Transcending our legal obligations

Hi,

"A man sold land to Rav Pappa, in order to raise money to purchase oxen. In the end he didn’t need the money, and so Rav Pappa returned his land. Rav Pappa transcended the line of the law."

(Talmud, Ketuvot 97a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Remarkable permission to speak lashon hara

Hi,

"Rabbi Shemuel bar Nachman cited Rabbi Yonatan: We are permitted to speak harmfully about people who promote strife."

(Talmud Yerushalmi, Peah 1:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The First Mitzvah

Hi,

"The first mitzvah is a commandment to believe that the One who gave us the Torah on Mount Sinai, via our master Moshe, was HaShem our Gd who took us out of Egypt. Regarding this, it is stated when Gd gave us the Torah, 'I am HaShem, your Gd, who took you out of the land of Egypt.'"

(Sefer Mitzvot Gadol, Aseh 1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Back to basics

Hi,

Sometimes, simplest is best:

"You shall neither take revenge nor bear a grudge against your fellow, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Gd."

(Vayyikra 19:18)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Why send meraglim [spies] to Israel?

Hi,

"It appears that Gd's essential intent was to send Gd-fearing, complete people, whose entire goal was the service of Gd. Gd-forbid, it was not for them to tour the land and see its material aspects, but rather Gd instructed Moshe to send people who already served Gd in order for them to make their mark as servants of Gd there, through Torah and prayer, in order to draw life and spiritual influence from the heavenly Israel to the earthly Israel, so that the land of Israel itself would long for the arrival of the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov."

(R' Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, Kedushat Levi to Parshat Sh'lach)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The warning to a potential convert

Hi,

"When someone comes to convert, we do not accept him immediately. Rather, we say to him: Why do you want to convert? Don't you see that this nation is low and tortured among all of the nations, that great illnesses and sufferings befall them, that they bury their children and grandchildren, that they are killed for observing circumcision and immersion and other mitzvot, and that they do not conduct themselves publicly as the other nations do?"

(Masechet Gerim 1:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Censorship, from Maimonides

Hi,

Regarding King Chizkiyah's decision to conceal the "Book of Cures" of his day:

"There are practices that Gd has forbidden, but that one may study and analyze, for Gd only said, 'Do not learn to practice them,' and our tradition-based understanding, recorded in the Talmud in Sanhedrin 68, is that one may learn them in order to analyze and teach.

"However, when people destroyed their path and began to cure themselves through these means, he removed the practices and hid them away."

(Commentary of Rambam to Mishnah Pesachim, Chapter 4)

Have a great day,
Mordechai