Jerusalem and Torah

Hi,

"The foundation of Yerushalayim was in the sanctity of the Torah, as it is written (Yeshayah 2:3 and Michah 4:2), 'For Torah will emerge from Zion, and the word of Gd from Yerushalayim.'"

(Netziv, Haamek Davar to Shemot 30:1)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Even prayer is an act of studying Torah

Hi,

"One must recite blessings upon the Torah before reading it, even before reading just one verse. There is no distinction between reading as a plea and request, or anything else – one must recite the blessings."

(Maimonides, Responsa Peer haDor 104)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Eating non-kosher to save one's life

Hi,

"Rabbi Abba bar Zamina did tailoring work for a Roman. The Roman brought him a piece of non-kosher meat, and said, 'Eat!' He replied, 'I will not eat.'

"The Roman said, 'Eat; if not, I will kill you!' He replied, 'If you wish to kill me, kill me, for I will not eat the non-kosher meat.'

"The Roman said, 'How did you know that if you would have eaten, I would have killed you? One must either be a Jew, or a Roman!'

"Rabbi Mana said: Had Rabbi Abba bar Zamina heard the words of the sages [that one should eat non-kosher in order to save his life, if it is not a public situation], then he would have eaten."

(Talmud Yerushalmi, Sheviit 4:2)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Humility in the Household

Hi,

"Teach your household humility, for when a person is humble and his household members are humble, then when a pauper comes to his gate and asks, ‘Is your father here,’ they will say, ‘Yes, come in.’ Before he even enters the table will be set before him, and he will enter and eat and drink and bless Gd, and he will have great satisfaction. When a person is not humble and the members of his household are demanding people, when a pauper comes to his gate and asks, ‘Is your father here,’ they will say, ‘No,’ and they will rebuke him and remove him sharply.

"Alternatively: Teach your household humility. How so? When a person is humble and the members of his household are humble and he travels overseas, he says, ‘Thank You, my Gd, that my spouse does not fight with others and my children do not fight with others,’ and his heart is not afraid and his mind is settled until he returns.

"When a person is not humble and the members of his household are demanding people and he travels overseas, he says, ‘May it be Your will, my Gd, that my spouse not fight with others and my children not fight with others,’ and his heart is afraid and his mind is not settled until he returns."

(Midrash, Avot d'Rabbi Natan 7:2)

המצפה לישועה,

Mordechai

The hospitality of Iyov

Hi,

"Paupers should be members of your household. Not literally the members of your household; rather, this means that paupers should speak of what they eat and drink in your home, as paupers would speak of what they ate and drank in Iyov's home. When they encountered each other, one would say to another, 'From where did you come?' 'From Iyov's home. Where are you going?' 'To Iyov's home.' And when Iyov experienced the great suffering, he said before Gd: 'Master of the Universe! Did I not feed the hungry and give drinks to the thirsty?' As in Iyov 31:16, 'Did I eat my bread alone, without an orphan eating therefrom?' 'And did I not clothe the unclothed?' As in Iyov 31:20, 'Did he not warm himself with the shearing from my sheep?'

"Nonetheless, Gd replied to Iyov: Iyov! You did not reach even half of Avraham's measure. You sit and wait in your home and guests enter to you. You feed wheat bread to one who normally eats wheat bread. You feed meat to one who normally eats meat. You give wine to one who normally drinks wine. Avraham did not do this; rather, he went out into the world and circulated, and when he found guests he brought them into his home. He gave wheat bread to those who did not normally eat wheat bread, he gave meat to those who did not normally eat meat. He gave wine to those who did not normally drink wine. Not only that, but he built great halls near the roads, and placed there food and drink. Anyone who entered ate and drank and blessed Gd. Therefore, I gave him nachat ruach. And anything the mouth requested was found in Avraham's house, as it is written, 'And he planted an eshel in Beer Sheva.'"

(Midrash, Avot d'Rabbi Natan 7:1)

המצפה לישועה,

Mordechai

The tent with four doors

Hi,

"Your house should be open wide. How so? This teaches that one’s house should be open wide to the south, east, north and west, as Job prepared four entrances to his house. Why did Job prepare four entrances to his house? So that the needy would not pain themselves to circumnavigate the entire house. One who came from the north could enter normally, one who came from the south could enter normally, and so from each direction. Therefore Job prepared four entrances to his home."

(Midrash, Avot d'Rabbi Natan 7:1)

המצפה לישועה,

Mordechai

The reward for community service

Hi,

"Rabbi Shimon ben  Lakish taught: Shaul merited to take the throne only because his grandfather lit lamps for the community.

"Thus he was named Ner [lamp] – Divrei haYamim I 8:33 says, "Ner fathered Kish", but Shemuel I 9:1 says "Kish the son of Aviel" – Shaul's grandfather's name was Aviel, but because he lit lamps for the community, he was also called Ner."

(Talmud Yerushalmi Sheviit 3:7)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Praying with our eyes and hearts

Hi,

"One sage said: One who prays must turn his eyes downward, as Kings I 9:3 says, 'My eyes and My heart will be there forever.' A second said: His eyes should be upward, as Lamentations 3:41 says, 'We will raise our hearts in our hands.'

