Don't send money

Hi,

Explaining Zechariah's prophet instructions to accept gifts sent to the second Beit haMikdash by Cheldi, Toviah and Yedayah, who were Babylonian Jews:

"The people of the Second Temple did not wish to accept gifts from those who did not ascend to Jerusalem, who remained in Babylon, since they had not 'come to the aid of Gd among the mighty' (Judges 5:23)…

"Zecharyah explained why they should take from the hands of these men, because they had come to stay in the house of Yoshiyah ben Tzefaniah, a Jerusalemite, Gd-fearing and desirous of Gd's mitzvot. His name indicated his nature: "Yoshiyah" like the king who returned to Gd with all of his heart and soul, and "Tzefaniah" was known and reputable, and perhaps he was even Tzefaniah the prophet. Tzefaniah was of those who had come from Babylon for the construction of the Beit haMikdash. Because Cheldi, Toviah and Yedayah were Gd-fearing men of truth, and because of the honour of Yoshiyahu ben Tzefaniah with whom they were staying, it would be appropriate to accept their silver and gold contribution.""

(Abarbanel to Zecharyah 6)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The remarkable nature of DNA

Hi,

"It is Gd’s greatness that He created DNA such that one will not resemble another. It is like a fingerprint or a dental photograph, or even a person's photograph, which the authorities have written is reliable as evidence."

(R' Zalman Nechemiah Goldberg (2002), Kol Tzvi Vol. IV page 27)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Accepting scientific observation

Hi,

"We must believe the words of the Greeks, that the rainbow is created by the shining of the sun through moist air, for in a vessel of water set out in the sun one may observe a sort of rainbow."

(Ramban to Bereishit 9:12, regarding the biblical significance of the rainbow)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Free on a technicality - but not for long

Hi,

"R’ Shimon ben Shetach once reported: I saw a man pursuing another person into a ruin and I pursued him. I found a sword in his hand, with blood dripping and the murdered man still shuddering.

"I said: “Wicked one, who killed this man? It was either you or I - but what can I do? Your blood is not given into my hand, for the Torah says (Deuteronomy 17), ‘The man will be killed by the word of two witnesses.’ May the One who knows all thoughts punish him for killing this man!”

"They say that the two of them did not leave the spot before a serpent bit the man, and he died."

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 37b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Dreams: The interpretation is what matters

Hi,

"Rav Chisda said: A dream which has not been interpreted is like a [royal] decree which has not been proclaimed."

(Talmud, Berachot 55a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

A river, a bird and a kettle

Hi,

"Rabbi Chanan said: There are three signs of peace [in a dream] - a river, a bird and a kettle.

"A river - For the verse says, 'I spread peace upon it, like a river.'

"A bird - For the verse says, 'Gd will protect you like flying birds.'

"A kettle - For the verse says, 'Gd will arrange [the same verb used to describe arranging a kettle on a stove] peace for us.'

"This refers to a kettle which does not contain meat, for another verse states, 'You have sliced them like the contents of a pot, and like meat in a cauldron.'"

(Talmud, Berachot 56b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The symbolism of White

Hi,

"Rabbeinu Saadya Gaon wrote that since the first Greek king was Alexander of Macedonia - who was a philosophical scholar, and wisdom is white and pure - therefore Zecharyah's vision portrayed his reign with white [horses]."

(Radak to Zecharyah 6:3)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Eliminating the yetzer hara

Hi,

"'And they called out to Gd in a great voice (Nehemiah 9)' – What did they say?

"Rav or R' Yochanan said, 'Woe, woe! This [yetzer hara - inclination toward evil] is the one who destroyed the Temple, burned His sanctuary and killed all of the righteous people and exiled Israel from their land, and still he dances among us! You only gave him to us so that we could receive reward; we do not want him, or his reward!'…

"They fasted three days and nights and Gd gave him to them. Something resembling a lion of fire emerged from the Holy of Holies, and the prophet told Israel, "This is the yetzer of idolatry," as it says (Zecharyah 5), 'And he said: This is wickedness.'

