Vayichal Moshe – Moshe Implored
While looking at Unqelus this week, I had a thought that is an application of the idea in Prayers and Requests. (See also Meshekh Chokhmah – Vayechi II – My Sword and My Bow.)...
Keeping Torah and Values in Focus
by Micha Berger · Published February 14, 2022 – י״ג באדר א׳ תשפ״ב · Last modified March 6, 2022
While looking at Unqelus this week, I had a thought that is an application of the idea in Prayers and Requests. (See also Meshekh Chokhmah – Vayechi II – My Sword and My Bow.)...
by Micha Berger · Published February 13, 2022 – י״ב באדר א׳ תשפ״ב · Last modified March 11, 2022
I am excited to announce the launch of a new project I’m calling “Zelmele’s Kloiz”, starting with a shiur on Thursday evenings. First, about the shiur: We will be looking at a series of...
by Micha Berger · Published February 7, 2022 – ו׳ באדר א׳ תשפ״ב · Last modified March 6, 2022
When learning about berakhos, whether the halakhos or the latter third of the mesechta, I like to emphasize the following point… The vast majority of berakhos are derabbanan. So, why so many different berakhos,...
by Micha Berger · Published January 19, 2022 – י״ז בשבט תשפ״ב · Last modified March 6, 2022
I think Rav Yosef Ber Soloveitchik’s fascination with Neo-Kantianism was in part due to the similarity between a Kantian antinomy or neo-Kantian dialectic and the Brisker chaqira. (Another factor was simply that neo-Kantianism...
by admin · Published December 24, 2021 – כ׳ בטבת תשפ״ב · Last modified January 6, 2022
A post on Facebook by Jeremy Phillips raised the question of why Hashem chose a vigilante to be His lawgiver. He got me thinking. Hashem even lauds Moshe’s vigilantism in the Torah when he...
by Micha Berger · Published December 15, 2021 – י״א בטבת תשפ״ב · Last modified December 15, 2021
A short thought, maybe “just” a conversation starter… There is a paradoxical obligation: it is prohibited to conform in all ways only to the letter of the law. One must stay well within it...
by Micha Berger · Published November 29, 2021 – כ״ה בכסלו תשפ״ב · Last modified November 29, 2021
Any exploration of the Aruch HaShulchan must first consider this question: Is halacha a set of rules that we follow or the system by which we reach those rulings?
by Micha Berger · Published August 27, 2021 – י״ט באלול תשפ״א · Last modified August 27, 2021
I The pasuq (Devarim 28:61, parashas Ki Savo) reads, if we would translate it naively (ignoring the point we’re about to see in Rashi): גַּ֤ם כׇּל־חֳלִי֙ וְכׇל־מַכָּ֔ה אֲשֶׁר֙ לֹ֣א כָת֔וּב בְּסֵ֖פֶר הַתּוֹרָ֣ה הַזֹּ֑את יַעְלֵ֤ם...
There are two kinds of medrash (which should technically be called “midrash” to be grammatically correct). Midrashei Aggada are non-halakhic statements, those of mussar, Jewish thought, Qabbalah, and the like. The thought is usually...
Dei`os / Other-Focused Orthodoxy
by Micha Berger · Published July 18, 2021 – ט׳ באב תשפ״א · Last modified July 18, 2021
The first time we encounter Yerushalayim (Bereishis 14:18), it is under the rule of Malki-Tzedeq, a “kohein leKeil elyon — a priest of the most high G-d”, under the name “Shaleim”. The other half...
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