"Rabbi Yishmael son of Rabbi Yosi joined them; he asked, 'What are you discussing?' They said, 'Prayer.' He said, 'My father said: One who prays must turn his eyes downward and his heart upward, to satisfy these two verses.'" 

(Talmud, Yevamot 105b)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Numerology in the Amidah?

Hi,

"The Ashkenazi sages have said that in the first three blessings [of the Amidah] there are 107 words, because they are based on Psalm 29 which contains 91 words, and Isaiah 29:23 [16 words]."

(Tur Orach Chaim 113)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Our Three Names

Hi,

"A person is called three names: One that his father and mother call him, one that others call him, and one that he is called in the chronicle of his life."

(Midrash, Kohelet Rabbah 7:3)

Alternatively:

A person is called three names: One that his father and mother call him, one that others call him, and one that he acquires for himself. The best of them is the one that he acquires for himself.

(Midrash Tanchuma, Vayyakhel 1)

המצפה לישועה,

Mordechai

Origin of Communal Prayer

Hi,

"From the time of our master Moses until the Great Assembly, the Shechinah was revealed at the site of offerings, and prophecy remained in Israel, and each individual's prayer and blessing to G-d for his benefit from this world was heard. 

"To me, this is why Jews did not gather in their places of dwelling in those days, evening and morning and afternoon, at a special site, to pray as a community. Rather, each one prayed individually wherever it happened – for we do not find in the Prophets or Writings a communal prayer, until after the destruction, when the Great Assembly enacted eighteen blessings and the sacred recitations that requre a minyan.

"Granted that Moses enacted for Israel that they should read from the Torah… but as far as prayer, which did not have one form for all but rather each person spoke according to the purity of his tongue, it appears that each person prayed privately, wherever he could."

(Mabit, Beit Elokim, Shaarei haYesodot 38)

המצפה לישועה,

Mordechai

Add to your amidah

Hi,

"Rav Yehudah son of Rav Shemuel bar Shelat cited Rav: Although they have said that one may make all of his requests in the blessing of 'He who hears prayer', one who wishes to add at the end of each blessing in keeping with its theme may do so.

"Rabbi Chiya bar Ashi cited Rav: Although they have said that one may make all of his requests in the blessing of 'He who hears prayer', one who has an ill person in his home may mention it in the blessing for the sick, and one who needs parnasah may mention it in the blessing of the years.

"Rabbi Chiya bar Ashi cited Rav: Although they have said that one may make all of his requests in the blessing of 'He who hears prayer', one who wishes to recite more after his prayer may even add a prayer like that of Yom Kippur."

(Talmud, Avodah Zarah 8a)

המצפה לישועה,

Mordechai

The five tragedies of the 17th of Tammuz

Hi,

The fast day of the 17th of Tammuz, observed on Tuesday July 15th this year, commemorates five tragedies:

1. Moses descended from meeting Gd and receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai, saw the Jews celebrating with the Golden Calf, and broke the two tablets Gd had given him.

2. The daily Tamid offering, which had been brought regularly in the Jerusalem Beit haMikdash [Temple] from the time the Jews built the Mishkan for over one thousand years, was halted during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem before the Beit haMikdash was destroyed.

3. The Romans invaded Jerusalem, prior to destroying the second Beit haMikdash. (According to the Talmud Bavli, the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem to destroy the first Temple on the 9th of Tammuz. According to the Talmud Yerushalmi, both invasions occurred on the 17th of Tammuz.)

4. A Greek or Roman official named Apostimos held a public burning of the Torah.

5. Idols were set up in the Temple itself; it is not clear what year this happened.

(Mishneh Berurah 549:2)

צום קל ומועיל,
Mordechai

Tuesday: The Fast of the 17th of Tammuz

Hi,

Should Mashiach not arrive first, Tuesday will be the Jewish national fast of the 17th of Tammuz.

"In the fourth month, on the ninth of the month, the famine strengthened in the city and there was no bread for the population. And the city was breached and the soldiers fled, and they departed the city via the gate between the walls by the king's garden, with the Chaldeans surrounding the city, and they traveled via the aravah."

(Yirmiyahu 52:6-7)


"Yirmiyahu spoke regarding the first Beit haMikdash, whereas in the time of the second Beit haMikdash the city was breached on the 17th of Tammuz. A braita corroborates this, saying, 'In the first Beit haMikdash the city was breached on the 9th of Tammuz. In the second, on the 17th of Tammuz.'"

(Talmud, Taanit 28b)

צום קל ומועיל,
Mordechai

Compelling a debtor to swear to his poverty, Part 3 of 3

Hi,

[continued from yesterday's post]

Preface: In order to encourage payment of debts, the sages enacted a rule permitting a creditor to demand that a debtor in default swear that he does not have the means to pay his debt. Regarding this, Rambam comments:

"The general principle is this: As long as a judge does one of these things, and his intent is only to pursue righteousness, which we have been instructed to pursue, and not to trespass the law [in abuse of] one of the litigants, he is licensed to do it and he will be rewarded – so long as his deeds are for the sake of heaven."

(Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Lender and Borrower 2:4)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Compelling a debtor to swear to his poverty, Part 2

Hi,

[continued from yesterday's post]

Preface: In order to encourage payment of debts, the sages enacted a rule permitting a creditor to demand that a debtor in default swear that he does not have the means to pay his debt. Regarding this, Rambam comments:

"And so I also say that if a person is established as a cunning person, and his commercial activities are corrupt, and he has means, possessing funds, and he claims that he has nothing and he runs to take this oath, then it is not appropriate to make him swear.

"Rather, if the judge is able to compel him to pay his creditor, or to excommunicate him until he pays, this is what he should do, since this person has means. Paying a creditor is a mitzvah.

[to be continued]

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Lender and Borrower 2:4)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Compelling a debtor to swear to his poverty, Part 1

Hi,

Preface: In order to encourage payment of debts, the sages enacted a rule permitting a creditor to demand that a debtor in default swear that he does not have the means to pay his debt. Regarding this, Rambam comments:

"Regarding one who is established as indigent and a proper person, acting in sincerity, and this is known clearly to the judge and to most people, and whose creditor then comes to demand that he take this oath. If it is established that the plaintiff is not going to be satisfied with the borrower's indigence, but will wish to pain him with this oath only to make him suffer and to humiliate him in public as a form of vengeance, or in order to goad him to borrow from a non-Jew or take his wife's assets to pay the debt and save himself from this oath, then it appears to me that a Gd-revering judge may not compel him to swear this oath. 

"If the plaintiff does compel this, he violates a biblical prohibition, 'You shall not be as a claimant.' Further, the judge should rebuke the plaintiff and chase him away, for he is nursing a grudge and acting on his personal whim.

"This oath was enacted only because of cunning people... This person is established as indigent, and not as someone cunning, and so one may not compel him to swear."

[to be continued]

(Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Lender and Borrower 2:4)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Would you lie for someone else?

Hi,

"One who is suspected regarding a particular sin is not credible to say that his product is free of that sin, but he is credible regarding another person's product. It may be assumed that one would not lie purely to help someone else."

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Shemitah and Yovel 8:17)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

How the amidah was born

Hi,

"When the Jews were exiled among the nations during the time of evil Nevuchadnezzar, they mixed among the Persians, Greeks and other societies. Their children were born in the lands of the nations, and their languages were confused, the language of each a mixture of many languages. When one would speak, he could not recite all he needed to say in one tongue, but in a mixture of tongues…

"When Ezra and his court observed this, they enacted eighteen structured blessings. The three initial blessings praise  G-d, and the three closing blessings are of thanks. The intermediate blessings contain requests for all needs, as central blessings meant to include all individual and communal needs. This way, the prayers would be structured in the mouths of each person, and each person would learn the prayers, and so the prayers of these poor speakers would be complete, like the prayers of people whose command of the language is pure…"

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Prayer 1:4)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

How can we tell that this is Shabbos?

Hi,

[Yes, the following requires some commentary...]

"Wicked Turnus Rufus also asked this question of Rabbi Akiva: Why is one day different from other days? He replied: Why are you different from other men?

"He replied: Because my master [Caesar] wishes it. [Rabbi Akiva:] The same is true for Shabbat; my Master wishes it.

"Turnus Rufus said: This is what I mean to ask: Who says that today is Shabbat? Rabbi Akiva replied: The Sabatyon River proves it [for it rests on Shabbat], the baal ov proves it [speaking to the dead is not effective on Shabbat], and your father's grave proves it for it does not produce smoke on Shabbat.

"He replied: You have disgraced him, you have shamed him, you have cursed him!"

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 65b)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Taking food for granted

Hi,

"Rav Yehudah saw two men being loose with bread. [Rashi: They were throwing it to each other, as a game.] He declareed, 'I see that the world is sated!'

"He turned his eyes [critically], and a famine began."

(Talmud, Taanit 24b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The power of vision

Hi,

"Esther 3:5 says, 'And Haman saw that Mordechai would neither bend his knee nor bow to him.' Rabbi Eivo cited Tehillim 69:24, 'May the eyes of the wicked be darkened from seeing,' for the vision of their eyes brings them down to Gehennom…

"But the vision of the eyes of the righteous raises them to the greatest heights, as Bereishit 18:2 says, 'And he [Avraham] raised his eyes and he saw, behold, three men,'…"

(Midrash, Esther Rabbah 7:9)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Four factors in aging

Hi,

"Four factors cause old age to leap upon a person:

1. Fear as in the case of King David (Divrei haYamim I 21:30);

2. Anger regarding one's children as in the case of Eli (Shemuel I 2:22);

3. A bad spouse as in the case of King Solomon (Melachim I 11:4);

4. War as in the case of Yehoshua (Yehoshua 13:1)."

(Midrash Tanchuma, Parshat Chayyei Sarah 2)

המצפה לישועה,

Mordechai