The conditions for prophecy

Hi,

"Rabbi Yochanan said: Gd is not manifest upon someone, unless that person is Powerful, Wealthy, Wise and Humble. All of these traits are derived from Moshe."

(Talmud, Nedarim 38a)

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

Care in speaking the Name of Gd

Hi,

"What would be wrong with saying, 'An offering for Gd' [in dedicating an offering]?

"Lest one say 'For Gd' and not 'an offering' [due to interruption], and so produce the Name of Heaven for naught."

(Talmud, Nedarim 10a-b)

המצפה לישועה,
Mordechai

Torah should be free

Hi,

"[Moshe said:] ‘Gd instructed me, at that time, to teach you,’ and, ‘See, I have taught you statutes and laws, as Gd instructed me.’ Just as I taught for free, so you should teach for free."

(Talmud, Nedarim 37a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The pain of anger

Hi,

"One who grows angry is subject to all manner of Gehennom (Hell), as it is written (Kohelet 11), 'Remove anger from your heart, and you will remove evil from your flesh.'"

(Talmud, Nedarim 22a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The importance of circumcision

Hi,

"Circumcision is so important that if not for this mitzvah, Gd would not have created His world, as it is written, 'If not for My covenant, day and night, I would not have emplaced the laws of heaven and earth.'"

(Talmud, Nedarim 31b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The victim of anger

Hi,

"Anger is bad for the angry person, himself... There is no greater harm for a person than being angry, as the Sages point out (Talmud, Nedarim 22a) that anger causes a person to forget his Torah knowledge and to become foolish, and it causes many more negative results as well."

(Comment of Maharal to Avot 2:10)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Learning not to complain

Hi,

"In the fall, Rachel and Rabbi Akiva slept in a straw storage area, and she picked straw from his beard. He told her, 'If I had it, I would give you a Yerushalayim shel zahav [a beautiful gold ornament with the horizon of Jerusalem]!'

"Eliyahu haNavi came and appeared as a person and called at the gate, saying, 'Give me a little straw, for my wife has given birth and we have nothing on which she could lie.' R’ Akiva told his wife, 'See, this man even lacks straw!'"

(Talmud, Nedarim 50a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

What anger indicates

Hi,

When a person is angry, even Gd is not important to him, as it is written…
When a person is angry, he forgets his learning and increases his foolishness, as it is written…
When a person is angry, it is a sign that his sins are greater than his merits, as it is written…

(Talmud, Nedarim 22b)

Have a good day,
Mordechai

A Talmudic Quote on Asceticism

Hi,

Preface: A Nazirite vows to abstain from wine, among other things.

"Rabbi Elazar haKappar, son of Rebbe, said: The Torah says, 'A Nazirite must atone for his sin against the soul.' But against what soul did he sin? He pained himself by abstaining from wine.

"We see that a person who abstains from wine is called a 'sinner.' How much more so a person who pains himself by abstaining from anything else! We see that a person who fasts voluntarily is called a sinner."

(Talmud, Nedarim 10a)

Note: This should not be taken as a statement against people who feel a need to abstain from alcohol because of potential addiction. Rather, it is against unnecessary asceticism.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Praying for the sick

Hi,

"One who visits [literally: examines] a sick person causes him to live. One who does not visit a sick person causes him to die...

"This is because one who does not visit a sick person will not be moved to pray for him to live or die."

(Talmud, Nedarim 40a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Visiting the sick, and being sensitive to their needs

Hi,

A nuance in the mitzvah of visiting the sick:

"One should not visit ill people who have bowel ailments, or eye pain or headaches: Bowel ailments because the ill person will be embarrassed before the visitor, and eye pain or headaches because conversation is painful for someone in that condition."

(Talmud, Nedarim 41a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Advice for life

Hi,

"They sent a message from Israel: Be careful to bathe and launder, be careful to learn Torah in groups, and be careful for children of paupers, from whom Torah will come, as it is written..."

(Talmud, Nedarim 81a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Torah is not truly an inheritance

Hi,

"Why don't we find that the children of Talmidei Chachamim become Talmidei Chachamim?

"Rav Yosef said: So that people won't say that Torah is an inherited property."

(Talmud, Nedarim 81a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Benefiting from one's Torah accomplishments

Hi,

"One who makes use of the crown of Torah for personal gain will, in the end, be uprooted from this world. [Babylonian king] Belshazzar made use of holy vessels which had been de-sanctified and he was uprooted from the world, how much more so for one who uses the crown of Torah, which is eternal!"

(Talmud, Nedarim 62a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The advantage of ugliness, for a scholar

Hi,

"The daughter of the Caesar told Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananiah: The splendid Torah is in ugly jugs!

"He replied: Learn from your father's household; in what do they place wine?

"She said: In clay jugs.

"He asked: Everyone uses clay jugs, and you use clay jugs? You should put it in silver and gold jugs!

"She went and put the wine in silver and gold jugs, and the wine went bad. He said to her: Torah is this way, too.

"She asked: But aren't there sages who are attractive and learned?

"He replied: If they were ugly, they would be more learned."

(Talmud, Nedarim 50b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The importance of visiting [examining] the sick

Hi,

"Rabbi Akiva proclaimed: One who does not examine the ill is spilling their blood."

(Talmud, Nedarim 40a)

To explain - Rabbi Akiva's comment came after an incident in which he visited an ill student and found that the student was not receiving proper care. When Rabbi Akiva came, the care was upgraded and the student recovered.

Note: The term in Hebrew for visiting the sick is 'bikur cholim,' but the actual translation of those words is 'examining the sick,' because this is the essence of the visit, along with praying for the sick person's welfare.

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Drafting Torah scholars

Hi,

Here's a controversial one:

"Rabbi Avahu said, citing Rabbi Elazar: Why was Avraham punished, and why were his descendants enslaved in Egypt for 210 years? Because he drafted Torah scholars for military service, as it is written, 'And he brought out his trainees, those born into his house.'"

(Talmud, Nedarim 32a)

Aside from the political issues of today, this is problematic because:
1. Avraham himself went, and there is no penalty for that trip;
2. This was a trip geared toward saving a life (although perhaps Lot was not in mortal peril).

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Mental Infidelity

Hi,

On the concept of mental infidelity:

"The Torah states (Bamidbar 15), 'And you shall not stray after your hearts.'

"Based on this, Rebbe taught: One may not drink from one cup while he turns his eyes toward another." [I think the euphemism is obvious.]

(Talmud, Nedarim 20b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai