The point of being elevated

Hi,

"When Gd elevates a person in status, he should not take pleasure in his own ascent. Rather, his essential focus should be on elevating others, guiding the nation of Gd in the path of Gd, and elevating sparks to Gd."

(R' Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, Kedushat Levi to Parshat Vayyigash אנכי אעלך גם עלה)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

One Mentor or Many Mentors? (Part III)

Hi,

The concluding passage in this series:

"Rav Chisda told the Sages: I wish to tell you something, but I worry that you will then abandon me! One who learns Torah from a single mentor will never see a sign of blessing.

"They abandoned him and went to learn before Rava.

"Rav Chisda then told them: This is only for logic, but for gemara [absorption of core text] it is better to learn from one mentor, so that he will not have conflicting texts."

(Talmud, Avodah Zarah 19a-b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

One Mentor or Many Mentors? (Part II)

Hi,

Part II of III

"Rabbi Meir said: If you have learned from one rav, do not say, ‘It is enough for me,’ but go to learn Torah with another sage.

"Do not go to all, but go first to one who is close to you, as it is written (Mishlei 5:15), ‘Drink water from your cistern, and flowing water from your well.’"

(Avot d'Rabbi Natan 3:6)

To be continued...

Have a great day,
Mordechai

One Mentor or Many Mentors? (Part I)

Hi,

"“Make a rav for yourself” – How? This teaches that one should make himself a fixed rav, and learn mikra, mishnah, midrash, halachah and aggada from him. If the rav were to omit an explanation in mikra, he would say it in mishnah. If the rav were to omit a reason in mishnah, he would say it in midrash. If the rav were to omit an explanation in midrash, he would say it in halachah. If the rav were to omit a reason in halachah, he would say it in aggada. Thus this person will sit in his place and be filled with good and blessing.

"Rabbi Meir would say: To what may we compare someone who learns Torah from one rav? To someone who owns one field, and plants part with wheat and part with barley, part with olives and part with other trees, and thus this person will be filled with good and blessing.

"When someone learns from two or three, he is like someone who has many fields, and who plants one with wheat, another with barley, one with olives and another with other trees. Thus he is scattered among the lands, with neither good nor blessing."

(Avot d'Rabbi Natan 8:1-2)

This is not the whole picture, though. To be continued...

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Transcending our obligations

Hi,

"Casual partaking of food - i.e., a piece of bread the size of an egg, or a cooked dish of the five kinds of grain; fruit, wine and water when not taken as part of a meal; all these may be consumed outside the sukkah...

"However, he who is fully imbued with the significance of the sukkah will not drink even water outside it."

(R' Shimshon Raphael Hirsch, Horeb paragraph 222A)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Repentance matters more than fasting

Hi,

"Know and understand that although the sages have said, ‘Fasting is good for a [bad] dream like fire for flax,’ that is only if one repents along with the fast."

(Sefer Chasidim 226)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Accepting tzedakah

Hi,

"If people give a person tzedakah because he studies Torah or is involved in mitzvot and good deeds, he should not use it; he should give it to someone who is as great as he, and involved in Torah and mitzvot as he is.

"However, if they say, ‘We are giving it to you on condition that you will not give it to anyone else,’ then he may not even give it to a greater person, much less a lesser person."

(Sefer Chasidim 329)

Have a great day,
Mordechai