Love of Gd

Hi,

"One's love of Gd should be... like the love of a son for his father, which is a natural love; his nature compels him to love his father... The true test of one's love of Gd is during a time of strain and trouble."

(R' Moshe Chaim Luzzato, Path of the Just Chapter 19)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

The source of Moshe's greatness

Hi,

"Gd told Moshe... I only gave you your greatness in the merit of the Jewish people."

(Talmud, Berachot 32a)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

The mitzvah of korban pesach

Hi,

The fifth biblical mitzvah is the instruction to prepare the korban pesach, and the sixth is to eat the korban. By performing these mitzvot, Jews commemorate the departure from Egypt, re-creating the original departure. Groups gather and select a lamb or goat, and bring it as their offering. Part of the meat is burned on the mizbeiach; the rest is eaten by the members of the group.

In the 19th century, Rav Tzvi Hirsch Kalischer published arguments for bringing the korban pesach in our own age. Rav Kalischer dealt with numerous technical objections – identifying the location of the mizbeiach, requiring a navi, attaining ritual purification, identifying kohanim, creating proper clothing for the kohanim and more. Nonetheless, Rav Kalischer was opposed by Rav Akiva Eiger and Rav Yaakov Ettlinger (author of the Aruch LaNer), among others, and he was never able to implement his ideas.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The mitzvah of following the Jewish solilunar calendar

Hi,

The fourth biblical mitzvah is the instruction to institute and follow a particular calendar. This is usually understood to include:

1. Sanctification of the start of each month by a beit din (Jewish court),

2. Public declaration of the new month, based on eyewitness testimony regarding the new moon, and

3. Calculation of leap months to ensure that specific lunar months will not stray too far from key points in the annual solar calendar. In the best-known example, the lunar month of Nisan, in which Pesach occurs, must not wander too far from the vernal equinox.

Rav Saadia Gaon disagreed with part of this traditional understanding, though. As part of his 10th century stand against Aharon ben Meir regarding the calendar, Rav Saadia Gaon claimed that the original method was to set the calendar based upon rabbinic calculations, and that witnesses were only instituted in the period of the second Beit haMikdash in order to counter Sadducee challenges to rabbinic authority.

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Creator of Heaven and Hell?

Hi,

"In truth, Olam HaBa [The reward in the Next World] is the work of one's own hands, in that a person broadened, added or repaired a part for himself, with his deeds... And Gehennom [Hell] is likewise, for the sin is its own punishment."

(Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, Nefesh haChaim 1:12)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Planting trees vs greeting Mashiach

Hi,

"R' Yochanan ben Zakkai taught...If you are planting a tree and a person comes to you and tells you, 'Mashiach has arrived,' plant the tree and  then go to greet Mashiach."

(Avot d'Rabbi Natan, 2nd edition, 31)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Jewish holidays: Harvest festival or Historic celebration?

Hi,

"Each [Jewish] festival takes place at the time of the year when Gd reveals Himself in Nature's evolution, in the same way as the deed that forms the basis of the festival reveals Gd at work in the sphere of human history."

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, Chapter 23)

Have a great day,

Mordechai