The style of Prophets

Hi,

"‘And this is the berachah which Moshe blessed’ – Because Moshe spoke harsh things to Israel first… he then went back and told them consoling things… and from him all of the prophets learned to first address the Jews with harsh words and then to return with consoling words. No prophet spoke harsher words than Hosheia, who began with, “Gd, give them what You will give! Give them…”

(Sifri, Devarim 342)

Note: That passage from Hosheia is actually Hosheia 9:14, but it precedes the more merciful passages in the book.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Is there a mitzvah to seek converts?

Hi,

"The court blesses 'On the immersion of converts' before a [minor] convert's immersion, just as we bless before performing any other mitzvah.

"If one will ask where the court was instructed in this mitzvah, it is from [Avraham and Sarah], 'The lives they created [by teaching them Jewish beliefs] in Charan.'"

(Raavad, Baalei haNefesh, end of Shaar haTevilah)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Wearing the uniform

Hi,

"Rav Yehuda said, citing Rav: One who arrogantly wears the garb of a Torah scholar, when he is not a Torah scholar, will not be introduced into the enclave of Gd."

(Talmud, Bava Batra 98a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Wisdom vs. Prophecy

Hi,

"Better to be a wise person than to be a prophet."

(Talmud, Bava Batra 12a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Asarah b'Tevet - the Fast of the 10th of Tevet

Hi,

The fast of Asarah b’Tevet, the 10th day of Tevet, marks the beginning of the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem. It led to the destruction of the First Beit haMikdash, and the exile of the Jews to Babylon.

Today [Sunday 12/27/09] is Asarah b'Tevet. As we are taught regarding every fast other than Yom Kippur, the main merit of the fast is in donating to charity the money we would have spent on food.

(Talmud, Berachot 6b; Code of Jewish Law Orach Chaim 549:1; Mishneh Berurah 549:2)

Have an easy and meaningful fast,
Mordechai

The importance of social halachah

Hi,

"The day-to-day interactions between people, the treatment of one another in mundane conversation, in walking in the street, in traveling on a bus, or waiting in line to be served in a store, are no less the home of halakhah than are the activities of the synagogue or the kitchen, the study hall or the hospital bed."

(Rabbi Daniel Z. Feldman, The Right and the Good, pg. xii)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Taking credit by undermining others

Hi,

"How do we know that if a student sees his mentor erring in judgment, he should not say, 'I'll wait until he finishes, and then I will contradict him and present it on my own so that it will be known as my verdict?'

"It is written: 'You shall distance yourself from falsehood.'"

(Talmud, Shevuot 31a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Keeping the family together

Hi,

Bereishit 46:7 says regarding Yaakov: "His sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters and all of his seen, he brought with him to Egypt."

The Netziv commented:
"Yaakov's sons and his sons' sons came with Yaakov [to Egypt] on their own, because they had been instructed by Gd to descend to Egypt, and with them the prophecy of 'Your seed with be strangers' was fulfilled.

"Yaakov's daughters and his sons' daughters and his students were not instructed to do this, and could have married others in Egypt. Yaakov brought them to Egypt, though, to guard them and supervise them for as long as he could."

(Netziv, Haamek Davar to Bereishit 46:7)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Praying from the depths

Hi,

"One should not stand in an elevated place and daven [pray], but in a low place. It is written (Tehillim 130:1), 'I called You, Gd, from the depths.'"

(Talmud, Berachot 10b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Speaking before the deceased

Hi,

"One may only speak of matters related to the deceased, in front of the deceased."

(Talmud, Berachot 3b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The importance of establishing Jewish life in Israel

Hi,

"The sages taught: One may even write up a deed to purchase land in Israel on Shabbat.

"Do you really believe one could do this on Shabbat?! Rather, it is as Rava taught in another circumstance, that one may ask a non-Jew to do certain things on Shabbat, so in this case one may ask a non-Jew to do it. Although the sages prohibited asking a non-Jew to perform melachah on Shabbat, they did not create their decree in a case where that would prevent settlement of the land of Israel."

