My light and my salvation

Hi,

Tehillim 27:1 says, "For David - Gd is my light and my salvation, from whom will I fear?"

"The sages explained this sentence to refer to Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur - Gd is my light on Rosh HaShanah and my salvation on Yom Kippur."

(Midrash, Vayyikra Rabbah 21:4)

Good chodesh,
Mordechai

A Divine promise

Hi,

"If only My nation would listen to me, if Israel would walk in My ways. In a moment I would humble their enemies, and put My hand upon their foes."

(Tehillim 81:14-15)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

אתה זוכר מעשה עולם - You remember the deeds of al

Hi,

The following parable is meant to explain the praise expressed in the sentence, "You [Gd] remember the deeds of all," from the Rosh haShanah davening:

"This may be compared to a man whose young son says something wise, so that the father turns to him and enjoys his wisdom. Granted that the father's grasp and wisdom is incomparably greater than the child's, still, he lovingly reduces himself to the intellectual level of the child, to appreciate and enjoy the child's accomplishment.

"'You remember the deeds of all - You lower Yourself, as it were, to enjoy and be satisfied with our small deeds and service."

(Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev, Kedushat Levi for Rosh HaShanah, as cited in Shaarei Armon pg. 242)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The seriousness of the Ten Days of Repentance

Hi,

"Once, during the Ten Days of Repentance, they inquired in the synagogue regarding an object that had been lost. They invoked a cherem [decree excommunicating anyone who knew the object's whereabouts and did not tell]. Mahari Segal was outraged at the person who did this, saying that it is not appropriate to investigate with a cherem during that time period, when people's lives are in jeopardy."

(Maharil, Hilchot Aseret Yemei Teshuvah 5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Martyrdom, and punishment through one's descendants

Hi,

I'm really not sure what to say about this source, but it provides considerable food for thought:

"Some people sin in their lifetimes, and are punished for all of their sins only posthumously.

"For example: There was a learned person in a certain place where it was decreed that the community either adopt another religion or be killed. He told the population to adopt the other religion and then repent later. He adopted the other religion, as did they, and then the community returned to Judaism.

"Because they adopted that other religion upon his ruling, his descendants abandoned Torah, and he was punished as though he had caused all of them to sin."

(R' Yehudah haChasid, Sefer Chasidim 197)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Disciplining children

Hi,

"To nibble at sweets, to take pins, a pen, pieces of paper or ribbons, to read a book without the owner's permission, these things - which are properly theft - are often done by children unwittingly. You to whom a childish soul is entrusted must therefore watch over it, accustom it in its small world to justice, and it will surely practice it in the larger world."

(Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 343)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

On promiscuity

Hi,

"The results of lechery are unspeakable. The powers of the body become exhausted. Everything better and nobler in the man dies out. Man becomes a brute and knows only pleasure - and animal pleasure. Children, who should be the offspring for the future, from whom the future of the human race is built, enter the world - and have no father and mother to educate them to become true human beings! They have no home in which their noblest and most Divine part, their spirit and heart, may be cultivated and may develop, through the living parental example, into a useful and godly life.

"Woe to the time when the sexes do not keep themselves holy! Countries and States in vain seek for the cause of their decline - and do not see that they cease to be States as soon as their homes are ruined."

(Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 437)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Taking vows

Hi,

[This passage follows a discussion of the evils of taking vows, arguing that a Jew is not supposed to take vows.]

"Does the Torah not say, 'And Yaakov vowed,' and 'That which I have vowed, I will pay' [in apparent approval]?

"One could answer that in times of trouble this is permitted, as is taught in Bereishit Rabbah, "The Torah says: 'And Yaakov made a vow, to say' – 'To say' means to say to his descendants that they should also vow in times of need."

(Tosafot, Chullin 2b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

How to love Gd

Hi,

"For Maimonides, the true love of Gd is the intellectual love of Gd, that is, one begins with the intellectual knowledge of Gd, but then imbues that knowledge with drive, passion, and desire that are themselves cognitive in nature, thereby transforming intellectual knowledge of Gd into intellectual love of Gd."

(Professor Lawrence J. Kaplan, Rav Kook: The Jewish Philosophical Tradition, in Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook and Jewish Spirituality, pg. 53)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Rising for those who perform chesed

Hi,

"Rabbi Yosi bar Bun said: Those who stand before the dead are not standing before the dead, but before those who are performing chesed for it."

