The True Hero
Don’t picture a single jar of oil found amidst the rubble. The Beis haMiqdash wasn’t trashed, it was perverted into a Temple of Zeus. … That single jar oil needed to be searched for because it had been hidden. Who hid it?
Anavah / Bitachon / Holidays / Yir`ah
by Micha Berger · Published December 22, 2022 – כ״ח בכסלו תשפ״ג · Last modified December 23, 2022
Don’t picture a single jar of oil found amidst the rubble. The Beis haMiqdash wasn’t trashed, it was perverted into a Temple of Zeus. … That single jar oil needed to be searched for because it had been hidden. Who hid it?
by Micha Berger · Published December 21, 2022 – כ״ז בכסלו תשפ״ג · Last modified December 28, 2022
So, Adam saw the return of darkness, the same darkness the opening medrash identified with the spiritual decimation attempted by the Hellenists in the years before Chanukah. He mourned and fasted for 8 days. We have 8 days, but with an opposite theme — mourning and fasting are prohibited, and praise and gratitude dominate. And in both cases, the message was only seen in retrospect, the next year.
There is one major difference: Adam concluded that the darkness and the return of light was just “the natural cycle”. In Chanukah, we initiated the light manually, and Hashem responded with a miracle. Where Adam saw Hashem’s Light in nature, we see Him bestowing it in a covenantal union with us.
Adam was the start of this world. The Jewish People were given the Torah, handed a burning torch, to bring light to the world that follows.
by Micha Berger · Published February 24, 2021 – י״ב באדר תשפ״א · Last modified February 24, 2021
Let’s just look at Ben Zoma (Avos 4:1): אֵיזֶהוּ עָשִׁיר? הַשָּׂמֵחַ בְּחֶלְקוֹ. Who is wealthy? Someone who is sameiach, happy, with their lot. Ben Zoma isn’t arguing for complacency. Look at his prooftext: שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר:...
by Micha Berger · Published December 18, 2020 – ג׳ בטבת תשפ״א · Last modified December 18, 2020
Rashi writes on Bamidbar 30:2: “Zeh haDavar — This is the Idea“: Moshe gave nevu’ah with “Koh amar Hashem — Like this said Hashem, ‘Like in the middle of the night’” (Shemos 11, about...
by Micha Berger · Published September 17, 2020 – כ״ח באלול תש״פ · Last modified September 17, 2020
There is a new, slightly enlarged, version of my reader for Aseres Yemei Tehuvah for 5781, suitable for putting that wandering mind to work while in shul. Contents: Spiritual Planning………………………………………………………… 1 9/11 and How...
by Micha Berger · Published April 7, 2020 – י״ג בניסן תש״פ · Last modified April 7, 2020
I think many discussions of the gemara about rice not producing chameitz head in the wrong direction. The definition of chameitz isn’t entirely scientific. After all, if you mix wheat flour with 100% apple...
by Micha Berger · Published September 26, 2019 – כ״ו באלול תשע״ט · Last modified September 26, 2019
אמר רבי יהודה משום רבי עקיבא … אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא: … ואמרו לפני בראש השנה מלכיות זכרונות ושופרות. מלכיות: כדי שתמליכוני עליכם. זכרונות: כדי שיעלה זכרוניכם לפני לטובה. ובמה? בשופר. Rabbi Yehudah said...
This blog post is with gratitude to Rabbi Pesach Sommer, for asking: Anyone aware of any interesting conceptual, philosophical, theological, or derush ideas connected to koreich, and the idea of eating Pesach, matzah and...
2- Shemos / Pesach / Torah as Growth / Yir`ah
by Micha Berger · Published April 12, 2019 – ז׳ בניסן תשע״ט · Last modified April 12, 2019
דַּבֶּר־נָ֖א בְּאׇזְנֵ֣י הָעָ֑ם וְיִשְׁאֲל֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ ׀ מֵאֵ֣ת רֵעֵ֗הוּ וְאִשָּׁה֙ מֵאֵ֣ת רְעוּתָ֔הּ כְּלֵי־כֶ֖סֶף וּכְלֵ֥י זָהָֽב׃ Please tell the people to borrow, each man from his friend and each woman from her friend, silver utensils and gold utensils....
קִיְּמ֣וּ וְקִבְּל֣[וּ] הַיְּהוּדִים֩ the Jews fulfilled and accepted says the Megillah (Est 9:27), which is darshened “they fulfilled that which they accepted already.” (Shavuos 39a) Purim not only introduces the redemption season, it represents...
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