The point of being elevated

Hi,

"When Gd elevates a person in status, he should not take pleasure in his own ascent. Rather, his essential focus should be on elevating others, guiding the nation of Gd in the path of Gd, and elevating sparks to Gd."

(R' Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, Kedushat Levi to Parshat Vayyigash אנכי אעלך גם עלה)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

One Mentor or Many Mentors? (Part III)

Hi,

The concluding passage in this series:

"Rav Chisda told the Sages: I wish to tell you something, but I worry that you will then abandon me! One who learns Torah from a single mentor will never see a sign of blessing.

"They abandoned him and went to learn before Rava.

"Rav Chisda then told them: This is only for logic, but for gemara [absorption of core text] it is better to learn from one mentor, so that he will not have conflicting texts."

(Talmud, Avodah Zarah 19a-b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

One Mentor or Many Mentors? (Part II)

Hi,

Part II of III

"Rabbi Meir said: If you have learned from one rav, do not say, ‘It is enough for me,’ but go to learn Torah with another sage.

"Do not go to all, but go first to one who is close to you, as it is written (Mishlei 5:15), ‘Drink water from your cistern, and flowing water from your well.’"

(Avot d'Rabbi Natan 3:6)

To be continued...

Have a great day,
Mordechai

One Mentor or Many Mentors? (Part I)

Hi,

"“Make a rav for yourself” – How? This teaches that one should make himself a fixed rav, and learn mikra, mishnah, midrash, halachah and aggada from him. If the rav were to omit an explanation in mikra, he would say it in mishnah. If the rav were to omit a reason in mishnah, he would say it in midrash. If the rav were to omit an explanation in midrash, he would say it in halachah. If the rav were to omit a reason in halachah, he would say it in aggada. Thus this person will sit in his place and be filled with good and blessing.

"Rabbi Meir would say: To what may we compare someone who learns Torah from one rav? To someone who owns one field, and plants part with wheat and part with barley, part with olives and part with other trees, and thus this person will be filled with good and blessing.

"When someone learns from two or three, he is like someone who has many fields, and who plants one with wheat, another with barley, one with olives and another with other trees. Thus he is scattered among the lands, with neither good nor blessing."

(Avot d'Rabbi Natan 8:1-2)

This is not the whole picture, though. To be continued...

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Transcending our obligations

Hi,

"Casual partaking of food - i.e., a piece of bread the size of an egg, or a cooked dish of the five kinds of grain; fruit, wine and water when not taken as part of a meal; all these may be consumed outside the sukkah...

"However, he who is fully imbued with the significance of the sukkah will not drink even water outside it."

(R' Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horeb paragraph 222A)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Repentance matters more than fasting

Hi,

"Know and understand that although the sages have said, ‘Fasting is good for a [bad] dream like fire for flax,’ that is only if one repents along with the fast."

(Sefer Chasidim 226)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Accepting tzedakah

Hi,

"If people give a person tzedakah because he studies Torah or is involved in mitzvot and good deeds, he should not use it; he should give it to someone who is as great as he, and involved in Torah and mitzvot as he is.

"However, if they say, ‘We are giving it to you on condition that you will not give it to anyone else,’ then he may not even give it to a greater person, much less a lesser person."

(Sefer Chasidim 329)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Call your parents

Hi,

"One who leaves his parents’ town to travel to a dangerous place, such that his parents are fasting or at least in pain [while worrying about the danger], is obligated to hire a messenger as soon as possible to write to his parents that he has made it through the dangerous area and arrived at his destination. This way they will not be pained or fast further."

(Sefer Chasidim 576)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Honesty

Hi,

"The prophet Tzefanyah said (Tzefaniah 3:13), ‘The remnant of Israel will not perform corrupt acts and will not speak falsehood, and misleading language will not be found in their mouths.’

"Therefore: If one has a son or daughter, one may not say, ‘They wanted to give me a great sum for my daughter to marry so-and-so,’ or, ‘They wanted to give me a great sum for my son to marry so-and-so,’ or, ‘They wanted to give me a great sum for my merchandise,’ when such had never occurred."

(Sefer Chasidim 338)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The fatal pursuit of honor

Hi,

"One should not pursue honor, for it buries those who possess it. Many righteous people died in office, because the designated time had come for the next person to take office, and the former was pushed away because of the latter."

(Sefer Chasidim 558)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Pray in a language you understand

Hi,

"If a Gd-fearing person who does not understand Hebrew comes to you... tell him to learn the prayers in whatever language he understands, for prayer is only with the heart's comprehension. If the heart does not understand what he utters with his mouth, what good is it> Therefore, it would be better for him to pray in the language he understands."

(Sefer Chasidim 588)

[To which I always add: But he should then take the time to learn Hebrew, and not forever rely on translations...]

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Shabbat clothes

Hi,

"It is written [regarding Shabbat] (Isaiah 58), 'You shall honor it.' This teaches that one's Shabbat clothing should be different from one's weekday clothing."

