The Joy of Purim

Hi,

On Purim:

"As physical life was threatened here and physical life saved, so, apart from the public recital of the story handed down to us perpetuating the event, Purim stresses the enjoyment of festivities, mutual gifts and consideration for our poorer brethren.

"Together with this we should joyfully remember how our life was given to us again, and in this feeling of joy we should each revive the spirit of our common brotherhood and give it greater scope by bringing cheer to our less fortunate ones."

(Rabbi Samshon Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 247)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Prayer and Self-Assessment

Hi,

['Tefillah' is a Hebrew word for prayer.]

"‘Hitpallel התפלל’, from which ‘tefillah תפלה’ is derived, originally meant to deliver an opinion about oneself, to judge oneself… Thus it denotes to step out of active life in order to attempt to gain a true judgment about oneself, that is, about one’s ego, about one’s relationship to G-d and the world, and of G-d and the world to oneself."

(Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsh, Horeb 618)

המצפה לישועה,

Mordechai

Teach children humanity

Hi,

"Above all, those to whom the care of young minds has been entrusted, see to it that they respect both the smallest and the largest animal as beings which, like man, have been summoned to the joy of life and have been granted sensitivity. And do not forget that the boy who, in crude joy, finds delight in the convulsions of an injured beetle or the anxiety of a suffering animal will soon also be dumb towards human pain."

(Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb 416)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Protect the animals!

Hi,

"There are probably no creatures that require more the protective Divine word against the presumption of man than the animals, which, like man, have sensations and instincts, but whose body and powers are nevertheless subservient to man."

(Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb 415)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Shabbat: Acknowledging Divine authority

Hi,

"How, above all, does man show his domination over the earth? In that he can fashion all things in his environment to his own purpose... He can transform everything into an instrument of human service. He is allowed to rule over the world for six days with Gd's will. On the seventh day, however, he is forbidden by Divine behest to fashion anything for his own purpose. In this way he acknowledges that he has no rights of ownership or authority over the world... On each Sabbath day, the world, so to speak, is restored to Gd."

(Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb 141)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Thanking Gd for the land

Hi,

Regarding thanking Gd for our land in the blessing recited after a meal:

"Even for us today – for the scattered Israel that dwells in other countries – the fact that the land of Israel was once granted to us by G-d and, since lost, will one day again be ours, is of holy significance. This fact demonstrates G-d as the Sustainer of our physical existence and teaches us to see in all possessions and enjoyments a G-d-granted means to His service. 

"In these Berachot, the Land of Israel takes its appropriate pride of place among the other facts that form the foundation of Israel – namely, the Divine covenant with Abraham, the Exodus, and the Revelation at Sinai."

(Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb 677)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Life should not be divided

Hi,

"Our Sages regarded it as their duty not only to call us from the turmoil of life to a gathering to Gd but to approach us in life itself in order to make vivid for us the thought of Gd in life and to help us towards an active life in the service of Gd…

"The thoughts of Gd acquired in the Divine inner worship must be held on to firmly in active life, so that life be not divided for us into hours of prayer and hours of activity, standing before Gd in the former but in the latter not walking before Him. What would the Divine inward worship be worth if it did not return us to active life in a holier, stronger, more Gd-filled state, and if it did not transform our whole life into Divine service?"

(Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb 672-673)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch on Purim

Hi,

On Purim:

"As physical life was threatened here and physical life saved, so, apart from the public recital of the story handed down to us perpetuating the event, Purim stresses the enjoyment of festivities, mutual gifts and consideration for our poorer brethren.

"Together with this we should joyfully remember how our life was given to us again, and in this feeling of joy we should each revive the spirit of our common brotherhood and give it greater scope by bringing cheer to our less fortunate ones."

(R' Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 247)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Tzitzit: Separating Man from Beast

Hi,

On Tzitzit:

"Thus when the sensitive eye and the sensitive heart of man wander out into the visible world, and are then thrown back upon themselves, they find the human garment – the first visible characteristic distinguishing man from beast – reminding man of his superiority over brutishness and making him aware of the existence of the Invisible One and His word, and recalling vividly G-d, human dignity and the mission of Israel..."

(Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb 278)

חג אורים שמח,
Mordechai

Refraining from melachah on Shabbat

Hi,

The word melachah, as used in the context of Shabbat, refers to the tasks performed in the mishkan (Shabbat 49b; Bava Kama 2a). All of these tasks, and tasks which have similar purposes or methods, are prohibited on Shabbat, as an outgrowth of the Torah's instruction, “You shall perform no melachah.”

The sages have identified many benefits of refraining from performing melachah on Shabbat:

One reason, as brought by the Sefer haChinuch, is that we are meant to spend Shabbat thinking about Gd's creation of the universe.

On another level, Shabbat commemorates our freedom from slavery in Egypt. A slave cannot rest; we are given a day of rest to show that Gd made us into free people.

