Why is gossip prohibited?

Hi,

"Among the roots of this command [against gossip] is that Gd desires the good of His creations, and He instructed us in this so that there should be peace among us, as gossip is cause for quarreling and strife."

משרשי המצוה, כי ד' חפץ בטובת הבריות אשר ברא, וצונו בזה כדי להיות שלום בינינו, כי הרכילות סיבה לריב ומצה. 

(Sefer haChinuch, Mitzvah 236)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

The prohibition against murder

Hi,

Mitzvah 34 prohibits killing an innocent person. The Sefer haChinuch ties this law back to Gd’s initial instruction to His creations, "Produce fruit and multiply." Gd told the world that He is interested in seeing it filled with life, and we are instructed not to act against His desire.

One might be surprised that the same Torah could prohibit taking a life and yet provide for capital punishment , but the Sefer haChinuch’s linkage to "Produce fruit and multiply" provides a justification: Certain criminal actions work against Gd’s stated desire to see the world filled with life, and so Gd declares that for those cases, execution actually supports Gd’s overall mission.

Hiring a murderer, causing a death indirectly and committing suicide are all included within this prohibition, although the penalties vary. (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Rotzeiach 2:2)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Honour your elder sibling

Hi,

The 33rd mitzvah, honouring one's parents, is frequently described (such as Talmud Yerushalmi Peah 1:1) as the most difficult mitzvah in the Torah, because there is no limit on the efforts required to repay our debt to those who partnered with HaShem to give us life, and who devoted years of their lives to raising us.

This mitzvah is divided into two categories: mora (Reverence) and kavod (Honour). Mora refers to displays of respect, such as not using our parents' seats and not contradicting them. Kavod refers to actions which actively provide honour, such as providing meals or dressing them.

The Talmud (Ketuvot 103a) teaches that one is also obligated to honour an older brother. According to Ramban, this is specifically while the parents are alive, because they wish for him to be honoured. However, the Minchat Chinuch understood Rambam to require such honour even after the parents have passed away. One is also obligated to honour an older sister; see sources cited in Torah Temimah to Shemot 20, note 86.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Second place

Hi,

Apparently, coming in second is never good, even if Moshe Rabbeinu is the one ahead of you...

"'And you shall put of your glory on him' – Not all of your glory. The generation's elders said, 'The face of Moshe is like the Sun, and the face of Yehoshua is like the Moon.' Woe for the shame, woe for the humiliation!"

ונתתה מהודך עליו - ולא כל הודך, זקנים שבאותו הדור אמרו: פני משה כפני חמה, פני יהושע כפני לבנה, אוי לה לאותה בושה, אוי לה לאותה כלימה. 

(Talmud, Bava Batra 75a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Condensed Bible

Hi,

"Rav Ada b'Rabbi Chanina said: Had Israel not sinned, they would have been given only the five chumashim, as well as the book of Yehoshua for it speaks of the value of the land of Israel."

אמר רב אדא ברבי חנינא: אלמלא חטאו ישראל לא ניתן להם אלא חמשה חומשי תורה וספר יהושע בלבד, שערכה של ארץ ישראל הוא 

(Talmud, Nedarim 22b)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

A need for creative judges

Hi,

Preface: Vayikra 11:29-38 lists varieties of sheretz (crawling creatures) that are ritually impure.

"Rav Yehudah said, citing Rav: We only seat on the Sanhedrin (the highest rabbinical court) one who knows how to argue, from biblical sources, that a sheretz is ritually pure."

 אמר רב יהודה אמר רב: אין מושיבין בסנהדרין אלא מי שיודע לטהר את השרץ מן התורה.

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 17a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Mitzvah 343: Prohibiting usury

Hi,

Mitzvah 68 (according to the count of Sefer haChinuch) prohibits a beit din (Jewish court) from involving itself in loans with interest payments. This is a direct result of mitzvah #343, which prohibits Jews from lending to each other, or borrowing from each other, with interest charges. Interest is defined as payment for rental of the lender's money.