"When they grabbed it, a hair of its beard fell out and it screamed, and its voice travelled 400 parsah. They said, 'What should we do? Maybe, Gd-forbid, Heaven will have mercy upon him!' The prophet told them, 'Put him in a lead container and cover its mouth with lead, for lead absorbs sound.' Thus it is written, 'And he said: This is wickedness. And he cast it into the ephah and he cast a piece of lead to her mouth.'

"They said, 'Since this is a time of mercy, let us ask for mercy regarding the yetzer for immorality.' They prayed and it was given into their hands. They said, 'See that if we were to kill it, the world would be destroyed!' They imprisoned it for three days and sought a fresh egg in Israel and couldn't find one.

"They said, 'What shall we do? If we were to kill it, we would destroy the world. Let us ask for mercy upon part – but the Heavens do not go partway!' They put alcohol in his eye and let him go, and this was effective to the point that people do not feel desire for their relatives.

"In Israel they explained [the above-cited words 'a great voice'] thus: Rav Gidel said, 'Great – They elevated Him with the great Name.' Rav Matna said, 'The powerful, the great, the mighty, the awesome.'"

(Talmud, Yoma 69b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Two ways Gd mitigates a person's sin

Hi,

"[How does HaShem employ mercy in judgment, as the Torah says ?]

"R' Elazar said: He hides sin [i.e. overlooking it].

"R' Yosi b"R' Chanina said: He elevates that side of the scale [i.e. decreasing the weight assigned to it]."

(Talmud, Arachin 8b, as explained by Rashi there; but note Rashi Rosh HaShanah 17a and Maharsha to Arachin 8b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Israel and the Diaspora - A more positive side

Hi,

"Isaiah 27:6 says, 'Israel will bloom and flower.' Rav Yosef taught: These are the scholars of Babylon, who produce blooms and flowers for Torah."

(Talmud, Shabbat 145b)

[Note: Rav Yosef was in Israel.]

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Animosity between Israel and Diaspora

Hi,

"Mishnah: They made a ramp for him [the person transporting the scapegoat on Yom Kippur], for the Babylonians would pull his hair, saying, 'Take it and go! Take it and go!'

"Rabbah bar bar Chanah said: They were not Babylonians; they were Alexandrians, but because the Israelis hated the Babylonians they identified this group by their name."

(Talmud, Yoma 66b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Job on Dreams

Hi,

"For Gd speaks in one way, and in two ways although Man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumberings upon the bed, then He opens the ear of men, and in rebuking them He seals the decree, dissuading a person from action and concealing arrogance from him, to save his soul from the pit and his life from passing by the sword."

(Iyyov [Job] 33:14-18)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Explaining prophetic visions

Hi,

"The Rambam (Moreh haNevuchim 3:43) has already explained that prophets see things which are familiar to them, which reflect the name of the item they are meant to see, whether by analogy or by shared name. It is as though the imagination is showing them something with a shared name."

(R' Isaac Abarbanel to Zecharyah 5, pg. 213)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Birkat Kohanim by a kohen who took a life

Hi,

"Mechaber: If a kohen kills someone, even accidentally, he should not recite the blessing of the kohanim even after he repents.

"Rama: Some say that if he repents then he may recite this blessing. One should be lenient for penitents so as not to discourage them, and this is the practice."

(Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 128:35)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The legitimacy of today's Kohen pedigree

Hi,

"I have seen someone write that in our day, when we don't have documented lineage for our kohanim, it would be appropriate for each kohen to be concerned that perhaps he may not be a kohen, and so he should return the redemption funds given to him in Pidyon haBen, and he may be obligated to separate money for himself for his own redemption. In my opinion, though, it is prohibited to hear such things, to reduce the level of the kohanim and cause their degradation. Gd forbid that one should say such a thing…."

[He then continues to bring halachic proof to his point.]

(R' Yechiel Michel Epstein, Aruch haShulchan Yoreh Deah 305:55)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Remain productive in your senior years

Hi,

"People are wont to say: An elderly man in the home is a burden [alternative translation: loss] in the house; An elderly woman in the home is a treasure to the home."

(Talmud, Arachin 19a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The nature of community

Hi,

"In general, nations gather in order to benefit their individual members; the mass entity has no independent existence, and so the role of the community, among these nations, is really a partnership… Regarding Israel, though, community and partnership are two separate concepts… Jewish community has an overall sanctity and independent character which has nothing to do with the portion of each individual."

