Aspaqlaria

Keeping Torah and Values in Focus

Aspaqlaria Blog

Meshekh Chokhmah – Vayaqhel – Shabbos & Miqdash 0

2- Shemos / Audio

Meshekh Chokhmah – Vayaqhel – Shabbos & Miqdash

In Ki Sisa, last week’s parashah, the discussion of building the Mishkan is preceded by the obligation to observe Shabbos. However this week’s parashah placed the Mishkan first — and Rashi says this is...

VeShomru 0

2- Shemos / Shabbos

VeShomru

Coin of Fire 0

2- Shemos

Coin of Fire

Meshekh Chokhmah – Ki Sisa — Nature and Revelation 0

2- Shemos / Audio

Meshekh Chokhmah – Ki Sisa — Nature and Revelation

1- Shemos 32:19: The mistake that led to the eigel was thinking Moshe had inherent qedushah, and therefore they needed an an inherently holy eigel to replace him. Therefore, Moshe breaks the first luchos,...

Meshekh Chokhmah – Tetzaveh – Mizbeiach & Aron 0

2- Shemos / Audio

Meshekh Chokhmah – Tetzaveh – Mizbeiach & Aron

Hashem (Shemos 29:42) speaks of revealing Himself from the entrance of the Ohel Mo’eid, from where the daily tamid was offered. And yet elsewhere we learnt that Hashem spoke to Moshe from between the keruvim,...

Meshekh Chokhmah – Terumah – Who can be a Talmid Chakham? 0

Audio

Meshekh Chokhmah – Terumah – Who can be a Talmid Chakham?

The Torah (Shemos 26:15) says that the poles used to carry the aron may not be removed from it. Even when the Mishkan was assembled, and the aron wasn’t being moved. Why? What lesson...

Meshekh Chokhmah – Mishpatim – Personal and National Religion 0

2- Shemos / Audio

Meshekh Chokhmah – Mishpatim – Personal and National Religion

What happened between Shemos 24:3 “kol hadevarim asher diber Hashem na’aseh” and v. 7 “kol asher diver Hashem na’aseh venishmah”? Why did we accept the Torah twice, using two different terminologies? Audio:   Video:...

Meshekh Chokhmah – Yisro – Intellect or Action? 0

2- Shemos / Audio

Meshekh Chokhmah – Yisro – Intellect or Action?

The Meshekh Chokhmah on Shemos 20:18 discusses Moshe’s approach through the smoke to the top of Har Sinai. What does the smoke represent? How did Moshe perfect himself to be capable of reaching Sinai....

Meshekh Chokhmah – Beshalach – Thought and Deed 0

2- Shemos / Audio

Meshekh Chokhmah – Beshalach – Thought and Deed

(Yes, this title is an intentional play on last week’s.) The Meshekh Chokhmah writes on Shemos 14:23, a line describing the crossing of the Red Sea. The Meshekh Chokhmah compares how individuals are judged...

Meshekh Chokhmah – Bo – Thought and Emotion 0

2- Shemos / Audio / Dei`os

Meshekh Chokhmah – Bo – Thought and Emotion

Rav Meir Simchah haKohein has a lot to say about parashas Bo. I chose his comments on Shemos 12:21, which discuss the roles of intellect and emotion in Judaism — and is also quite...

Meshech Chokhmah – Introduction to Shemos 0

2- Shemos / Audio / Uncategorized

Meshech Chokhmah – Introduction to Shemos

In his introduction to seifer Shemos, Rav Meir Simchah haKohein discusses a few themes, some of which we covered in this shiur. Why is Moshe’s nevu’ah special? Interestingly, the Meshekh Chokhmah emphasizes how we...

Meshekh Chokhmah – Vayechi I – Yaaqov in Mitzrayim 0

1- Bereishis / Audio / Shaarei Yosher

Meshekh Chokhmah – Vayechi I – Yaaqov in Mitzrayim

In this first shiur on parashasVayechi, we look at Meshech Chokhmah on the opening words of the parashah. Similarities between Rav Meir Simcha haKohein miDvinsk’s understanding of (47:28) “ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים” and Rav...

Meshech Chokhmah – VaYeitzei – “… Hashem is present in this place, and I – I did not know!” 0

1- Bereishis / Audio / Theology

Meshech Chokhmah – VaYeitzei – “… Hashem is present in this place, and I – I did not know!”

There are two ways to approach G-d through His Action. One can admire the G-d of miracles, or the G-d of nature. The medrash describes Avraham as having discovered G-d through contemplating nature. Science...

Meshekh Chokhmah – Chayei Sarah – Teleology 0

1- Bereishis / Audio / Time

Meshekh Chokhmah – Chayei Sarah – Teleology

A 15 minute shiur on Facebook Live looking at three comments by the Meshekh Chokhmah on the story of the servant finding a wife for Yitzchaq. Rav Meir Simcha haKohein appears to find a...

Meshekh Chokhmah VaYeira 18:10 – Yir’as haRomemus and Yir’as haCheit 0

1- Bereishis / Audio

Meshekh Chokhmah VaYeira 18:10 – Yir’as haRomemus and Yir’as haCheit

Mesilas Yesharimm on the relationship between yir’as haromemus and yir’as hacheit (awe of [Hashem’s] Grandeur and fear of sinning), and the difference between yir’as hacheit and yir’as ha’onesh (fear of sin vs fear of...

