Keeping Torah and Values in Focus
by Micha Berger · Published February 14, 2006 – ט״ז בשבט תשס״ו · Last modified February 14, 2006
Time — its existence is only within our perception. Creation is far more profound than our ability to grasp and far greater than that which is represented in our physical universe. Consequently, “creation” transcends...
by Micha Berger · Published February 7, 2006 – ט׳ בשבט תשס״ו · Last modified February 7, 2006
The following taxonomy of kinds of halachic ruling was culled from the Rambam, Hilkhos Mamrim ch. 2, and includes thoughts learned at a shi’ur given by R’ Yonasan Sachs (of RIETS and the Agudath...
by Micha Berger · Published January 25, 2006 – כ״ה בטבת תשס״ו · Last modified January 25, 2006
The Rambam lists his ikkarim in his introduction to the chapter “Cheileq” in Tr. Sanhedrin. The mishnah states “All of Israel has a portion in the World to Come except…” The Rambam is addressing...
by Micha Berger · Published January 18, 2006 – י״ח בטבת תשס״ו · Last modified January 18, 2006
In the previous entry, I tried to discuss the importance of being ma’avir al midosav, and some various approaches to defining this critical but rarely discussed middah. Although I did link to Rav Dessler’s...
by Micha Berger · Published January 16, 2006 – ט״ז בטבת תשס״ו · Last modified January 16, 2006
Whoever is “ma’avir al midosav”, ma’avirin lo, they pass over his sins for him. As it says, ‘… forgiving iniquity and remitting transgression’ (Mikha 7:18). To whom does He forgive iniquity? To the one...
by Micha Berger · Published January 6, 2006 – ו׳ בטבת תשס״ו · Last modified January 6, 2006
We say in the Amidah for Shabbos and Yom Tov, “Vetaheir libeinu le’avekha be’emes”, usually translated simply as “And purify our hearts to serve You in truth.””Vetaheir libeinu” provides an interesting contrast to “veyacheid...
by Micha Berger · Published December 29, 2005 – כ״ח בכסלו תשס״ו · Last modified December 29, 2005
In honor of Chanukah, I thought I would finally post my ideas on the differences between the Yefetic and Semitic perspectives. Yefes, and his son Yavan are the progenitors of western thought. Yavan, the...
by Micha Berger · Published December 29, 2005 – כ״ח בכסלו תשס״ו · Last modified December 29, 2005
In responding to my first attempt to define “anavah” (on “Der Alter“) RYGB wrote, “According to RSRH, anavah is derived from anah, to respond. Perhaps an anav is one who feels an acharayus to...
by Micha Berger · Published December 16, 2005 – ט״ו בכסלו תשס״ו · Last modified December 16, 2005
And he [Ya’aqov] called the name of that place Beis-el, but the name of the city was Luz originally. – Bereishis 28:19 Luz, the original name for Beis-el, is apparently the name of a...
by Micha Berger · Published December 10, 2005 – ט׳ בכסלו תשס״ו · Last modified December 10, 2005
Today’s topic: How to make your morning coffee the religious high point of your day.After Shema, which is Torahitic, what is the next most important tefillah? Bentching is also deOraisa, but the text was...
by Micha Berger · Published November 27, 2005 – כ״ה במרחשוון תשס״ו · Last modified November 27, 2005
A rather well-known section of Michtav meiEliyahu (vol 1 pg 113) is the Qunterus haBechirah. In it, Rav Dessler compares the decision-making process to a battle. All the fighting occurs at the front lines;...
by Micha Berger · Published November 18, 2005 – ט״ז במרחשוון תשס״ו · Last modified November 18, 2005
Returning back to the theme raised in the week of parashas Bereishis, In the first part, I drew a progression from the medrash of the earth refusing to make the trees taste like the...
by Micha Berger · Published November 10, 2005 – ח׳ במרחשוון תשס״ו · Last modified November 10, 2005
Shir haMa’alos: Mima’amaqim qarasikha Hashem A song of ascents: From the depths, I call You, Hashem – Tehillim 120:1 I’ve written a number of essays about tragedy from the perspective of philosophy and theory....
by Micha Berger · Published November 4, 2005 – ב׳ במרחשוון תשס״ו · Last modified November 4, 2005
(First, please see part I about the eitz hada’as, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The following is extrapolated from a thought in an essay by R’ Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer.) Until Adam...
by Micha Berger · Published November 3, 2005 – א׳ במרחשוון תשס״ו · Last modified November 3, 2005
The first we hear of Hashem allowing things to go in something other than the ideal way is in the creation of plants. There is a medrash (Breishis Rabba 5:9) that comments on a...
by Micha Berger · Published November 3, 2005 – א׳ במרחשוון תשס״ו · Last modified November 3, 2005
I had an epiphany during leining this past Shabbos (parashas Bereishis). Such things are notoriously difficult to convey, but I’ll try anyway.Usually, shmuessin on the subject of shemiras halashon revolve around showing how much...