Charging interest makes perfect economic sense - in a 0% loan, the best case scenario is that the lender is re-paid on time, but even in such a case he has lost use of his funds for the period of the loan, and he has lost the rate of inflation. This is why lenders routinely charge for the right to hold their money. For one's family, though, one is expected to go beyond the norm and extend a loan without charging interest. Within halachah, a borrower cannot forgive his right to an interest-free loan; he has no more right than the lender to dissolve the bonds of family that connect every Jew.

The Talmud was very harsh regarding those who violate this law. In one example (Bava Metzia 71a), Rabbi Yosi taught, "Come see the blindness of people who lend money for interest!  Ordinarily, if a person calls another person 'wicked,' that person will battle him to the death. These people, though, bring witneses, a scribe, and pen and ink, and write and seal a document saying, 'This person denies the Gd of Israel!'" 

Rabbi Yisroel Reisman (Laws of Ribbis, Introduction) cites a similarly sharp observation regarding the practice of charging interest: In Europe, a moneylender passed away. He had made his fortune by collecting interest from the poor of the town. In vengeance, the Chevra Kadisha (burial society) demanded a large sum of money for the grave, angering the heirs. The matter came to Rabbi Akiva Eiger. "How appropriate," he responded. "The normal price of a grave assumes that the purchaser will use it for a limited time, until the resurrection of the dead. We are taught that one who takes interest, though, does not get resurrected. As such, he will remain in the grave for eternity, and he should therefore pay a higher price for use of the grave!"

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Warning to a liberal beit din

Hi,

Interesting advice:

"A court which permits two things should not hasten to permit a third."

וכל בית דין שהתיר שני דברים אל ימהר להתיר דבר שלישי. 

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Mamrim 2:8)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Testing for the BRCA gene

Hi,

"Genetic testing, including testing for BRCAI and BRCA2, should be regarded as halakhically mandated in circumstances in which medical science believes that the results are likely to affect treatment in a manner that will enhance longevity anticipation or well-being. Certainly, a person identified as being at risk for a specific disease is obligated to pursue all available measures in order to ward off the disease or to diagnose its presence while the disease is yet in an incipient stage and still amenable to cure."

(Rabbi J. David Bleich, Genetic Screening, Tradition 34:1 (2000) pg. 77)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The obligation to test for the Tay-Sachs gene

Hi,

"Since it is easy to check, one should realize that failure to check one's self would be like closing one's eyes before that which one could see. G-d forbid, such an event would cause the child's parents extraordinary pain, and so it would be appropriate for a man who wished to wed a woman to test himself. It would be good to publicize this in newspapers and other media, to alert people that there is such a test."

כיון שעתה נעשה זה באופן קל לבדוק יש לדון שאם אינו בודק את עצמו הוא כסגירת העינים לראות מה שאפשר לראות, ומכיון שאם ח"ו אירע דבר כזה הוא להורי הילד צער גדול מאד מן הראוי למי שצריך לישא אשה לבדוק את עצמו. ולכן טוב לפרסם הדבר ע"י עתונים ואופנים שידעו העולם שאיכא בדיקה כזו. 

(Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, Igrot Moshe Even haEzer 4:10)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Human authority

Hi,

"Gd gave them [Adam and Chavah] power and sovereignty over the land to do as they wished to the beasts, creeping creatures and those that crawl in the dust, to build, to uproot that which is planted, to mine copper from the hills, and so on."

נתן להם כח וממשלה בארץ לעשות כרצונם בבהמות ובשרצים וכל זוחלי עפר, ולבנות, ולעקור נטוע, ומהרריה לחצוב נחשת, וכיו' בזה. 

(Ramban to Bereishit 1:28)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Complete trust in Gd

Hi,

"The meaning of 'You shall be complete with HaShem your Gd' is that we are to dedicate our hearts to Gd alone, and to trust that Gd alone engineers all and knows the truth of all future events. From Gd alone we should seek the future, from His prophets or from His pious ones, meaning the urim v'tumim."