(Talmud, Gittin 8b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Responsibility toward the community

Hi,

In an address regarding our responsibility for our covenant with Gd, Moshe tells the Jews (Devarim 29:9), 'All of you are standing here, today.'

"This teaches that even though each individual is judged separately in terms of his personal level, still, each individual influences the judgment of the whole, whether for penalty or favor."

(Netziv, Haamek Davar, Devarim 29:9)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Chanukah's Durability

Hi,

Preface: Chanukah’s observance was recorded in Megilat Taanit, an ancient text which listed days when one may not fast or mourn.

"Rav and R’ Chanina said: Megilat Taanit is now void…

"Rav Kahana challenged: We learned, “Once they decreed a fast on Chanukah in Lod, and Rabbi Eliezer bathed and Rabbi Yehoshua took a haircut, and they told the community, ‘Now, fast to atone for your fasting!’”

“Rav Yosef said: Chanukah is different, for its observance is a mitzvah.

“Abbaye asked: Let it be void, and let its mitzvah be void!

“Rather, Rav Yosef said: Chanukah is different , for it publicizes a miracle.”

(Talmud, Rosh haShanah 18b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Judaism's Egalitarian Instincts

Hi,

"Great and small are equal before Gd. Betzalel was from Yehudah [the royal tribe] and Ahaliav was from Dan [a tribe of lesser standing], and one was paired with the other [to build the mishkan].

"R’ Chanina said: Great and small are equal… The Mishkan was created by these two tribes. So was the Beit haMikdash – Solomon from Yehudah, with Chiram, 'the son of a widow from the tribe of Naftali.'"

(Midrash, Sh'mot Rabbah 40:4)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Jews and Figs

Hi,

"Gd compared our ancestors to figs: Figs have many harvests, and so our ancestors performed many great deeds.

"Alternatively: “Like a first-born fig” – Figs do not have any dross at all, where every other food has dross which a person rejects. People do not throw away any part of figs. So HaShem said to Avraham, “You are complete and you have no flaw or lacking…"

(Midrash Tanchuma Lech Lecha 21)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The power of miracles

Hi,

“Know that via miracles, it becomes obvious to all that the world was created, and that there is a cause for all causes who created His world.”

(R’ Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, Kedushat Levi, Kedushah l’Chanukah 1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The menorah in the mishkan

Hi,

"Rav Sheshet asked: The Torah says, ‘He shall arrange it [the menorah in the mishkan] outside the curtain of the edut.’ Does Gd need its light? All through the forty years that the Jews traveled in the wilderness, they traveled only by His light!

"Rather: The menorah is testimony to all who enter the world, that the Shechinah is manifest in Israel."

(Talmud, Shabbat 22b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The importance of saying Thank You

Hi,

"Gd wanted to make Chizkiyahu into Mashiach, and Sancherev into Gog uMagog.

"Justice declared before Gd: Master of the Universe! David, king of Israel, said many songs and praises before You and You did not make him Mashiach. You performed all of these miracles for Chizkiyah and he did not sing before You – You will make him Mashiach?!"

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 94a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

A ninth day for Chanukah outside of Israel?

Hi,

"The Baal haIttim wrote: Why do we not celebrate nine days of Chanukah out of doubt, just as we celebrate nine days of Succot, keeping a ninth day because of uncertainty regarding the eighth day?

"He replied that it's because Succot is biblical, and the sages were strict regarding doubt for its observance since we no longer establish the calendar based on observation [of the moon]. Chanukah is rabbinic, though, and so the same sages who said to observe eight days of Chanukah are the ones who said to use the calculation of the molad [the moon's phase]."

(Avudraham, Chanukah)

[Note: I'm not clear on why he links the sfeika d'yoma [extra day of doubt] to a calculated calendar.]

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Three Menorahs

Hi,

"There are three different menorot: The menorah of Moshe Rabbeinu, the menorah of Zecharyah [in his prophetic vision] and the menorah of Matityahu.

"The two, from Moshe and Zecharyah, had seven lights each. Matityahu's, which is the menorah of Chanukah, had eight lights.

