Yosef Mokir Shavi's reward for honoring Shabbat

Hi,

This story raises several troubling questions in my mind, but I love it anyway:

"Yosef, who honored Shabbat, lived in a neighborhood with a wealthy non-Jew. Astrologers told the wealthy man that Yosef was going to end up with all of his assets. The man sold off his assets and bought a gem with them, and placed it in his turban. When the man was crossing a bridge, a wind blew his turban into the sea, where it was swallowed by a fish.

"The fish was caught and brought to market on a Friday afternoon. The fishermen asked, 'Who will buy fish now [at this late hour]?' People told them, 'Go bring it to Yosef who honors Shabbat, for he regularly purchases.'

"They brought it to Yosef, and he purchased it. He cut it open and found the gem inside, and sold it for thirteen roomfuls of gold.

"An elder met Yosef and declared, 'One who lends to Shabbat will be re-paid by Shabbat.'"

(Talmud, Shabbat 119a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

A true student

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 great day,
Mordechai

Adar!!!

Hi,

Since today (Tuesday) is the 1st of Adar:

"When the month of Adar enters, we increase our joy!"

(Talmud, Taant 29a)

Adar represents joyous redemption, born unexpectedly out of the depths of despair - even though it has been building for a long time, with a Divine plan. We see this in the Purim story, but it is reflected in other Adar-related themes as well (stay tuned for more in this week's derashah in shul...)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Controlled by Mazal

Hi,

There is much to say here - so much so that I will choose to leave it as an open canvas...

"Rava taught: Lifespan, children and livelihood depend not on merit, but on mazal."

(Talmud, Moed Katan 28a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Making a contribution to society

Hi,

"The Torah states, 'And Yaakov camped before the city.'

"Rav said he prepared a currency for them; Shemuel said he prepared marketplaces for them; Rabbi Yochanan said he prepared bathhouses for them."

(Talmud, Shabbat 33b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Confrontation

Hi,

"Our approach to and relationship with the outside world has always been of an ambivalent character, intrinsically antithetic, bordering at times on the paradoxical. We relate ourselves to and at the same time withdraw from, we come close to and simultaneously retreat from the world of Esau. When the process of coming nearer and nearer is almost consummated, we immediately begin to retreat quickly into seclusion. We cooperate with the members of other faith communities in all fields of constructive human endeavor, but, simultaneously with our integration into the general social framework, we engage in a movement of recoil and retrace our steps. In a word, we belong to the human society and, at the same time, we feel as strangers and outsiders."

(Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitichik, Confrontation [Tradition, 1964])

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Divine attention to the events of this world

Hi,

"Rabbi Simon taught: There is not a single blade of grass that lacks a constellation in the heavens that strikes it and says, ‘Grow!’

"This is the meaning of the verse (Job 38:33), ‘Do you know the laws of heaven? Can you establish its control over the earth?’"

(Midrash, Bereishit Rabbah 10:6)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Avoiding sexual impropriety

Hi,

"There is nothing in the entire Torah which is more difficult for a community to avoid than sexual impropriety...

"Therefore, one should take charge of his natural instincts and accustom himself to extra holiness and pure thought and proper character in order to be saved from this."

(Maimonides, Laws of Forbidden Relationships 22:18, 20)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Unacceptable Asceticism

Hi,

"A bad form of asceticism is one in which a person will not only refrain from unnecessary material things, but even from those material things which are necessary.

"They will pain themselves with suffering and strange activities, for which Gd has no desire. Just the opposite, the Sages taught (Taanit 22), 'It is prohibited to cause pain to one's self!'"

(R' Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Path of the Just, Chapter 13)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Potions

Hi,

A Talmudic concern for addiction:

"Rav said to his son Chiyya: Do not take potions."

