Mas’ei — the Journey as a Name of G-d
Parashas Mas’ei opens with a description of Benei Yisra’el’s trip through the desert, and lists the forty-two stops made along the way. An oft-quoted Zohar identifies the stops in the desert with each of...
by Micha Berger · Published August 3, 2016 – כ״ח בתמוז תשע״ו · Last modified August 3, 2016
Parashas Mas’ei opens with a description of Benei Yisra’el’s trip through the desert, and lists the forty-two stops made along the way. An oft-quoted Zohar identifies the stops in the desert with each of...
Qedushah / Taavah / Taharah / Teshuvah / Torah as Growth
by Micha Berger · Published July 24, 2016 – י״ח בתמוז תשע״ו · Last modified July 24, 2016
I was asked the following question, and I was happy with how the reply came out. I just received permission to post the exchange, minus identifying information. Question: I learn in yeshiva kollel in...
The pagans worshipped deities to drive out the fear of the unknown. Blaming lightning on Thor does give the person hopes to control lightning by appeasing its god. But logically prior to that, blaming...
A beraita (an early text later incorporated into the Talmud) in Avot (6:6) opens, “Torah is greater than the priesthood or sovereignty, for sovereignty is acquired with thirty virtues, the priesthood with twenty-four, and...
by Micha Berger · Published June 13, 2016 – ז׳ בסיון תשע״ו · Last modified June 13, 2016
Relevant to why megillas Rus is read on Shavuos… Yevamos 47a explains what we must teach a prospective convert: ומודיעין אותו מקצת מצות קלות ומקצת מצות חמורות, ומודיעין אותו עון לקט שכחה ופאה ומעשר...
1- Bereishis / Holidays / Torah as Growth
by Micha Berger · Published June 9, 2016 – ג׳ בסיון תשע״ו · Last modified June 9, 2016
Most young Yeshiva children come home sometime around Shavuos with the story of how Hashem offered the Torah to all the nations of the world, but only the Jews accepted it. The medrash, as...
Last Pesach ended in Israel on Friday, and in the rest of the world on Shabbos. Which means that in Israel, Acharei Mos was read that week, while we in chutz la’aretz (outside of...
by Micha Berger · Published May 3, 2016 – כ״ה בניסן תשע״ו · Last modified May 3, 2016
The notion that hashgachah peratis (personalized Divine Providence; HP) includes influence over every event dates back to the 18th century or so. The Lubavitcher Rebbe calls it a chidush (novellum) of the Baal Shem Tov (the...
by Micha Berger · Published April 26, 2016 – י״ח בניסן תשע״ו · Last modified April 26, 2016
Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto opens Mesilas Yesharim with this questionable claim: הקדמה – אמר המחבר: החיבור הזה לא חברתיו ללמד לבני האדם את אשר לא ידעו, אלא להזכירם את הידוע להם כבר ומפורסם אצלם...
The gemara says that the preferred vegetable for maror is chasah — lettuce. The problem is that the lettuces sold today aren’t mar, bitter. One could try to find wild lettuce. The lettuce that was native to...
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