Michael el Chayil

After I retold one of my stories regarding being frum in the workplace, a dear friend asked why I have so many stories and he has none. I tried: Well, I was 40-ish years in the workplace as a frum person and I have -- let's say -- eight stories; which is only two story worthy events per year. He replied, "I have 15 years and no stories." Ah. One additional difference is that I have (nearly) always worked in places where I am the only frum Jew, whereas he has worked for a company owned and operated by a frum Jew with lots of frum Jews around. That is true and certainly significant. The largest factor though, is likely that I am not shy about expressing my opinions. In fact, as a scientist I know and and trained that the path to Truth is healthy debate. That is one reason I post these divrei Torah. For a few years as I was still struggling with what I really believed and why, I would seek out intelligent people who held opinions contrary to my own. I wasn't trying to co...

I saw a mashal brought by R' Biderman in the Yamin Noraim sheets. A simple fellow became a ba'al t'shuva and he had a good friend, a talmid chacham, who helped him with his davening. Came Elul and the talmid chacham told his friend that now they would start getting up early for slichos. The month or week (depending on whether he was Sfardi or Ashkenazi; that wasn't specified and is entirely irrelevant to the point I of the story, as you will see if you let me get there) passed and he said, "Now on Erev Rosh HaShannah we get up really  early and have three or four times as many slichos!" Fine. Then Rosh HaShanna, "Shofar, Mussaf, chazanus!" Uh-huh. Then the 10 Days of Repentance, more slichos (albeit less on erev Yom Kippur), then Yom Kippur ... a full day of davening and fasting! Then Sukkos with lulav and esrog and hakafos and Hallel and more musaf. Whew... ok... wow. Then Simchas Torah when we dance for hours with the sefer Torah! "Tell me,...

My wife and I look forward to the publications from the Bais Horaah. They pick a timely topic and explore it with its halachos in a thorough and understandable format. Just before Sukkos, a 20 pager came out (they are usually only two pages) -- score! We read them at the Shabbos table. Actually my wife reads them and I listen/offer running commentary. I didn't expect to learning anything new, but review is always good. Also I then get to offer even more commentary. My wife read, "The schach must be secure enough that it will not blow off in a normal wind."  Yes, yes... "Even if the wind is not blowing, but the schach would blow off in a normal wind, the sukkah is not kosher even in still air." Yes, yes... "Even if the sukkah is in a protected place, like between two houses, so the wind is blocked, the schach needs to be secure enough to stay in place even if the place were not protected." Yes, yes... wait... what? Our sukkah is on our back deck, protec...

The gematria of השטן/The Accuser is 364. The sages tell us that the Accuser is only allowed to speak against us 364 days a year. On Yom Kippur, though, he is silenced. What about just שטן (you know, satan, the devil, the serpent, etc)? Wouldn't it be great to get another five days without an accuser watching our every move? We get that also! The five days from Yom Kippur through the first day of Sukkos, the accuser doesn't get much traction. Since we are busy with the mitzvos of Sukkos, HaShem lets our unintentional sins slide because we are so busy with the mitzvos of building a sukkah and getting the four species. If it were just the quantity of mitzvos, though, that hardly explains fending off the prince of darkness. After all, Pesach has lots and lots of mitzvos and requires much more preparation. Every Shabbos also has lots of preparation. (My daughter explained Shabbos to a non-Jewish co-worker as "basically Thanksgiving, but every week.) Yet the Accuser is on full d...

The main expression we have of living in the sukkah is eating there. The factors that require one to eat in a sukkah are based on the idea that we are to consider the sukkah our main residence during the 7/8 days of Sukkos . Hence, eating events that would usually occur in your dining room during the rest of the year, should take place in the sukkah during Sukkos. Formal meals in the sukkah, but snacks on the run -- just as during the rest of the year you snack all over the place -- so, too, during Sukkos can be eaten outside of the Sukkah. Just as you would leave your dining room if there were, Chas v'Shalom , a leak in the ceiling; so, too, you can leave your sukkah because of rain. But what if you want to stay in the sukkah? You worked so hard on it, and it's only once a year, and you have pictures and decorations that tell the story of your last 30 years in Chicago... I mean... it's geshmack to be in the sukkah. Even the whining about the cold and the bees is part of th...

There is a Russian expression (really, I confirmed it with a Romanian dental technician): Once you are 40, if you wake up and nothing hurts; you are dead. That is one way to look at growing older. Here's another. There was an ad campaign (I am told) that featured a 20's saying that he's never going to get cataracts, nor arthritis, nor even wrinkles. Why? Well, it was a campaign for disease that was infecting and killing a certain segment of the population. It ended with a plea for donations for more research. They also had a more lighthearted approach, putting a positive spin on wrinkles and grey hair as beautiful; mostly because it meant you hadn't died yet. That's one approach to aging. Basically difference spins on "well, it beats the alternative!" I would like to suggest a different approach. One of the most distressing situations I can imagine is being bored. Before you pshaw my phobia, consider that solitary confinement is one of the most feared puni...