The importance of welcoming guests

Hi,

Preface: The nations of Ammon and Moav, descendants of Sarah's brother Lot, were living east of Canaan when the Jews arrived from the desert. The Jews requested safe passage, and were denied, and the result is that the Torah [Devarim 23] instructed us not to marry [male] Ammonites and Moabites.

"Rabbi Yochanan said, in the name of Rabbi Yosi ben Kisma: Offering a meal is so great that its absence caused two families to be distanced from Israel!"

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 103b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

It's the thought that counts

Hi,

When the Jews who had just escaped Egypt were attacked by Amalek, they fought back under the leadership of Yehoshua, while Moshe prayed to HaShem.

The Torah says (Sh'mot 17), 'When Moshe raised his hands, the Jews were victorious. When Moshe rested his hands, Amalek was victorious.' On this, the Talmud comments:

"Did Moshe's hand make war or break war?! Rather, as long as the Jews looked heavenward and bound their hearts to their Father in heaven, they were victorious. Otherwise, they fell."

(Talmud, Rosh HaShanah 29a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Creating honor and pleasure for Yom Tov

Hi,

"One should not scrimp on Yom Tov (holiday) expenditures; one must create honor and pleasure for the day, just as for Shabbat."

(Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 529:1)

Have a great Yom Tov,
Mordechai

The seventy sparks of Torah

Hi,

"It was taught in the yeshiva of Rabbi Yishmael: The Torah says, 'It [Torah] is like a hammer, splitting stone.' Just as a hammer is split into many sparks, so every one of Gd's declarations was split into seventy sparks."

[Note: Rashi and Tosafot disagree as to whether the stone or the hammer splits in this metaphor. I have followed the view of Tosafot here.]

(Talmud, Shabbat 88b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Yom haMeyuchas

Hi,

Today [Monday] is a special day on the calendar: Yom haMeyuchas יום המיוחס.

"Yichus יחוס" is usually used in reference to lineage, but it means "association." Someone with "good yichus" is someone who has good associates. Similarly, a day that is "meyuchas" is a day with special associates.

There are two common explanations for why this day has special yichus:

1. One reading of the pesukim detailing the dialogue between HaShem and Moshe before Sinai shows that on this day Moshe conveyed HaShem's message, "You will be a kingdom of kohanim and a sacred nation," to the Jews. (Taamei haMinhagim)

2. This day has nothing inherently special, but it is the day after Rosh Chodesh and the day before the 3 days of preparation for the presentation of the Torah, and that gives it special status.

Either way, Happy Yom haMeyuchas!
Mordechai

"We will do and we will hear"

Hi,

On the value of our ancestral commitment to obedience to Gd, which preceded Gd's actual instructions:

"When the Jews said 'We will do' before 'We will hear,' a heavenly voice declared to them: Who has revealed this secret, which the angels use, to My children?

"It is written [regarding the angels], 'Bless Gd, His angels, mighty ones who perform His word, to hear the voice of his command.' First the angels commit to action, and only later do they hear the specific instruction."

(Talmud, Shabbat 88a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Poverty of Rabbi Akiva and Rachel

Hi,

"Each day R’ Akiva would bring a bundle of wood. Half he would sell to support himself, and the other half he would use for his own needs. His neighbors complained, saying to him, ‘Akiva! You have destroyed us with smoke! Sell the wood to us, and purchase oil with the money and study by the light of a lamp!’

"He replied, ‘I meet many needs with the wood; I use part to study, part to warm myself and part on which to sleep.’

"R’ Akiva will make paupers liable for judgment, for when they are asked [by Gd], ‘Why did you not learn Torah’ and they reply, ‘Because we were poor,’ they will be told, ‘R’ Akiva was exceptionally poor and destitute!’ And when they say, ‘We had children,’ they will be told, ‘R’ Akiva had sons and daughters.’ But they will say: It is because of the merit of his wife Rachel.

"R’ Akiva went to study Torah when he was forty years old. After thirteen years he taught Torah publicly.

"They said: He did not pass away until he had tables of silver and gold, and he ascended to his bed with ladders of gold. His wife had tunics and a "City of Gold" ornament. His students said: Our master, you have embarrassed us with what you have made for her! R’ Akiva replied: She endured great pain with me, for Torah."

(Avot d'Rabbi Natan 6:2)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Yom Yerushalayim - Anniversary of the Reunification of Jerusalem

Hi,

In honor of the 42nd Yom Yerushalayim, celebrated Friday, the 28th of Iyyar:

"Seek the peace of Jerusalem; may those who love you have peace."
(Psalms 122:6)

"May Gd bless you from Zion, and may you see the good of Jerusalem, all the days of your life."
(Psalms 128:5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The student aids the teacher

Hi,

"Students increase the knowledge of the teacher, and broaden his heart [meaning, his understanding]....

"Just as a small piece of wood kindles a large piece, so even a student with little knowledge sharpens the teacher until he produces, via his questions, beautiful knowledge."

(Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Torah Study 5:13)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Turn empathy into action

Hi,

"Not only shall your heart know how to shed tears of pity and to bring consolation to the distressed. Where you can contribute counsel and help to your brothers and sisters, above all to the orphaned, and be the founder of their domestic hearth and the promoter of their happiness, there give freely whatsoever fine and noble you have to give by counsel and deed, in strength and endeavour."

