Minyan for a Davar sheBiqdushah
There are tefillos including Qaddish, Qedushah, Borkhu, that are labeled a “Davar sheBiqdushah“, literally: “a matter that is in holiness”. The way we usually study the halakhah, it is said that a minyan is...
Aspaqlaria Blog
Shema Yisrael
Also, the titles were added by Rabbi Phillips. I think the second one missed the point. So I changed it here from “PLACING COMMUNITY BEFORE BELIEF IN UNITY” to what you see below. THE...
Sin’as Chinam
To explain: My point is about holding grudges, even if the hatred initially had cause, perhaps even started out with a halachically appropriate one. Should you still hold on to the hatred, because it...
Chessed and Tzenius
There was one movement in the Twentieth Century CE that was definitively established as an Other-Focused Orthodoxy (OFO). From its founding by Sarah Schenirer in 1917 until the late 1990s, the Judaism girls were...
Mysticism and Rationalism
A lot has been said on-line about Mystical (e.g. Qabbalah) and Rationalist (e.g. the Rambam) approaches to Judaism. In this post, I aspire to propose clear definitions of these terms. Because much of the...
Why Parashas Balaq?
The first is comprised of his final speeches preparing us for “real life” after the Exodus, a world where things can go wrong. The second, included in our parashah, is about how Hashem is...
The Parent, the CEO and Me
The Parent I believe that the efficacy of prayer is in the relationship built by turning to one’s Parent in times of trouble. One may indeed get what one prayed for, in some circumstances,...
The Role of Ritual in Other-Focused Orthodoxy
Rav Shimon Shkop gives a very inter-personal view of Judaism, writing that the we were made “וְחַיֵּי עולָם נָטַע בְּתוכֵנוּ — and eternal life was planted among us” (quoting the berakhah‘s description of the...
A Lesson for the Month of Eeyore
You may have seen the Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet, but have you thought about the Selflessness of Eeyore? Eeyore is most famous for being depressed. If there is something wrong...
Science and Halakhah
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...
How To Religiously Respond to the Pandemic
So many others wrote about THE correct way to respond to the CoVID-19 pandemic, how could someone like myself — Micha Shmuel — named for not one but TWO nevi’im not join the fray...
Rav Hirsch, Rav Yisrael and Me
I was very “into” Rav Hirsch’s worldview as a bachur. The symbol system explains so much. Don’t mix meat and milk because for an animal, the only creativity is procreativity, it’s in who it...
תפילה לזכות לאור ולאהבה
תפילה לזכות לאור ולאהבה רבי אלימלך מליז’ענסק A Prayer to Merit Light and Love by Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk (1717-1787, one of the early rebbes of the Chassidic movement) This prayer, written by the...
Omniscience and Free Will
There is no conflict between Hashem Knowing now what we will choose tomorrow, and our ability to makes that choice freely when tomorrow comes. Hashem does not Know now what will will do tomorrow.
Did Hashem Command Us About Qorbanos?
Well, given this and next weeks’ parashios, as well as numerous other places in the Torah, the question in the subject line appears to have an obvious answer: Yes! And yet, that’s not what...
Coping with the Death of an Infant
(This post began life as a comment on an article on Torah Musings, ” When a Baby Dies” by Rabbi Gil Student.) What I held on to through the experience had at least two...
Seforno on the Purpose of Life
Rav Ovadiah ben Yaaqov Seforno (15th cent CE, Cesena, Italy) writes…
The similarity to Rav Shimon Shkop’s philosophy should be obvious to readers of this blog. Enough that it is surprising Rav Shimon doesn’t quote the Seforno….
We get one important addition to the picture with this look at the Seforno. In the Seforno we find a taxonomy to analyze ritual mitzvos in the context of an Other-Focused Orthodoxy. A direction Rav Shimon doesn’t explore in his haqdamah.
Ritual in halakhah serves to:
Widen Your Tent – The Vaad
New Online Va’ad with
TMI faculty member Rabbi Micha Berger
Author of Widen Your Tent
Micha explores the worldview of Rabbi Shimon Shkop, a Mussar Master who was a leading figure in the world of the Lithuanian Yeshiva of a century ago.Â
ABOUT THE COURSE: WIDEN YOUR TENT
Four Types of Perfection
It seems, therefore, that Rav Yochanan is simply saying that a navi must be perfect in every way. Even those that would seem to be less important.
But.
Notice that the Rambam reverses the order of the third and fourth items. The gemara’s list is “גבור ועשיר ×•×—×›× ×•×¢× ×™×• — mighty, wealthy, wise, and humble,” The Rambam not only places character third and knowledge of G-d last, he ranks them accordingly.
Rav Shimon Shkop on His 80th Yahrzeit
The following article appeared in this week’s Hamodia, in their Community magazine insert for 8 Marcheshvan 5780. The nicely formatted PDF proof of the article is available here. Torah Sparks Harav Shimon Shkop, Zt”l...
Redeeming a Wasted Youth
Someone lamented on Mi Yodeya: I wasted my youth. I am 35 years old. I had a toxic relationship with my parents, especially my mother. My career never started, and I am still looking...
Chazal’s Use of Science
The general tendency is not an assertion that the Torah is a source of scientific theory. Chazal simply understood the pesuqim as per then-contemporary science. And it is recorded in the gemara (except according to Rabbeinu Tam) that they changed their opinion when a new theory came along. Just as we today would with our contemporary science.
With G-d’s Help
Moshe Steinberg asked on Mi Yodeya on April 2nd, 2018: Does the phrase b’ezras Hashem make sense philosophically and if so, what does it mean? B’ezras Hashem implies to me that a person can do...
Epistemology in the Torah
There are three verbs in pasuq 31 describing the steps in which being saved at the Red Sea impacted the Jews:
vayyar – they saw
vayyir’u – they felt yir’ah (fear / awe)
vaya’aminu – they believed
Yonah and Perseverance
A famous rabbi explains the intent behind establishing the book of Yonah as the haftarah for Minchah on Yom Kippur as follows: So, with all that talk of yi’ush, tiqun and gilgul, who would...
Barukh Sheim
Reciting Shema on Yom Kippur is unique in that we say the second line, “בָּרוּךְ שֵׁם כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד — Blessed is the name of the Glory of His Rule for all eternity.”...
And with what? With a Shofar
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...
HaTov Shimkha
We close Birkhas Hoda’ah (“Modim”) “‘HaTov’ shimkha, ulkha na’eh lehodos — your Name is “The Good”, and it is pleasant to praise You.” And yes, it does mean that Hashem’s name, the way we...
Shemeih Rabba
The Arukh haShulchan (OC 56:1,3) discusses the meaning of the opening words of Qaddish “Yisgadel veyisqadeish shemeih rabba“. Praying that Hashem’s Great Name be made great and holy. And since a name is how...
Berakhos and Continuous Creation
You may have heard the Baal Shem Tov’s thought that the close of the first berakhah before Shema in the morning, “Yotzeir haMe’oros – Who Creates the [Celestial] Lights.” He says that it is...
Do Before Me Like This Order
After the Eigel haZahav, Moshe asked to see Hashem’s Glory, and Hashem said a human couldn’t, but to hide in a cleft in the rock of Har Sinai and Hashem would reveal something about...
Rupture and Reconstruction at 25 Years
(This article originally appeared on Torah Musings, and the improved readability over my usual fare is due to the deft hand of Rabbi Gil Student. For which I’m very grateful.)
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1. The Setup A discussion on Facebook made me realize that my own attitude toward halakhah is quite different than Rav Hershel Schachter’s. If I thought there was only one right approach, I’d bet...
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