(Talmud Yerushalmi, Bikkurim 3:3)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Honoring performance of a mitzvah

Hi,

"See how great is the power of people performing mitzvot: Workers are not supposed to rise before elders while working, but they are supposed to rise before people who are performing mitzvot."

(Talmud Yerushalmi, Bikkurim 3:3)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Jewish Environmentalism

Hi,

"The root of this mitzvah [of not destroying fruit trees] is this: To teach us to love good and benefit, and to cling to it, and so goodness will cling to us and we will distance ourselves from evil and destruction.

"This is the path of the pious and people of great deeds; they love peace and are happy in the benefit of others, and they draw others close to Torah. They will not destroy anything, even a mustard seed, and they will be pained by any loss or destruction they see. If they can rescue anything from destruction, they will turn all of their strength to that goal. The wicked, brothers of vandals, are not like this; they rejoice at the destruction of the world, and they themselves destroy it."

(Sefer haChinuch, Mitzvah 529)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Love of Torah

Hi,

Devarim 27:9 – "Pay attention and listen, Israel! Today you became a nation."

"Was this the day when the Torah was given to Israel? That day was at the end of the forty years [of their travels]! Rather, this is meant to teach you that Torah is beloved to its students each day, just as it was on the day it was given at Mount Sinai."

(Talmud, Berachot 63b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

When suffering

Hi,

[Note: The following uses a non-literal read of Iyyov 22:25, a passage with which the classic commentators struggled.]

"One who brings the Name of Heaven into his suffering will receive double the support, as it is written (Iyyov 22:25), 'If Gd is with you in your troubles, then you will receive stronger silver.'"

[Rashi explains "bringing Gd's Name into one's suffering" as thanking Gd for our troubles as we do for our benefits, or as praying to Gd for aid in a time of trouble.]

(Talmud, Berachot 63a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

It all depends on this

Hi,

"Bar Kappara taught: What is a small section [of Torah] on which all of the major principles of Torah depend?

"It is Mishlei 3:6 - Know Gd in all of your ways, and He will straighten your paths."

(Talmud, Berachot 63a; Rashi explains that "knowing Gd" here refers to setting the service of Gd as your overriding goal)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Religious coercion, or assistance in developing your better self?

Hi,

"We confiscate assets from those who have vowed to bring burnt offerings or celebration offerings [if they delay fulfilling their vows].

"Even though the offering will not be acceptable [lit. 'atone'] without his agreement, per Vayyikra 1:3 which says 'according to his desire,' nonetheless, we compel him until he says, 'I desire.'"

(Mishnah, Arachin 5:6)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The power of harmful speech

Hi,

"[Evil] Speech can be worse than [evil] deeds, for we find that the verdict upon the wilderness generation was sealed only for their harmful speech, as it is written, 'They tested Me ten times, and did not heed My voice [and yet they were punished specifically for the sin with the Spies].'"

(Mishnah Arachin 3:5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Night: A Perspective

Hi,

"In keeping with the sequence of time as given in the Creation-story... we begin the day as from the preceding night. Night is thus for us not a time for resting from the occupations of the previous day, but rather for rallying our strength and preparing for the following day."

(Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 253)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

A judge's responsibility

Hi,

"Moshe said, 'HaShem, your Gd, has made you great.' This means: Gd elevated and raised you above your judges. He took the punishment [for injustice] from you, and placed the onus [entirely] upon the judges."

(Midrash, Sifri 9)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Jerusalem without a Temple

Hi,

"Yerushalayim is in the category of ‘degraded’ and ‘desolate’ as long as the Beit haMikdash is not built; the essence of Yerushalayim is the Beit haMikdash."

(Rav Tzvi Yehudah Kook, cited by Rav Shlomo Aviner, שלהבתיה pg. 5)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Failure to mourn for Jerusalem

Hello,

[This follows up on Saturday night's email, here.]

"When the body is separate from the heart which [normally] supports it, the body cannot survive. Therefore, when they did not mourn Jerusalem which was like a heart for a body… they were destroyed."

(Maharal to Gittin 56a)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Failure to mourn

Hi,

"If just this sin of failing to mourn Jerusalem properly was on our hands, that would suffice to extend our exile. In my eyes it is the closest, most obvious, greatest and most powerful cause for all of the great, terrible, frightening destructions which have found us in exile. Wherever we have scattered, they have been at our throats, never letting us rest among the nations, in lowliness and suffering and poverty, because this mourning left our heart when we were settled in lands not our own. We forgot Jerusalem; she never entered our heart."