וטעם "תמים תהיה עם ד' אלקיך" שנייחד לבבנו אליו לבדו, ונאמין שהוא לבדו עושה כל והוא היודע אמתת כל עתיד, וממנו לבדו נדרוש העתידות, מנביאיו או מאנשי חסידיו רצוני לומר אורים ותומים. 

(Ramban to Devarim 38:13)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Mitzvah priorities

Hi,

"When one spends his money for a mitzvah, he should examine which mitzvah is of greater importance before Gd... And especially one who does not have the means to spend in great ways, he should see to it that he spends his money for the more important mitzvah, like a good merchant who seeks to clothe his money in the most profitable merchandise."

כשמוציא מעותיו לדבר מצוה יעיין איזו מצוה היא יותר חשובה לפני המקום... ובפרט מי שאין ידו משגת לעשות פזר גדול, יראה במה מוציא את מעותיו שיהא למצוה היותר חשובה, כסוחר טוב שמבקש להלביש מעותיו בסחורה שיש בה ריוח יותר.

(Rabbi Eliezer Pappo, Pele Yoetz, ערך)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Obligations of a city's residents

Hi,

"A city's residents compel each other (even the minority compelling the majority) to build a wall, doors and a bolt for the city, and to build a synagogue, and to acquire a Torah, Prophets and Writings for anyone who wishes to read them, from communal funds."

כופין בני העיר זה את זה, (אפילו מעוט כופין את המרובים) (רבינו ירוחם נל"א ח"ו), לעשות חומה, דלתים ובריח לעיר; ולבנות להם בית הכנסת; ולקנות ספר תורה נביאים וכתובים, כדי שיקרא בהם כל מי שירצה, מן הצבור 

(Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 163:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Concealing our Jewish identity

Hi,

"In earlier times, when each nation wore a unique national costume, if a Jew altered his garb to the nation's garb it was because he did not want to identify with the Jewish nation, lest people recognize him as a Jew. This is prohibited. However, today we wear the same garb [as others] because the concept of "national costume" has vanished. Therefore, a Jew today wears short garb without intending to avoid identifying with Jews. 

"However, a Jew may not be ashamed of his Jewishness and conceal it; this was the case of the karvalta, a Jew who was ashamed of his Jewishness. Although in his home he acted like the finest Jew, like a loyal Jew, outside he was ashamed of it."

בתקופות קדומות בזמן שכל אומה ואומה לבשה מלבושים לאומיים ומיוחדים, אם יהודי שינה את מלבושו למלבוש של האומה היתה סיבתו שלא רצה להזדהות עם כלל ישראל, שלא יכירו אותו בתור יהודי, וזה אסור. אבל היום שכולנו לובשים אותם הבגדים הוא מפני שכבר נעלם המושג של בגדים לאומיים. לכן יהודי שלובש מלבוש קצר אין כוונתו שלא רוצה להזדהות עם היהודים.

רק, אסור ליהודי להתבייש ביהדותו ולהסתירה, כי זה היה המעשה של ״כרבלתא״, הוא יהודי שמתבייש מיהדותו אף שבביתו הוא מתנהג כיהודי הכי יפה, וכיהודי נאמן, רק שמבחוץ הוא מתבייש עם זה.

(Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, cited in HaDarom 61, pg. 46-50)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Abbaye's peace plan

Hi,

"Abbaye was wont to say: One should always be clever in [developing] reverence [for Gd]; a soft response dispels rage; one should increase peace with his brothers, relatives and all people, including a non-Jew in the market, to be beloved above and pleasant below, and he will be accepted by people."

מרגלא בפומיה דאביי: לעולם יהא אדם ערום ביראה, מענה רך משיב חמה ומרבה שלום עם אחיו ועם קרוביו ועם כל אדם, ואפילו עם נכרי בשוק, כדי שיהא אהוב למעלה ונחמד למטה, ויהא מקובל על הבריות. 

(Talmud, Berachot 17a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Communal Prayer: Lean on me

Hi,

"It is rare for an individual's prayer to be complete, without error or carelessness. Therefore, they established that individuals should pray communally, and that our communal prayer should be with a group of no fewer than ten where possible.