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 579)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The music of Judaism

Hi,

"Every mitzvah and every halachah has a unique musical character, to which the Jewish nation listens and which it enjoys."

(R' Kook, Eder haYakar v'Ikvei haTzon 48)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Parental honor

Hi,

"When the sages said, 'If a parent forgives his honor, it is forgiven,' that is only in terms of human-executed justice. In Divine justice, a child is still liable for showing disrespect to a parent."

(Sefer Chasidim 573)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

An elixir of national life

Hi,

"We have in our hands an elixir of life for the world, in the sense of national life.

"It is agreed among historians that a nation must die and pass from the world, for almost all of the ancient nations have passed and been annulled from the world. If there is some nation surviving from ancient times, then it did not endure exile, and it was not developed properly, as an influence on the world. To be a living, active nation, strong and tested enough to to conquer many challenges, this has never been seen in the world other than in Israel, via the Name of Gd which is tied to them, and the elixir of life, the Torah of life, which is among them.

"This elixir of life will spread from us to the entire world, and the nations will rejoice and sing, for You will judge nations equally, and You will guide the nations upon earth."

(R' Avraham Yitzchak haKohen Kook, Orot haTechiyyah 157)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The love of teaching Torah

Hi,

Rabbi Akiva made the following comment while jailed by the Romans for the crime of teaching today; he was eventually brutally murdered by his jailers. At one point, Rabbi Akiva refused to teach his student, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, but he explained:

"My son! More than the calf wishes to drink, the cow wishes to nurse!"

(Talmud, Pesachim 112a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Sometimes, a sharp response is necessary

Hi,

"Be not sweet, lest they swallow you up."

(Rabbeinu Yonah to Pirkei Avot 5:11)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

True joy

Hi,

"This is true joy: That a person's heart celebrates because he merits to serve before the incomparable Gd, to be immersed in Gd's Torah and mitzvot, which are true completeness and eternal splendor."

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

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The beginnings of redemption, in the land of Israel itself

Hi,

"It is true - the beginning of redemption definitely continues to appear before us. However, this revelation did not begin today, but from the time when the revealed end began to be revealed, from the time when the mountains of Israel began to produce branhes and bear fruit for the Jewish nation which had come closer. That is when the beginning of redemption was initiated."

(R' Avraham Yitzchak haKohen Kook, Igrot Ra'ayah 3:155, based on Yechezkel 36:8 and Sanhedrin 98a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

What anger indicates

Hi,

When a person is angry, even Gd is not important to him, as it is written…
When a person is angry, he forgets his learning and increases his foolishness, as it is written…
When a person is angry, it is a sign that his sins are greater than his merits, as it is written…

(Talmud, Nedarim 22b)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Intimidation in the household

Hi,

"One who creates excess fear in his home will, in the end, come to immorality, murder and desecration of Shabbat."

(Talmud, Gittin 6b; Rashi there explains how intimidation leads to each of these)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

The Chafetz Chaim on Chazzanut

Hi,

"Early authorites have already spoken at length about the disgrace of singers who extend and separate one letter from its neighbor and one word from its neighbor.

"This corruption is especially prevalent in the tunes at the end of a berachah, when the congregation replies Amen: Sometimes they answer before the chazan actually completes the berachah, and sometimes they extend the tune after the conclusion of the [last] word and they reply Amen after a great interruption."

(Mishneh Berurah 281:4, citing Pri Megadim)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The limits of vocational education

Hi,

"While, however, this training for earning a living is unquestionably a father's duty, beware of seeing in it the whole of that duty and of thinking that you have done enough if your child is able to keep body and soul together by his own efforts, or even to set up house. Of what use are a living and a home to him if his spirit is unilluminated, if he knows how to make a living but not to live as a Jew?"

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb paragraph 552)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Accidental lashon hara

Hi,


"Rav Dimi, brother of Rav Safra, taught: A person should not speak positively about another, for as a result of saying that which is positive, one may come to say that which is negative."

(Talmud, Bava Batra 164b)

[If you have ever complimented a person in front of someone who disagrees with the compliment, you know what this means...]

Have a great day,
Mordechai

What righteous people do

Hi,

"Pure righteous people do not complain about evil, but increase righteousness.

"They do not complain about heresy, but increase faith.

"They do not complain about ignorance, but increase wisdom."

(R' Avraham Yitzchak haKohen Kook, Arpilei Tohar)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Sins of the parents

Hi,

(This passage is a little more complex than those I usually bring, but the topic warrants it.)

"Why do we need the verse, ‘Children will not be put to death for their parents?’ If it is to reach that parents won’t die for their children’s sins and children will not die for their parents’ sins, it is already written, ‘Each man will die for his own sins!’…

"But wait - You say children will not die for their parents’ sins? It is written, ‘He remembers the sins of the parents on their kids!’ No; that is where they continue their parents’ sins."

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 27b)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Anticipating reward for mitzvot

Hi,

"The sages also instructed us that one should not make some entity into the essence of his service and his fulfillment of mitzvot.

"This was the statement of the complete one, the pious one, the one who grasped the truth, Antignos Ish Socho: Do not be as servants who serve the master in order to receive a prize, but be as servants who serve the master on condition that they not receive a prize."

(Rambam, Commentary to Mishnah, Introduction to the tenth chapter of Sanhedrin)

[Note the key variation from the standard text of Pirkei Avot 1:3.]

Have a great day,
Mordechai