(Rabbi Yaakov Emden, Commentary to Siddur, Laws of Tisha b'Av)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Punishment for failure to mourn

Hi,

"Three sages sitting together said: If anyone knows anything about Kfar Sakhnia in Egypt, let him speak.

[One told of a betrothed couple, taken captive, who refused to touch each other without a halachic marriage. The two others told of their commitment to justice.]

"Abbaye asked Rav Yosef: If they were so righteous, why were they punished?

"Rav Yosef explained: They did not mourn for Jerusalem, as it is written, 'Be glad with Jerusalem and rejoice in her, all who love her; rejoice with her, all who mourn for her.'"

(Talmud, Gittin 57a)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Kamtza and Bar Kamtza, Part III

Hi,

"Bar Kamtza told the governor (the Aramaic is "Caesar"; it is unclear what level of authority this was, though): The Jews are rebelling against you!

"The governor said: Who says?

"Bar Kamtza said: Send them a korban, and see whether they offer it up.

"The governor sent a 1/3-grown calf [or third-born, according to some commentators; this was supposed to be especially fine] with Bar Kamtza. En route, he blemished its lips, or some say its ears, in a spot which would be a blemish under our rules but not under Roman rules. [Commentators explain that this hinted to the stingy eye or harmful speech of the Jews of the time. Presumably it could also refer to the Sages who had angered Bar Kamtza by watching with their eyes and failing to speak up.]

"The sages thought to bring it [despite its blemish] to keep peace with the government, but Rabbi Zecharyah ben Avkulus said: People will say that blemished animals may be brought as offerings!

"The sages thought to kill Bar Kamtza to prevent him from informing the governor that they had not brought the offering, but Rabbi Zecharyah ben Avkulus said: People will say that one who blemishes an offering is killed!

"Rabbi Yochanan said: The patience [or, according to some, humility] of Rabbi Zecharyah ben Avkulus destroyed our house, burned our sanctum and exiled us from our land! [In the version of this story in Eichah Rabbah, Rabbi Zecharyah ben Avkulus was the head of the Sages at the party, and he did not prevent Bar Kamtza's ejection. He was humble/patient at the party, but when it came to this legal decision he spoke up.]

"The governor sent Neron Caesar against Jerusalem."

(Talmud, Gittin 56a)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Kamtza and Bar Kamtza, Part II

Hi,

Continuing the story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza from yesterday:

"Bar Kamtza said: I will pay for half of your feast!

"The host said: No.

"Bar Kamtza said: I will pay for your entire feast!

"The host said: No. He grabbed Bar Kamtza by the hand, picked him up and removed him. [Worth noting - He delegated invitations of friends to a servant, but handled the eviction of his enemy himself.]

"Bar Kamtza said: Since the Sages were sitting there and they did not protest, I see that this treatment is appropriate in their eyes! I will spread a harmful rumor about them to the palace."

(to be continued)

(Talmud, Gittin 56a)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Kamtza and Bar Kamtza, Part I

Hi,

"Because of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza, Jerusalem was destroyed.

"There was a man whose friend was Kamtza, and whose enemy was Bar Kamtza. [Some suggest these were father and son.] The man made a feast, and told his servant, 'Go bring me Kamtza.' The servant went and brought Bar Kamtza.

"The man came and saw Bar Kamtza sitting at the feast, and said to him, 'You are my enemy – what do you want here? Get up and leave!'

"Bar Kamtza said: Since I have come, leave me, and I will pay you for whatever I eat and drink.

"The man said: No."

To be continued…

(Talmud, Gittin 55b-56a)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

A danger of corporal punishment

Hi,

"Only the better student will respond to praise or criticism, and the nature of his response will depend very much on the training and treatment he has received at home. We would certainly be the last to support corporal punishment [in school]; indeed, we would be very much inclined to believe that a teacher who cannot cope with the everyday problems of school life without resorting to physical chastisement is in the wrong profession.

"But [regardless of what is done in school,] if thrashings are the order of the day at home, if the child has become accustomed to take criticism seriously only if he feels it upon his body, if he will listen to verbal admonition only if he sees the rod looming in the background, then the home has deadened the child's sense of morality. Such a child will hardly give his teacher's words of criticism at school the attention they deserve."

(Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Collected Writings 7:107)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai