Don't get sick

Hi,

"One should always pray to avoid contracting illness, for once a person is ill, he is told, 'Bring merit and then you be freed.'"

(Talmud, Shabbat 32a)

[In other words, less merit is required in order to avoid illness than in order to be freed from it.]

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Open up your hand

Hi,

"For the pauper will not cease from the midst of the land. Therefore, I command you: Open,open your hand to your brother, your needy person, your pauper in your land."

(Devarim 15:11)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The joy of forgiveness

Hi,

[Note: Bringing a sin offering requires a full and sincere repentance first.]

"Tehillim 48:3 calls Mount Zion 'The joy of the land', for when the Temple stood no Jew was in pain. One entered [the Temple] full of sin, brought an offering and atoned, and there could be no greater joy than leaving as a righteous person."

(Midrash, Shemot Rabbah 36:1)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Eating in another's home

Hi,

"One who is hosted at a home anywhere, at any time, and is brought wine or meat or cheese or a piece of fish may eat without need of inquiring [regarding its kashrut], eve n where he does not know the host, but only knows that the host is Jewish.

"If the host is known not to observe kashrut, not to be careful with such matters, then one may not be hosted in his home.

"One who violates this and is hosted there may not eat meat or drink wine on his say-so until someone acceptable testifies regarding the food."

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Maachalot Asurot 11:26)

[Note: This does not address the case of a well-meaning kashrut-observing host who is unaware of a particular nuance of the law. Clearly, one could not rely upon him regarding a law of which he was ignorant.]

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Honest weights and measures

Hi,

"We are commanded to make our scales, weights and measures very precise, and to be exact in their calibration when we make them, as Vayikra 19:36 says, 'Precise scales, precise stones [weights], precise ephah [dry volume measures] and precise hin [liquid volume measures] you shall have.'

"The same is true for measuring land; one must be exact in calculating the dimensions of land, based on recorded geometric principles. Even [an error of] a finger's breadth of land is evaluated as though it was full of [expensive] saffron."

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Theft 8:1)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

How to Avoid the Evil Eye

Hi,

"The evil eye cannot rule the eye that doesn't wish to be fed from that which isn't his."

(Talmud, Berachot 20a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Rav Kook at Kinneret

Hi,

"In the course of [Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik's] stay in Eretz Yisrael in the summer of 1935, the Rav visited the secular kibbutz of Kinneret. His host proferred some fruit, which the Rav naturally but politely declined. Sensing the reason for the refusal to partake of the offering, the kibbutznik observed that he presumes that it was grounded in concerns about kashrut; whereupon he proceeded to inform his thunderstruck guest that the local kitchen was absolutely kosher. When asked for the cause of this anomaly, he narrated the following story. Rav Kook once spend a Shabbat at the kibbutz, and he of course brought his own food. He ate each se'udah with the group, including participation in the moza'ei Shabbat fireside kumsitz. Upon taking leave of his hosts, he thanked them graciously and concluded with a brief wish. 'I hope that next time I'll be able to eat together with you.' Sure enough, the haverim [members] voted to introduce kashrut in their public hadar okhel [dining hall]."

(Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, Varieties of Jewish Experience, pg. 135)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

How to produce sons

Hi,

[Note: The preference for sons in talmudic times was not a  religious statement; rather, it was directly linked to the economic and social advantages of having sons. This is seen in the source below.]

"What should one do in order to have sons?

"R' Eliezer said: He should scatter his money among the needy, as Tehillim 112:9 says [following verses about wealth and social status], 'He has scattered, he has given to the needy, his righteouness stands forever, his glory shall be elevated in honour.' Or, he should do as his wife desires [carnally]."

(Kallah Rabti 2:11, as explained by Rashi Bava Batra 10b)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

How bad is a lie?

Hi,

"One who speaks falsely is as though he worships idolatry." [A scriptural basis follows, but translating it into English would not aid the reader.]

(Kallah Rabti 2:5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Grabbing the ears of a dog

Hi,

"One who grabs the ears of a passing dog is like someone who involves himself in a fight that is not his own."

(Mishlei [Proverbs] 26:17)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Bless the righteous

Hi,

"One who mentions a righteous person and does not bless him transgresses a biblical imperative; Proverbs 10:7 says, 'The memory of the righteous is for blessing.'"

(Midrash, Bereishit Rabbah 49:1)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Reward for easy and challenging mitzvot

Hi,

"Devarim 12:23 says, 'Only, be strong, and do not eat blood; blood is the spirit, etc.'

"If even regarding things a person finds disgusting, a person receives reward for separating from them, then regarding theft and immorality, for which people lust and desire, how much more so will one acquire merit for himself, his generations, and the generations of his generations for all time!"

(Talmud, Makkot 23b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Sin: Illness of the Soul?

Hello,
"It is sometimes found with physical illness, that an illness lightens and most of the affliction heals, but the body is not cleansed of it other than by drinking bitter potions and suffering the pain of withdrawal from desirable foods.

"So, too, the soul may be ill from a great transgression, and even though most of the illness will be healed and the multiplicity of aspects of punishment will leave once one repents and HaShem retreats from His wrath, still, the soul will not be cleansed of the illness and her sin will not be fully forgiven until the sinner has suffered…"

(Rabbeinu Yonah, Shaarei Teshuvah 4:1)

 שנראה בנחמת ירושלים,
Mordechai