(Talmud, Pesachim 113a)

Rashi (11th century commentator) explained: Do not make it your practice to drink potions, because they (the potions themselves) will establish a fixed time for their consumption, and your heart will request them, and you will squander your money on them.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Anger management

Hi,

"There are four types of personalities:

a) One who is easy to anger and easy to calm - he cancels his gain with his loss,

b) One who is difficult to anger and difficult to calm - he cancels his loss with his gain,

c) One who is hard to anger and easy to calm - this is pious,

d) One who is easy to anger and hard to calm - this is wicked."

(Pirkei Avot 5:11)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The danger of trivializing Torah

Hi,


"King David was punished for calling the words of Torah "songs," as he did in the verse (Psalms 119), 'Your laws were songs for me in the house of my dwelling.'

"Gd said to him: You call these words songs? Regarding those words it is written (Proverbs 23), 'Blink your eyes and they disappear (meaning that understanding them requires great concentration)!'"

(Talmud, Sotah 35a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Man starts helping others, and Gd completes the task

Hi,

"The Jewish people, providers of kindness, who involve themselves in the needs of the deceased, should not be overwhelmed and say, ‘How can we arrange and manage all of these processes and their associated recitations?’

"All follows one’s good intent; if a person does even a little, Gd will help him and support him greatly. A person begins and does not know how to complete the action, and then Divine assistance supports him and sets him straight."

(Rav Aharon Berachia of Modena, Maavar Yabok, Siftei Renanot 19)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The merit of Abraham brought us the Torah

Hi,

"At that moment [when Moshe sought to receive the Torah for humanity], the ministering angels tried to harm Moshe. Gd transformed Moshe’s face to resemble Avraham’s face. Gd said to them: Are you not ashamed before him? Isn’t this the one to whom you descended, and in whose home you ate?

"Gd then said to Moshe: The Torah was given to you only in the merit of Avraham. Thus it is written..."

(Midrash, Sh'mot Rabbah 28:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The essence of attending a wedding

Hi,

The Chafetz Chaim (Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, 19th-20th century Poland) was once at a wedding of a needy couple, and when the bride and groom left the chuppah and came to a point near where he was, he raced forward to greet them.

He explained to his students: It is practically theft to attend a wedding and not gladden the bride and groom, for that is why you are invited to the wedding!

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The penalty for enabling others to sin

Hi,

"Do not hate your neighbor in your heart; rather, rebuke your friend and do not bear sin for him."

(Leviticus 19:17)

This teaches that one who believes another person is sinning, and doesn't attempt to correct that behavior, is himself actually sinning.

The Magid of Dubna (Mashal 195) highlighted the liability of those who enable sin by citing the uneven relationship between an alcoholic and a person who provides alcoholic drinks for others.

The alcoholic who drinks and does something wrong, and then is punished for it, has performed a prohibited act and must pay the price. But the person who didn't even drink is going to have to pay the price without even receiving the "benefit" of the prohibited act!

Have a great day,
Mordechai

In honor of Tu b'Shevat

Hi,

[For those of you who read these posts as emails, this will come a day after Tu b'Shevat - but the thought is still valuable.]

Background: The Torah prohibits use of the fruit produced during the first three years of a tree's life. This fruit is called arlah.

"From the day that a seed or shoot of a fruit-tree is consigned to the earth with a view to producing fruit, the fruit belongs to the tree for the first three years. You may not take it for yourself, nor may you derive therefrom any enjoyment nor use it either directly or indirectly, but you must leave the fruit for the natural purpose of its species and thereby learn not to lose consciousness of the worth of things per se as creatures of Gd - an unawareness which is the result of pride of possession. Thus do you express in deed that you have only the lien upon things which their Creator and Lord bestows upon you temporarily."

(R' Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 303)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Tu b'Shevat

Hi,

Tu b'Shevat [celebrated on Monday February 9 this year] is the equivalent of January 1 in the Jewish tithing calendar for Israeli produce - it is the first day of the financial year. Therefore, tree-fruit which blossoms before Tu b'Shevat is tithed as part of one tithing cycle, and tree-fruit which blossoms after Tu b'Shevat is tithed in a different cycle.