(Talmud, Shabbat 113a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

King David and Bathsheba

Hi,

"Anyone who says that David sinned [with Batsheva] is only mistaken. It is written (Shemuel I 18), 'And David was insightful in all of his ways, and Gd was with him' - could he have sinned, and still had Gd with him?

"Then how do I understand the sentence (Shemuel II 12), 'Why did you disgrace the word of Gd, to commit this evil?' That he wished to do it [sleep with Batsheva before she received her get of divorce], but he did not actually do so."

(Talmud, Shabbat 56a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Intellectual equilibrium

Hi,


"When a drop of water falls into a cup filled with oil, a drop of oil is forced out.

"So, too, when a Torah thought enters the heart a thought of mockery is forced out, but if a thought of mockery enters the heart then a Torah thought is forced out."

(Midrash Shir haShirim Rabbah 1)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Consideration for others

Hi,

"Rabbi Akiva instructed his son, Rabbi Yehoshua: Never enter your own home suddenly (lest you surprise someone), and certainly not your friend's home."

(Talmud, Pesachim 112a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Adding to the Torah, and subtracting therefrom

Hi,

"Prohibition #313 instructs us not to add to the written or received Torah, as it is written, 'Do not add to it.'"

(Maimonides, Book of Mitzvot)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Gd and Evil

Hi,

A provocative statement:

"All is envisioned by Gd beforehand; even the evil which Gd does not want to take place is foreseen...and Gd gives permission for that to occur, too."

(Maharal on Pirkei Avot 3:15)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Strengthening the lands in which we live

Hi,

I have been told that some readers are having trouble viewing these daily emails in Microsoft Outlook; please let me know if you are among them, and how you have corrected the problem. Thanks.

"It is therefore Israel's religious duty, a duty imposed by Gd and no less holy than all the others, in whatever land they dwell in, not only to fulfill all the duties which the law of that land explicitly lay down, but over and above that, to do with thought, word and deed everything that contribute to the weal of that nation."

(R' Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 609)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Rav Kook on Organizational Operations

Hi,

"What I find difficult is that most of the practical-minded people who are drawn to our movement turn their eyes to matters of authority, while my own eyes and heart are raised to the spiritual content and the foundation in sanctity.

"It is clear to me that however the matters of authority go, if a sacred spirit is with them then they will turn out for the best."

(R' Avraham Yitzchak haKohen Kook, Letter from 1919, Igrot haRa'ayah 3:262)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Divine Control and Free Will

Hi,

"The evil a person commits generates its own evil, and the good generates its own good…

"This is what Gd desired when He created the world – He wanted one human being to be able to affect another, even to do harm, and even for evil to happen to a person on earth simply because of bad Mazal."

(R’ Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin, Emek haNetziv, Sifri Bamidbar 42)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Bundle up!

Hi,

"Colds and fevers are in the hand of the fool; one who guards his life will distance himself from them."

(Mishlei 22:5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Learning not to complain

Hi,

"In the fall, Rachel and Rabbi Akiva slept in a straw storage area, and she picked straw from his beard. He told her, 'If I had it, I would give you a Yerushalayim shel zahav [a beautiful gold ornament with the horizon of Jerusalem]!'

"Eliyahu haNavi came and appeared as a person and called at the gate, saying, 'Give me a little straw, for my wife has given birth and we have nothing on which she could lie.' R’ Akiva told his wife, 'See, this man even lacks straw!'"

(Talmud, Nedarim 50a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The pain of Rabbi Eliezer, the teacher of Torah

Hi,

"[When Rabbi Eliezer was on his deathbed] he took his two arms and placed them on his chest and said: Woe to you, my two arms, which are like two rolled Torah scrolls!

"I have learned much Torah, and I have taught much Torah. I have learned much Torah, but I took from my mentors only as a dog takes from water. I taught much Torah, but my students only took from me as an applicator takes from eye make-up.

"Further, I studied 300 laws regarding a strong white baheret mark [of tzaraat], and no one ever asked me about them! And I studied 300 laws – some say 3000 laws – in planting cucumbers, and no one ever asked me about them, except Akiva ben Yosef!"

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 68a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Blessing of Convenience

Hi,

There is a biblical blessing (Devarim 28:3), 'You will be blessed in the city, and you will be blessed in the field.' It seems to be superfluous, since it is surrounded by other passages blessing your domestic and agricultural prospects. The Talmud explains that this is meant to be a blessing of convenience:

"Rav taught: 'You will be blessed in the city' means that your house will be near the synagogue; 'You will be blessed in the field' means that your business will be near the city."

(Talmud, Bava Metzia 107a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

When cruelty is mercy?

Hi,

"Cruelty toward people who trick others into following emptiness, is an act of mercy toward the rest of the world, as it is written, 'That Gd may retreat from His anger and give you mercy.'"

(Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Sanhedrin 11:5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Idea Recycling

Hi,

"There are things regarding which people say, 'See, this is new,' but they already existed forever, in the generations before us."

(Kohelet 1:10)

Have a great day,
Mordechai