Only gratitude will remain

Hi,

"In the future, all korbanot [offerings] will be cancelled other than the korban todah [thanks offering], and all prayers will be cancelled other than prayers of thanks.

"It is written [regarding the world of the future], "The voice of joy, the voice of happiness, the voice of grooms, the voice of brides, the voice of those who say, 'Thank Gd!'" which is a prayer of thanks, and [the verse continues] "And those who bring thanks to the house of Gd" which is the thanks offering."

(Midrash, Vayyikra Rabbah 9:7)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

What did Yechezkel see?

Hi,

"Gd showed Yechezkel His glory and manifestation travelling and leaving the Temple; [this means] that His supervision and protection and ministering angels who fulfill His will, His spheres and heavens and mighty ones who carry out His word, which all camped about Israel in their times of success, saving them and acting as agents on their behalf and saying good things about them - all of them were now traveling and leaving His protection, being elevated from upon the land."

(Don Isaac Abarbanel, Introduction to Yechezkel)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Shavuot is for you

Hi,

"R' Eliezer said: On Yom Tov one either eats and drinks or sits and studies. R' Yehoshua said: Split it – half for eating and drinking, half for the study hall.

"R' Yochanan said: Both learn it from the same text: One passage says, 'A celebration for HaShem your Gd,' and one passage says, 'It shall be a celebration for you.' R' Eliezer said it should be for Gd or for you, and R' Yehoshua said to split it, half for HaShem and half for you.

"R' Elazar said: All agree that for Shavuot we require 'for you', because that is the day when the Torah was given."

(Talmud, Pesachim 68b)

Have a great Yom Tov,
Mordechai

The script on the Tablets, Part II

Hi,

"I cannot accept or bear that any tanna or amora [ie sage] would think that Assyrian script was entirely created in the days of Ezra. Rather, this is what happened: The aseret hadibrot were written on the tablets, according to everyone, in Assyrian. No one argues with this at all."

(Responsa of Radbaz 3:442)

Have a great Yom Tov,
Mordechai

The script on the Tablets, Part I

Hi,

"According to all, the script on the luchot was Assyrian, for we have already said that the debate was only regarding the script used by Israel, because it was appropriate that the script of Israel be Paleo-Hebrew."

(Maharal, Tiferet Yisrael 64)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Where to market your Torah

Hi,

Rav Hillel Witkind asked the Chazon Ish for advice, for he had a yeshiva in Tel Aviv and it was not succeeding. The Chazon Ish told him to move the yeshiva to Bnei Brak.

Rav Witkind asked, "There are many yeshivot in Bnei Brak!" To which the Chazon Ish replied by pointing to Menachot 85a, "Bring vegetables to market in a city which already has a vegetable market."

(Rav Chaim Kanaievsky, cited in Maaseh Ish and in Margaliyos haShas to Menachos 85a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Visions of Gd

Hi,

"The prophets saw Gd in forms which varied in association with His deeds...

"At a time of anger against the nation, when Gd planned to travel and remove His presence from among them and His supervision from upon them, Yeshayahu saw Gd sitting on a throne, high and elevated, as though distancing His supervision form them and removing it fom the lower realms, placing it in the upper realms...

"Yechezkel saw Gd at the time of His travel, the destruction of the Beit haMikdash... as though on a chariot, prepared for the King, Gd, Lord of Hosts, to travel, like kings who travel from place to place, for whom they prepare a chariot to go on his way. All of this is a parable, in human speech."

(Abarbanel, Introduction to Yechezkel)

Have a great day,
Mordechai