Meshekh Chokhmah Noach 6:9 – Behavior and Character 0

1- Bereishis / Audio

Meshekh Chokhmah Noach 6:9 – Behavior and Character

A 15 minute shiur on Facebook Live on the Meshekh Chokhmah’s discussion of the first pasuq of parashas Noach (Bereishis 6:9) “נֹ֗חַ אִ֥ישׁ צַדִּ֛יק תָּמִ֥ים הָיָ֖ה בְּדֹֽרֹתָ֑יו — Noach was a righteous man, he...

Meshekh Chokhmah – Bereishis 1:26 – Free Will 0

1- Bereishis / Anavah / Audio / Torah as Growth

Meshekh Chokhmah – Bereishis 1:26 – Free Will

A 15 minute shiur on Facebook Live on the Meshekh Chokhmah’s discussion of Bereishis 1:26 “וַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹקִ֔ים נַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה אָדָ֛ם בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ — And G-d said, ‘Let us make man in our Image.” Audio:   Video:...

Choosing Role Models 0

Other-Focused Orthodoxy

Choosing Role Models

Next time you hear a speaker or a rabbi speak about “the goyim” in some disparaging stereotype, ask them about this gemara. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi asks about an apparent contradiction in seifer Yechezqeil....

For He Remembered Us When We Were Low 0

Creation / Gratitude

For He Remembered Us When We Were Low

Tehillim 136, which Chazal call Hallel haGadol, has a long list of things Hashem did for us with the refrain “כי לעולם חסדו — for His Lovingkindness is eternal.” The first three call us...

The Blue Does Not Hold Up the White 0

Clothing / Teshuvah

The Blue Does Not Hold Up the White

התכלת אינה מעכבת את הלבן והלבן אינו מעכב את התכלת תפילה של יד אינה מעכבת של ראש ושל ראש אינה מעכבת של יד הסולת והשמן אינן מעכבין את היין ולא היין מעכבן המתנות של...

Dip the Apple in the Honey 0

Holidays

Dip the Apple in the Honey

Here are three thoughts related to the siman, the mnemonic practice, of eating an apple dipped in honey. (Aside from the ear-worm you or your kid learned in preschool that starts with the words...

Mind and Body, Qabbalah and the Sorites Paradox 0

Uncategorized

Mind and Body, Qabbalah and the Sorites Paradox

I The name of the Sorites Paradox comes from the Greek word for heap, “soros”, a key word in the typical formulation. If someone had one million grains of sand, they would have a...

Yerushalayim 0

Uncategorized

Yerushalayim

I’m about to repeat two points by R’ Meir Simchah haKohein miDvinsk zt”l: 1- Yerushalayim is named for being the convergance of two principles: refined middos and perfected intellectual comprehension. 2- There is an...

Simanei Milsa 2

Holidays / Reward and Punishment

Simanei Milsa

I was asked the following question, and the author thought enough people want to know the answer that it pays to share it here: Q: “Siman“, as on Rosh Hashanah night, is translated as...

Justice, Justice, You Shall Pursue 0

5- Devarim

Justice, Justice, You Shall Pursue

צֶ֥דֶק צֶ֖דֶק תִּרְדֹּ֑ף לְמַ֤עַן תִּֽחְיֶה֙ וְיָרַשְׁתָּ֣ אֶת־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־ה אֱלֹקיךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לָֽךְ׃ Justice justice you shall pursue, so that you will live and inherit the land that Hashem your G-d gives to you. – Devarim...

What isn’t Omnipotence? 0

Theology

What isn’t Omnipotence?

Orion asked on Mi Yodeya: Hashem’s infinite power I’ve heard many times that Hashem is infinitely powerful. But how do we know this? Perhaps he’s just very powerful or even all powerful (possessing all...

Mourning the Three Weeks 0

Uncategorized

Mourning the Three Weeks

The point of mourning during Bein haMetzarim (“between the tragedies”, a/k/a the “Three Weeks”) is not to be miserable in-and-of itself. How many politicians and other famous people recently said “I’m sorry” only to...

0

Other-Focused O

Bil’am the Frummy

The Medrash Tankhuma (Balaq 1) says: … וְאִם תֹּאמַר מִפְּנֵי מָה הִשְׁרָה הַקָּבָּ”ה שְׁכִינָתוֹ עַל גּוֹי רָשָׁע? כְּדֵי שֶׁלֹּא יִהְיֶה פִתְחוֹן פֶּה לָאֻמּוֹת לוֹמַר, אִלּו הָיוּ לָנוּ נְבִיאִים, חָזַרְנוּ לְמוּטָב, הֶעֱמִיד לָהֶם נְבִיאִים וְהֵם...

Day 22 – Lev Tov 0

UFEM

Day 22 – Lev Tov

The Mussar Institute is doing an omer series based on the 48 skills necessary to acquire Torah, listed in Avos 6:6. I was given the task of writing two entries — day 5, eimah...

Waiting before Prayer 0

Preparation

Waiting before Prayer

כמה ישהה בין תפלה לתפלה? רב הונא ורב חסדא. חד אמר: כדי שתתחונן דעתו עליו. וחד אמר: כדי שתתחולל דעתו עליו. [Minimally,] how long must one wait between [one] prayer to [another] prayer? Rav...