Why isn't life after death discussed thoroughly in Torah? Part 1

Hi,

"Rabbeinu Hai said that it was not necessary to explain the matter of olam haba, for it was known by transmission."

(Rabbi Avraham Ibn Ezra to Devarim 32:39)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The authority of earlier generations, Part 2 of 2

Hi,

"In truth, the generation following the mishnah saw a shrinking of the hearts [=minds] compared to those of the authors of mishnah, and they knew with certainty that the truth would always be with those earlier authorities.

"Since they knew that in reality they would never grasp a truth which the tannaim [sages of the mishnah] had not grasped, they were not permitted to dispute. They only listened to all that their predecessors, the tannaim, had said.... This was not a kindness that they did for their predecessors; rather, truth mandated it."

(Rabbi Avraham Yeshayah Karelitz, Chazon Ish, Kovetz Inyanim 194-195)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The authority of earlier generations, Part 1 of 2

Hi,

Note:
For the purpose of this email, a tanna is a sage of the time of the mishnah (roughly 2nd century BCE - 3rd century CE), and an amora is a sage of the time of the gemara (roughly 3rd - 6th century CE).

"I asked this of my honoured mentor and master, Rabbi Chaim haLevi of Brisk, and he replied that in truth, an amora is empowered to disagree with a tanna.

"The fact that the Talmud challenges a statement of an amora because it seems to contradict a statemtent of a tanna is because amoraim simply do not disagree with tannaim, and if the amora had known the statement of the tanna, he would not have disputed it. However, where he disputes [a tanna's statement] explicitly, the law may follow him."

(Rabbi Elchanan Wasserman, Kovetz Shiurim to Bava Batra 633)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Whose opinion do we value?

Hi,

"[When Rabbi Eliezer was dying,] his students said to him: Our master, bless us!

"He said to them: May it be Gd's will that you are as intimidated by heaven as you are by flesh and blood.

"His students said to him: Is that it? [Meaning: Would that be the greatest level we could achieve?]

"He said to them: I wish [you would achieve that much]! You know this, for when a person sins he says, 'I hope people don't see me.'"

(Talmud, Berachot 28b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Mitzvah 49: Vandalism

Hi,

By the count of Sefer haChinuch, the Torah's 49th mitzvah instructs us to set up courts to fine people who harm others, or who allow their property to harm others. In addition to paying restitution, the aggressors are sometimes required to pay more than the value of the damage they have caused.

Today, Jewish courts do not have independent authority to levy fines. However, earlier courts authorized their successors - down to our own day - to institute extrajudicial penalties for common cases or cases involving prevention of personal or communal loss. (For further insight and application, see Gittin 88b, Bava Kama 84b; Beit Yosef Even haEzer 11 כתבו , Beit Yosef Choshen Mishpat 1 ומסקינן ,ודוקא .)

Sefer haChinuch notes that our courts are not responsible to mete out Divinely perfect justice. Rather, they are commissioned to create laws of punishment so that civilized society will be able to function and flourish, without fear of aggression.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The second day of Rosh HaShanah

Hi,

"Even people who live in Israel celebrate two days of Rosh HaShanah, for due to Gd's love for His nation, and due to His desire to judge them mercifully, He granted them the opportunity to establish an added day of judgment, on which they would be judged more gently."

[This is from a summation at the end of a long article, which includes various sources to support the author's contention regarding the difference between the judgments of the two days of Rosh haShanah.]

(Rabbi Moshe Shwerd, HaMaor 60:3 (2007))

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Popular acceptance of prophets, Part 2

Hi,

In response to yesterday's comments, by Rabbi Saadia Gaon and Rabbi Yehudah haLevi, about the general population's recognition and acceptance of true prophets:

"It is difficult to digest these words, in the face of the way Israel related to their prophets - as recorded in Tanach - such as to Yirmiyah and Yechezkel and the like."

(Rabbi Yosef Kapach, Kuzari 1:103, footnote 88)

חג אורים שמח,
Mordechai

Popular acceptance of prophets, Part 1

Hi,

"Every prophet selected by the Creator for His mission was given such an acts as a sign, whether controlling natural entities, like preventing fire from burning or preventing a river from flowing… And when such a sign was given to him, people who saw it were compelled to sanctify him and to believe that which he told them, for sages did not present signs such that they would be credible to people."

(Rabbi Saadia Gaon, Ha'Emunot v'haDeiot 3:5)

"Anyone the prophet encounters, when he meets him and hears his Divine words, has spirituality renewed with him, and he is separated from his own dross with a purity of spirit and a thirsting for those [spiritual] levels, and a cleaving to humility and purity."

(Rabbi Yehudah haLevi, Kuzari 1:103)

חג אורים שמח,
Mordechai

Creating sanctity - spatial, temporal and personal

Hi,

"Via the Children of Israel's generosity of the heart with their wealth, the holiness of space, Mishkan and Mikdash [Temple], is constructed.

"And via generosity of their hearts with their lives, meaning the forces of the body's actions, holiness of time is constructed…

"And via generosity of one's heart "with all of your heart", meaning controlling the nature of one's heart, they merit holiness of the spirit…

"And so the holiness of Chanukah and Purim was constructed by special souls, and on those days the holiness of the spirit, the aspect of [sacred] time, shines forth."