(Rav Avraham Yitzchak haKohen Kook, Mishpat Kohen 124)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Justifying evil as righteousness

Hi,

"One's [evil] inclination, particularly if he is a Torah scholar, does not suggest he commit an apparent and obvious sin; rather, it dresses up the sin in the guise of a mitzvah, and so it misleads even the greatest of the great. The primary example of this is the sale of Joseph; the brothers of Joseph were convinced that he had the status of a [malicious] pursuer."

(Rav Moshe Tzuriel, Otzrot haTorah pg. 228, as translated by R' Ezra Goldschmiedt in Toronto Torah)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Mazal

Hi,

"R' Chanina said: Mazal makes one wise, mazal makes enriches, and mazal affects Israel.

"R' Yochanan said: There is no mazal for Israel. R' Yochanan follows the view he expressed elsewhere: "How do we know that there is no mazal for Israel? Yirmiyahu 10:2 says, 'So says Gd: Do not learn the ways of the nations, and do not fear the signs of the heavens, for the nations fear them.' The nations fear them; Israel does not.""

(Talmud, Shabbat 156a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

What caused the delinquency of a sage?

Hi,

"What happened with Acher [to lead him to abandon Torah]? Greek song did not leave his mouth. They say that when he stood from the study hall, many books of heretics fell from his lap."

(Talmud, Chagigah 15b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Why part of the Torah was meant to be transmitted verbally

Hi,

"R' Yehudah haLevi b'R' Shalom said: Moshe requested that mishnah be put in writing as well, but Gd saw that the nations would translate the [written] Torah and read it in Greek and say, "We are Israel, too," and so Gd said, "I will write [only] the majority of My Torah [and so] they will be considered as foreigners." (Hosheia 8:12)"

(Midrash Tanchuma Vayyera 6)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Greek is special

Hi,

"Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: Even sefarim [Tanach] may only be written in Greek; they checked and found that the Torah can be translated properly only in Greek."

(Talmud Yerushalmi, Megilah 1:9)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The eighth, ninth and tenth of Tevet

Hi,

"On the eighth of Tevet the Torah was written in Greek, in the days of King Ptolemy, and darkness came to the world for three days. Our sages did not say what happened on the ninth, but on that day Ezra and Nechemiah died. On the tenth, the king of Babylon neared Jerusalem to destroy her."

(Baal Halachot Gedolot #18)

Have an easy and meaningful fast,
Mordechai

Magic tricks in the Talmud

Hi,

"Rav said to R' Chiyya: I saw a Bedouin take a sword and slash his camel, and then he knocked on a table and the camel arose! R' Chiyya responded: Afterward, were blood and feces around? Rather, he simply grabbed your eyes."

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 67b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Egyptian magicians of the Bible

Hi,

"[The Egyptian magicians] They performed incantations, appearing to act but not acting, like the story of an Arab merchant who struck his camel, and then it rose… and many stories like these appear in the Talmud, as the sages recorded them from their times. The deeds of the chartumim of Egypt were all deceptions of the eyes."

(Midrash, Psikta Zutrita Shemot 22)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The gravity of the false oath

Hi,

"For all of the Torah's transgressions, the punishment of one who is meritorious may be forestalled for two or three generations. For this sin [of swearing falsely], though, he is punished immediately, as it is written (Zecharyah 5:4)… 'I have brought her out' immediately. 'And she will come to the house of the thief' – This refers to one who fools people, who has no financial claim on others but who lodges the claim and forces the other to swear. 'And to the house of the one who swears in My Name falsely' – This is as it sounds. 'And she will rest in his house and destroy it, its wood and its stones' – You see that a false oath can destroy that which fire and water cannot destroy."

(Talmud, Shevuot 39a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Joy of Tefillin

Hi,

"Abbaye was sitting before Rabbah, who saw that he was very happy. He said, "Is it not written, 'Rejoice in trembling!'" Abbaye replied: I am wearing tefillin.

"R' Yirmiyah was sitting before R' Zeira, who saw that he was very happy. He said, "Is it not written, 'In all sadness there is advantage!' R' Yirmiyah replied: I am wearing tefillin."

(Talmud, Berachot 30b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai