Our obligation to create

Hi,

"If the Torah then chose to relate to man the tale of creation, we may clearly derive one law from this manner of procedure - viz., that man is obliged to engage in creation and the renewal of the cosmos."

(Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, Halakhic Man [Kaplan translation] pg. 100-101)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Creativity expresses spirituality

Hi, "Literature, drawing and carving actualize all of the spiritual concepts imprinted in the depths of the human soul. As long as even a single line revealed in the depths of the thinking, feeling soul remains unactualized, we remain obligated to use crafts to produce it." (Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook, Introduction to Shir haShirim) Have a great day, Mordechai

An original Torah thought

Hi,

"They asked R' Eliezer: Will so-and-so enter the next world? He replied: You asked me about this other person?

"They asked: Is a shepherd obligated to save a lamb from a lion? He replied: You only asked about the lamb?

"They asked: Is one obligated to save the shepherd from a lion? He replied: You only asked about the shepherd?

"They asked: May a mamzer inherit? He replied: May a mamzer perform yibbum?

"They asked: May one line his home with lime today [after the destruction of the Temple]? He replied: May one line a grave with lime today?

"He did not want to lead them afield verbally, but he never said that which he had not heard from his rebbe."

(Talmud, Yoma 66b)

To which the Sfat Emet commented:
"It appears that this was specifically while their rebbe lived; they avoided this as a stringency, for their rebbe's honour, even when it was legally permitted. After their deaths, though, the students taught and judged."

(R' Yehudah Leib Alter, Sfat Emet to Yoma 66b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Originality in Torah study

Hi,

"Once R' Eliezer stayed in the Upper Galil and the residents asked him about 30 laws of succah. For twelve he said, "I've learned this," and for eighteen he said, "I have not learned this."… They said to him, "All of your words are only received tradition!"

"He replied, "Will you compel me to say something I haven't heard from my rebbeim [mentors]? No one has ever preceded me to the study hall, I have never slept for extended or brief periods in the study hall, I have never left anyone behind me in the study hall, I have never spoken of mundane matters, and I have never said anything I did not hear from my rebbe.""

(Talmud, Succah 28a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Originality in Judaism

Hi,

This is a powerful statement, particularly given its source:

"All of the halachah which is contained in the Shulchan Aruch is that which was given equally to all Israel, with no one excluded. Yet he who possesses only Torah does not really even possess Torah, for then his performance becomes merely habit and custom passed on from generation to generation.

"Therefore, he who would achieve piety before his Creator will be recognized by his deeds – by those practices which he originates for the sake of heaven, and by all that his heart desires. In this no two individuals are alike, because no two men love Gd in the same way."

(Responsum of Chatam Sofer 1: Orach Chaim 197)

Shushan Purim Sameach,
Mordechai