepared for them a path by which to climb up from the ditch of their deeds and to flee from the trap of their sins, to save themselves from destruction and to remove His wrath from them.

"He instructed them and warned them to return to Him, in His goodness and justness, when they sin, for He knows human nature...

"Even if people err and rebel and betray Gd, He does not close the doors of repentance to them, as it is written, 'Return to the One against whom You have deepened your rebellion (Isaiah 31:6),' and 'Return, errant children; I will heal your wandering ways (Jeremiah 3:22).'"

(Rabbeinu Yonah, Gates of Repentance 1:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Fast of Gedalyah

Hi,

We fast on the day after Rosh haShanah; this is called "Tzom Gedalyah," "The Fast of Gedalyah."

The Meaning of the Fast: After the Babylonians destroyed the Temple, they appointed Gedalyah as governor of Israel's Jews. A group of Jews, supported by another nation, wanted the Jews to rebel against the Babylonians, and they accused Gedalyah of sympathizing with the Babylonians. They ambushed him and killed him, and in the aftermath, the remaining Jewish community in Israel went into exile.

This day is commemorated as a public fast from first light (5:48 AM this year in Allentown) to the emergence of the stars (7:24 PM this year in Allentown).

Have an easy and meaningful fast,
Mordechai