by Micha Berger · Published October 21, 2005 – י״ח בתשרי תשס״ו · Last modified October 21, 2005
As an example for explaining the idea of tefillah behispa’alus, I raised a number of questions about the meaning of the phrase “Yismach Mosheh“. I wrote: Yismach Mosheh — Moses will be happy bematenas...
by Micha Berger · Published October 11, 2005 – ח׳ בתשרי תשס״ו · Last modified October 11, 2005
In the past couple of weeks, I posted a number of essays showing that reward and punishment are the effects of the person’s action. First, that in order for history to progress toward the...
by Micha Berger · Published October 5, 2005 – ב׳ בתשרי תשס״ו · Last modified October 5, 2005
In the past couple of weeks, I posted a number of essays about the causal nature of reward and punishment. In short, that sin causes a change in the self, which in turn causes...
by Micha Berger · Published October 2, 2005 – כ״ח באלול תשס״ה · Last modified October 2, 2005
In an earlier entry, I suggested that we take the feelings generated by seeing the shuls of Azza ransacked, and use them to motivate our behavior in our own synagogues. Including (but not limited...
5- Devarim / Ta`amei haMitzvos
by Micha Berger · Published September 30, 2005 – כ״ו באלול תשס״ה · Last modified September 30, 2005
“To enter into a beris, a covenant, with Hashem your G-d, and in His oath, which Hashem makes with You today.” (Devarim 29:11) The Ramban comments that the beris mentioned here is a new...
by Micha Berger · Published September 25, 2005 – כ״א באלול תשס״ה · Last modified September 25, 2005
When a Jew talks during davening in a shul in America, A shul in Netzarim is set aflame. That’s the lesson I took from this Elul. The feelings generated from pictures of the fires...
by Micha Berger · Published September 22, 2005 – י״ח באלול תשס״ה · Last modified September 22, 2005
(This is the second in what I hope will be a series of posts be”H about whether reward and punishment are caused by the actions they address, or meted out by Hashem more directly....
by Micha Berger · Published September 22, 2005 – י״ח באלול תשס״ה · Last modified September 22, 2005
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...
by Micha Berger · Published September 20, 2005 – ט״ז באלול תשס״ה · Last modified September 20, 2005
I wanted to share the following thought sent in today’s email from Rabbi Zvi Miller of The Salant Foundation. The Salant Foundation emails a mussar thought and a suggestion for implementing it daily (when...
by Micha Berger · Published September 19, 2005 – ט״ו באלול תשס״ה · Last modified September 19, 2005
I recently noticed a paradox when it comes to mitzvos bein adam lachaveiro (interpersonal mitzvos). What is the purpose of such mitzvos? To develop feelings of love and caring toward others; to expand our...
by Micha Berger · Published September 12, 2005 – ח׳ באלול תשס״ה · Last modified September 12, 2005
The Israeli Government wanted to have the army destroy the synagogues of Azza, to spare us the shame, the Palestinian triumphalism and the chillul Hashem (not that the government would necessarily use that term)...
by Micha Berger · Published September 8, 2005 – ד׳ באלול תשס״ה · Last modified September 8, 2005
Picture being in a box. A large box, plenty of room to walk around, but very much with a “boxy” feel. There is a pervasive smell of tar; the box itself is wood sealed...
It is this rupture in the traditional religious sensibilities [caused by the Holocaust and the subsequent displacement in geographic location] that underlies much of the transformation of contemporary Orthodoxy. Zealous to continue traditional Judaism...
(This isn’t my usual style or topic for this blog. But as it approaches the deadline, sitting here on Tish’ah beAv afternoon, it would be inhuman not to feel a need to share my...
by Micha Berger · Published August 10, 2005 – ה׳ באב תשס״ה · Last modified August 10, 2005
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...
This morning (Shabbos parashas Mas’ei) we read about the borders of Israel (ch. 34:1-12). We read that the southwest corner of Israel is to be Nachal Mitzrayim, Wadi el-Arish (R’ Saadia Gaon) or the...
(Copied from a “Der Alter” post of mine, but Der Alter seems defunct. I copied the time-stamp from there. -mi 1/16/2008) Is anavah really “humility”? The basic problem of understanding the difference between the...
I – Perfect and Imperfect Hebrew verb conjugation is usually taught by making the student memorize tables organized by tense and person. The tenses on those tables are past, present, future and imperative (avar,...
The best day of my life — my rebirthday, so to speak — was when I found I had no head… I had for several months been absorbed in the question: what am I?...
(First paragraph edited on July 16 in response to R’ Seth Kadish’s comments. -mi)The following is culled from the introduction to Orchos Tzaddiqim. Orchos Tzaddiqim, was written anonymously some time between 1306 and 1400...
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