To celebrate this day, and to express gratitude for the edible fruit of our trees, many Jews eat fruit on Tu b'Shevat.

(Mishneh Berurah 131:31)

[How do the different tithing cycles work? I'm glad you asked:
Each year's produce is tithed differently. In all non-shemitah years, 2% goes to the Kohanim and 10% to the Levites, but in certain years another 10% is brought to Yerushalayim to be eaten there, and in other years that last 10% is given to the needy.
Also: one may not tithe one year's produce using another year's produce.
Aren't you glad you asked?]

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Law leads to morality

Hi,

I know this one will be controversial, but it's a fascinating assertion, with great basis in Jewish tradition:

"Careful observance of law is the only path to perfection of morality."

(Chazon Ish, Emunah UBitachon)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Passing of Rabbi Noach Weinberg

Hello,

Today [Thursday], the Jewish people lost one of our most devoted teachers, a man who truly loved all, and sought to help all: Rabbi Noach Weinberg, zt"l.

My parents were involved with Rabbi Weinberg's "Aish haTorah" yeshiva back in the late '70s-early '80s. I have a photograph somewhere of me sitting on my parents' couch, next to Rabbi Weinberg, a Steinsaltz gemara open in front of us. I was maybe 9 or 10 years old, and wearing a "Yerushalayim" t-shirt and shorts, sitting next to a great rosh yeshiva who took the time to talk to me.

Seven or eight years later, I attended a day-long "Discovery" seminar for yeshiva students at Aish haTorah, and then a Shabbat at the yeshiva two years after that.

In later years I became a skeptic of some of the Aish haTorah program, and once had the chance to question Rabbi Weinberg about aspects of the Torah Codes. Although I couldn't accept his answers, it was clear that he genuinely believed in the program, and in applying it to wake Jews to their magnificent heritage.

Over the years I had the chance to hear Rabbi Weinberg speak several times, both live and otherwise. He was always electric, his hearty smile, his wonderful accent, his love of people... he was one of those people who make an impact on you because of their sincere warmth, even before you get to their message.

We were blessed to have Rabbi Weinberg among us as long as we did. He was a present to us from the דיין אמת (the Judge of Truth) who has now removed him from among us. May He send us more Rabbi Weinbergs, soon.

Yhi zichro baruch, May his memory be for a blessing,
Mordechai

Making light of a child's impropriety

Hi,

"A sage entered the home of a righteous Jew, and that righteous Jew had small children who would address each other by saying, 'Son of a Zonah [promiscuous woman], give us such-and-such.' The righteous Jew laughed.

"The sage said: Children who already know what 'son of a Zonah' means are accountable if they slander or curse their parents. Even if their parents are not offended, we may not permit them to slander, curse or strike their parents!"

(Sefer Chasidim 543)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Offering blessing to others

Hi,

"If a Kohen refuses to bless the nation (as he is instructed to bless them in Bamidbar 6), then he will not receive blessing from Gd.

"A Kohen who does bless the nation, though, will receive blessing as well, as Gd said (to Avraham), 'I will bless those who bless you.'"

(Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Prayer and the Raising of the Hands [for the blessing] 15:12)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

A reminder to think ahead

Hi,

Note: Mishlei frequently uses adultery as an allusion for other sins, specifically straying from service of Gd.

"Will a person stoke a fire in his cloak, without burning his clothes? Could a person walk on coals without burning his feet? So, one who lives with his neighbor's wife; one who so much as touches her will not be cleansed."

(Mishlei [Proverbs] 6:27-29)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Get moving!

Hi,

"Rabbi Tarfon said: The day is short and there is much work to do, and the laborers are lazy and there is much reward, and the employer is demanding."

(Pirkei Avot 2:15)

Have a great day,
Mordechai