"One is for this world, and one is for the time of Mashiach; these are of seven, hinting at sets of seven, in that this world lasts for six thousand years and then the seventh thousand is entirely Shabbat.

"The menorah of Matityahu, of eight lights, is for the next world, as it is written (Tehillim 12:1), 'For the conductor, upon the eighth." The eighth is Shemini Atzeret, which is the great Jubilee, entirely holy. Shavuot is in the eight week, after we have counted seven weeks."

(Derashot R' Yehosua Ibn Shuib, Parshat Miketz)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Surrounded by the beauty of mitzvot

Hi,

"The mitzvah is to place the Chanukah light at the entrance that is close to the road [as opposed to a home entrance set back from the road, within a front yard].

"The mezuzah should be on the right and the Chanukah light on the left. This fulfills the verse (Shir haShirim 7:7), 'How beautiful you are, how pleasant you are!' How beautiful you are with the mezuzah, how pleasant you are with the Chanukah light."

(Masechet Sofrim 20:3)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Yaakov's final message to his children

Hi,

Regarding Yaakov's last message to his children, in Bereishit 49:

"Those who say that these are blessings are straying, because at the end of the section it says, 'And he blessed them.' But where are the blessings for Reuven, Shimon and Levi?

"Rather, this was Yaakov's prophecy, as it says, 'And this is what their father said to them,' and later he blessed them. But the Torah did not list the actual blessings."

(R' Avraham Ibn Ezra, Bereishit 49:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The sale of Yosef

Hi,

A statement on the cause of our national exile and slavery in Egypt, and a warning to parents:

"Because of the weight of two sela of silk which Yaakov added to Yosef's cloak, the matter developed and our ancestors descended to Egypt."

(Talmud, Megilah 16b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

True religious celebration

Hi,

"And when one eats and drinks he must also feed “the stranger, the orphan and the widow,” along with all other paupers and needy people. For one who closes his yard’s gates and eats and drinks with his childern and wife and does not feed the needy and people of bitter spirit, this is not joy of a mitzvah; it is joy of his belly.

"Regarding such people it says, “Their offerings are as bread of sadness; all who eat it will be contaminated, for their bread is for their lives.” Joy such as this is shame for them, as it is written, “I will scatter peresh upon your faces, the peresh of your holiday-offerings.”"

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Yom Tov 6:18)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Purifying the day, Purifying one's self

Hi,

"When a person repents, his repentance involves two levels.

"One level is that he corrects the corruption and returns to the state of completeness which he possessed before his sin. Even if he has not yet ascended to the level he occupied before his sin, still, since he has abandoned his wickedness it is impossible to say that this day possessed no purity. Even though we will discover, upon gauging this person’s status, that he has not yet performed according to what was set out of him, for he should have ascended to a level higher than the one he occupies and he did not do so, still, since he had already descended to evil and he has now returned and created a new heart to serve HaShem, he has already performed and corrected much on that day.

"The day is then pure in itself, but the person, himself, is not yet pure until he adds strength in his awe of Gd and his closeness to Gd, and he desires with greater strength than he had before his sin, so that he will ascend to a greater level than he had before. Then his purity will return to him as a person, as he had been pure in terms of the day at the start of his repentance."

(R' Avraham Yitzchak haKohen Kook, Ein Ayah to Berachot 1:3)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The mitzvah of sanctifying Gd's Name

Hi,

"The ninth mitzvah is that He instructed us to sanctify the Name, as it is written, 'And I will be sanctified among the children of Israel.

"This mitzvah means that we are instructed to publicize this true faith in the world, and that we should not fear harm from any attacker."

(Rambam, Sefer haMitzvot, Aseh 9)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Esav kisses Yaakov

Hi,

"‘And he kissed him’ has dots atop it, for he did not kiss Yaakov with all of his heart.

"R’ Shimon bar Yochai said: It is known halachah that Esav hates Yaakov, but his mercies were reversed at that moment, and he kissed Yaakov with all of his heart."

(Sifri, Behaalotcha 69)

Have a great day,
Mordechai