"Thus, some of the community will complete that which others are lacking due to error or carelessness, and so that they will collectively achieve a complete prayer, with pure intent, and blessing will rest upon all, and each individual will receive a portion thereof."

מעט הוא שתשלם תפלה ליחיד מבלי שגגה ופשיעה, ומפני כן קבעו לנו שיתפלל היחיד תפלת הצבור, ושתהיה תפלתו בצבור בעוד שיוכל לא פחות מעשרה, כדי שישלים קצתם מה שיחסר בקצתם בשגגה או בפשיעה, ויסתדר מהכל תפלה שלמה בכונה זכה, ותחול הברכה על הכל ויגיע לכל אחד מהיחידים חלקו ממנה.

(Kuzari 3:19)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Davening in a beit midrash or synagogue, and its impact

Hi,

Multiple lessons here:

"An established study hall is of greater sanctity than a synagogue, and there is a greater mitzvah to pray there than in a synagogue, assuming one prays with a minyan.

"Rama: Nonetheless, one should not accustom himself to do this, lest the masses learn from him and cease coming to the synagogue."

בית המדרש קבוע קדוש יותר מבהכ"נ, ומצוה להתפלל בו יותר מב"ה, והוא שיתפלל בי'

הגה: ואפילו הכי לא ירגיל עצמו לעשות כן, שלא ילמדו עמי הארץ ממנו ויתבטלו מב"ה (תשובת הרא"ש כלל ד' והטור).

(Shulchan Aruch and Rama Orach Chaim 90:18)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Makom Kavua - A designated place to pray

Hi,

"Rabbi Tanchum bar Chanina said: One must designate a place in the synagogue to pray. Why? Shemuel II 15:32 says, 'And David came to the head," and then it does not say, "the place where he had prayed to Gd", but rather, "the place here he would [continue to] pray to Gd".

א"ר תנחום בר חנינא צריך אדם לייחד לו מקום בבית הכנסת להתפלל ומה טעם [שמואל ב טו לב] "ויהי דוד בא עד הראש אשר השתחוה שם לאלקים" אין כתיב כאן, אלא "אשר ישתחוה שם לאלקים" 

(Talmud Yerushalmi, Berachot 4:4)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

A benefit of communal prayer: Distracted prayer is discounted?

Hi,

"Apparently, when one prays with the community his prayer is effective even if he has foreign thoughts while praying. The nature of communal prayer is that one wishes to join his prayer with the community, and G-d joins it for the good, not for the bad. This means that only the words he says, and not the foreign thoughts he has in the middle, are joined with the community."

נראה דכשמתפלל בציבור מועיל אפי' כשמהרהר במחשבות זרות בתפלתו, דתפלה בציבור שענינו שרוצה לצרף תפלתו עם הציבור, אז הקב"ה מצרף לטובה ולא לרעה והיינו שמצורף לציבור רק תיבות התפלה שאמר ולא המחשבות זרות שהרהר באמצע 

(Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, Teshuvot v'Hanhagot 5:42)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Pray with the community

Hi,

"The prayer of the community is always heard; even if there are sinners among them, Gd does not reject the prayer of the masses. Therefore, one must join himself with the community and not pray alone if he can pray with the community. One should always rise early and go late in the evening to the synagogue, for prayer is not heard at all times, only in the synagogue. And one who has a synagogue in his city and does not pray there with the community is called a 'bad neighbour'."

תפלת הציבור נשמעת תמיד ואפילו היו בהן חוטאים אין הקב"ה מואס בתפלתן של רבים, לפיכך צריך אדם לשתף עצמו עם הציבור, ולא יתפלל ביחיד כל זמן שיכול להתפלל עם הציבור, ולעולם ישכים אדם ויעריב לבית הכנסת שאין תפלתו נשמעת בכל עת אלא בבית הכנסת, וכל מי שיש לו בית הכנסת בעירו ואינו מתפלל בו עם הציבור נקרא שכן רע. 

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Tefillah 8:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The value of prayer in the synagogue

Hi,

"Abba Binyamin said: A person's prayer is heard only in the synagogue, as it is written, 'To listen to the song and the prayer' - in the place of song, there will be the prayer.