(Rabbi Tzaddok haKohen of Lublin, Tzidkat haTzaddik 253)

חג אורים שמח,

Mordechai

The meals of Chanukah

Hi,

Turning one's Chanukah meal into a "mitzvah meal" [seudat mitzvah]:

"We sing songs and praises at the special meals added for Chanukah, and so these meals become 'mitzvah meals'."

(Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 670:2)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Who benefits from a mitzvah?

Hi,

"The benefit of mitzvot is not for Gd, but for people themselves, to avert harm or bad belief or a bad trait, or to remember miracles and wonders of Gd and to know Gd."

(Ramban to Devarim 22:6)

חג אורים שמח,
Mordechai

The mitzvah and its cause

Hi,

"Each general mitzvah must have a cause, and it is commanded for a particular benefit. However, its components are just commands. For example, regarding killing a living thing for good food, the benefit is as we will clarify, but the fact that it is performed via shechitah rather than nechirah, and severing the esophagus and windpipe in a particular spot, these and similar actions are to refine the creations...

"The mitzvah of bringing a korban provides great benefit, as I will explain, but having one korban as a lamb and one as a ram, and having designated numbers for each, one cannot present a cause for it at all. Anyone who would burden himself to give an explanation for these components would be, in my eyes, entering a lengthy lunacy, and would not remove the inscrutability but increase it. One who imagines that there is a reason is far from truth, like one who imagines that the entire mitzvah has no benefit."

(Rambam, Moreh haNevuchim 3:26)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Beit haMikdash and the Earth

Hi,

A fascinating mystical idea: The Beit haMikdash is designed to parallel features of our planet:

"For this reason they said that the Temple Mount was 500 by 500 [cubits], parallel to the world as a whole, which is 500 years' walk in width and length, 500 by 500. 

"And it is known that the world stands without support, suspended by the declaration of Gd, like Job 27, 'He suspends the world on nothing.' So they said that under the Temple Mount were domes upon domes, with hollow spaces below, like the world standing upon nothing."

(Rabbi Moshe Isserles, Torat haOlah 1:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Shabbat clothing

Hi

"It is written (Isaiah 58:13) regarding Shabbat, 'You shall honour it, refraining from performing ordinary tasks.' 'You shall honour it' indicates that your Shabbat clothing should not be like your weekday clothing. 

"This follows along the lines of Rabbi Yochanan's practice of calling his clothing, 'The source of my honour.'"

(Talmud, Shabbat 113a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Alone with G-d

Hi,

"Hitbodedut is a great level, surpassing everything else. This means to set aside at least an hour every day to be alone in a room or a field and to speak with one’s Creator, explaining oneself, appeasing, and supplicating Him to bring oneself close to true divine service. And this prayer and discussion should be held in the vernacular, i.e. Yiddish… for it is hard for us to speak in Hebrew, which we are not used to… But in Yiddish, which we are accustomed to, it is easier to express oneself… One should express all that is in one’s heart before G-d: regret and teshuva regarding the past and supplications to draw close to G-d… It is important to practice this every day at an appointed time and the rest of the day is to be joyous. And this practice is very great and constitutes an excellent method for drawing close to G-d… for everyone can do this and in doing so one will reach a great level. Happy is he who follows this."

(Rabbi Nachman of Breslav, Likutei Moharan II 25, translated by Zvi Leshem, Tradition 47:3 (2014))

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Free healthcare?

Hi,

Preface: The Torah requires an assailant to pay for his victim's medical care. (Shemot 21:19)

"If the assailant says, 'I will bring you a doctor for nothing,' his victim is entitled to reply, 'A doctor who heals for nothing is worth nothing.'"

(Talmud, Bava Kama 85a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Free education for all!

Hi,

"Rav Yehudah cited Rav: Devarim 4:5 says, 'See, I have taught you.' Just as I taught you for free, so you must teach for free."

(Talmud, Bechorot 29a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The dangers of disowning

Hi,

"Shemuel said to Rav Yehudah: Sharp one, do not be among those who divert inheritance, even from a bad son to a good son; you don't know what sort of child may emerge from him."

(Talmud, Ketuvot 53a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Should one leave money to his children? Part 2

Hi,

"Rav said to Rav Hemnuna: My son, if you possess something then it is good for you, for in she'ol there is no pleasure and death does not delay. And should you say, 'I will leave a portion for my son,' who will tell you [what happens to it] in she'ol?"

(Talmud, Eruvin 54a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Should one leave money to his children?

Hi,

"When [Reish Lakish] died, he left behind a kav measure of saffron. He applied to himself [apparently negatively] Psalms 49:11, "'And they left their strength to others.'"

[Note: The kav is fairly small, but saffron was a valuable spice. I am not sure how to take this.]

(Talmud, Gittin 47a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Property should stay in the family

Hi,

"Where one has instructed that his assets should be distributed 'in the best possible way', they should be given to his heirs; there could be nothing better."

(Rabbi Moshe Isserles, Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat 282:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Misunderstanding sages of the past and present

Hi,

"The current generation, due to great weakness and laxity, cannot intellectually grasp the fact that one of the great authors could have made an intellectual error; they think that anything recorded in an old text cannot be questioned.

"They do not offer ideas other than to contradict their contemporaries, and regarding anything that emerges from the mouth of one [of their contemporaries], even if favour is poured upon his lips and his mouth produces gems, still, they say, 'Why is this man different from other men? We also have the language of scholarship, and a hand and name in study as he does.'"

(Rabbi Shlomo Luria, Introduction to Yam shel Shlomo on Masechet Gittin)

Have a good day,
Mordechai