In yet another approach, Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch suggests that on Shabbat we cease creating in order to recognize that we are not unlimited masters of this world, to manipulate it as we choose.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Crown of Sinai

Hi,

"If you do not lead a godly life, if you live in a manner unworthy of the Name you bear, if you harbour lies and selfishness in your mind and heart, if you possession is unjust, if your pleasure is mean, if your deeds are heartless, if you profane the Crown of Sinai, just to indulge a mood, a liking, a preference – if your life shows that the all-holy G-d and His holy will are not sacred to you, that you do not hold them as the highest and that you hold other things above them – possessions, pleasure, worldly honours, or anything else – to which you would sacrifice the former, see, then, not only do you kill in yourself the Holy Name, so that it no longer educates you to holiness, but you also destroy its sacred acknowledgment in the mind of your brother, you show that one can be a Jew and yet be unjust, and profane, and heartless – and invite others to be the same. Do not profane the Holy Name."

(Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 611)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Two parts of Torah

Hi,

"There will accordingly be two schools of study engaged in the exposition of the Divine law, differing only in the sources from which they draw their knowledge of it. One school will concern itself with the comprehension of the utterances regulating our practical conduct in and for themselves, and of the lessons – equally concerned with practice – which can be derived from those utterances; and its knowledge will be derived almost exclusively from the tradition which transmits the oral and written Divine utterances and the regulations of the Sages. The other school will concern itself with reflecting and pondering on these laws, and its source of knowledge will be the more or less illuminating power of insight which dwells in each individual religious thinker.

"The work of the first school lies before us in the שמעתתא made up of things heard (שמע). The work of the second we find in the אגדתא made up of the ideas which have occurred to each one, of what each one has related (הגיד). Everything belonging to the first school is obligatory, because it emanates from the authority which has power to bind. All that springs from the second school has no power to bind, because it represents only the views of individuals, and can claim recognition only in so far as it is in conformity with what is contained in the work of the first school.

"The work of the first school, from the very nature of its contents, came to an end with the completion of the Gemara, the collection of the שמעתתא. The production of אגדתא is, however, free and capable of enlargement at all times. It is all the freer the more firmly established and self-contained the work is of the first school and the less the first school is exposed to any change from the second. The first school should rather serve as a standard regulating the second."

(Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, Foreword, pp. clvii-clviii of Dayyan Grunfeld translation)

פתקא טבא,

Mordechai

Jewish holidays: Harvest festival or Historic celebration?

Hi,

"Each [Jewish] festival takes place at the time of the year when Gd reveals Himself in Nature's evolution, in the same way as the deed that forms the basis of the festival reveals Gd at work in the sphere of human history."

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, Chapter 23)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

Spiritual Zionism?

Hi,

This will be controversial, but it is also Torah:

"Not in order to shine as a nation among nations do we raise our prayers and hopes for a reunion in our land, but in order to find a soil for the better fulfillment of our spiritual vocation in that reunion and in that land which was promised, and given, and again promised for our observance of the Torah. But this very vocation obliges us, until G-d shall call us back to the Holy Land, to live and to work as patriots wherever He has placed us… It obliges us, further, to allow our longing for the far-off land to express itself only in mourning, in wishing and hoping; and only through the honest fulfillment of all Jewish duties to await the realization of this hope. But it forbids us to strive for the reunion or possession of the land by any but spiritual means."

(Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 608)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Everything you do is meaningful

Hi,

"Not even the smallest of your activities, your deed, your word, even your thought, is without effect."

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, Chapter 22)

Have a great day,

Mordechai

The roots of slander

Hi,

"Common slander has its roots in two things:

"(1) in the inability to exercise some activity/hobby - apart from earning one's living - which is pure and disinterested and compatible with human dignity; and in the boredom which is the consequence of that inability;

"(2) in that base mentality which tries to aggrandize itself by belittling a fellow-man and rejoices in denouncing those of his weaknesses and faults which one does not possess oneself."

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb paragraph 391)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Maybe I can't learn Torah?

Hi,

"As to whether you are competent to learn Torah, the guarantee of this is that Gd demands it of you... What you have to learn is not high above nor far away. It lies quite close to you, like the thought of your mind and the prompting of your heart, for it is your way of life that you have to learn, and it is for practical life that you have to study."

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb, paragraph 492 (based on Deuteronomy 30:11-14))

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Share!

Hi,

"Gd, to Whom you owe everything you possess, imposes upon you the duty not to consider it as given to you alone, but also to allow your brother who is poorer than you to make use of it, and to lend him money to enable him to rise out of his distress, to earn a livelihood and gain his independence at your side."

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb paragraph 565)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Of Flattery and Hypocrisy

Hi,

"A lie concerning the personality of the person to whom it is told... is flattery. A lie concerning your own personality is hypocrisy.

"But just as nowhere is truth more necessary than in knowing oneself, and nowhere isdeception more harmful than here, so hardly any lie is more harmful than flattery."

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb paragraph 373)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Teach your children honesty

Hi,

"All you who have influence over the soul of the young, to prepare them for a life of justice, watch out that they retain that inner shield which protects from many aberrations; watch out that they remain sincere, truthful and straightforward as the Creator wanted them to be, so that they fear the lie more than the harshest punishment which you might inflict upon them."

(R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, Horeb paragraph 372)

Have a great day,
Mordechai