"Ravin bar Rav Ada cited Rabbi Yitzchak: How do we know that Gd is found in the synagogue? It is written, 'Gd stands in the congregation of Gd.' And how do we know that Gd is present when ten pray? It is written, 'Gd stands in the congregation of Gd.'"

תניא, אבא בנימין אומר: אין תפלה של אדם נשמעת אלא בבית הכנסת, שנאמר: לשמוע אל הרנה ואל התפלה, במקום רנה שם תהא תפלה. אמר רבין בר רב אדא אמר רבי יצחק: מנין שהקב"ה מצוי בבית הכנסת שנאמר: אלקים נצב בעדת א-ל; ומנין לעשרה שמתפללין ששכינה עמהם - שנאמר: אלקים נצב בעדת א-ל

(Talmud, Berachot 6a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The value of communal prayer

Hi,

"Rabbi Yitzchak said to Rav Nachman: Why didn't your honour come to the synagogue to pray? He replied: I couldn't. Rabbi Yitzchak said to him: Should we gather ten to your honour, for him to pray? He replied: It is too much of a burden for me. Rabbi Yitzchak asked: Should your honour tell the chazan to inform him when the community is praying?

"Rav Nachman asked: Why go to such an extent? Rabbi Yitzchak replied: For Rabbi Yochanan cited Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai on the verse, 'My prayer to You, at the time of desire' - When is a time of desire? When the community prays."

אמר ליה רבי יצחק לרב נחמן: מאי טעמא לא אתי מר לבי כנישתא לצלויי? אמר ליה: לא יכילנא. אמר ליה: לכנפי למר עשרה וליצלי. אמר ליה: טריחא לי מלתא. - ולימא ליה מר לשלוחא דצבורא, בעידנא דמצלי צבורא ליתי ולודעיה למר. - אמר ליה: מאי כולי האי? אמר ליה: דאמר רבי יוחנן משום רבי שמעון בן יוחי, מאי דכתיב ואני תפלתי לך ד' עת רצון - אימתי עת רצון - בשעה שהצבור מתפללין.

(Talmud, Berachot 7b-8a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

How to respond, or not respond, to verbal abuse

Hi,

"Should an abuser compel one to respond, it would be appropriate for a wise person to respond pleasantly, without great rage, for rage rests in the bosom of fools (Kohelet 7:9). One should apologize to those who hear his insults, placing the burden upon the abuser; this is the way of good people… 

"However, the piety of some people is so great that they do not wish to put themselves in this halachic category [permitting] responding to their abusers, lest their anger build and spread inappropriately. Regarding them the sages have said (Shabbat 88b), 'Those who are shamed and do not shame, who hear their insults and do not respond – upon them Shoftim 5:31 says, 'Those who love Him are like the Sun's ermergence, in its strength.''"

(Sefer haChinuch 338)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Responding to verbal abuse

Hi,

"This law [prohibiting verbal abuse] does not mean that if one Jew were to initiate and wickedly pain another verbally, that the recipient could not respond; it is impossible to be like a stone which cannot be overturned. Further, one's silence would be taken as admission to the insults! 

"In truth, the Torah will not command someone to be a silent stone before those who insult him, as he is before those who bless him. The Torah only instructs us to distance ourselves from this trait, and not to start quarrels and insult other people. Through this a person will be saved from such matters, for one who is not aggressive will not be insulted by others, other than total fools – and one should ignore fools."

(Sefer haChinuch 338)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The penalty for verbal abuse

Hi,

"One who violates this prohibition [against verbal abuse] is not lashed, for there is no physical deed, but the Master who commanded us in this mitzvah can give many lashes even without a leather whip."

עבר על לאו זה, אבל אין לוקין עליו לפי שאין בו מעשה. וכמה מלקיות מבלי רצועה של עגל ביד האדון המצוה על זה, יתברך ויתעלה. 

(Sefer haChinuch, Mitzvah 338)

Have a great day,
Mordechai