Michael el Chayil

I recently learned and wrote about ( TftD ) a Chazal (Brachos 21a) that apparently says straight out that there is no pleasure/enjoyment/ הנאה from learning Torah. I was surprised, but I gave it some thought and felt I had a good way to understand that Chazal. While discussing it with a member of the kollel, however, he pointed me to the introduction to the אגלי טל, who discusses the concept of "mitzvos were not given for our enjoyment." Long story short, the אגלי טל discusses in the introduction why the Rambam says that learning Torah for the wrong reasons will bring you to learning Torah for the right reasons, whereas doing miztvos for the wrong reasons won't bring you anywhere. Basically, the Rambam is of the opinion that in order to actually fulfill a mitzvah, it must be done with that intent. Since mitzvos were not given for our enjoyment, doing the mitzvah for any purpose other than fulfilling the mitzvah -- ie, for some side benefit -- is automatically not a fulfi

When I learn Torah, I would say that more often than not I am filled with feelings of happy satisfaction and enjoyment. Yet there is an apparent machlokes between Chazal and every translation I can find for the word הנאה. Google translate says it quite well, I think: הנאה a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment And Chazal? We need a short introduction. There are only two brachos that are a Torah obligation: Birkas HaMazon and Birkas HaTorah: Rav Yehuda asks (rhetorically): How do we know there is a Torah obligation to make a bracha after eating? Because it says ואכלת ושבעת וברכת/(when) you eat and are satisfied, you will bless (Devarim 8:10). How do we know there is a Torah obligation to make a bracha before learning Torah? Because it says כי שם ה' אקרא הבו גדל לאלקינו/when I proclaim the name of HaShem, ascribe greatness to our G-d (Devarim 32:3) (Brachos 21a). So far, so good. R' Yochanon floats the idea that he can prove that there should be a Torah obligation to say a

Yes, I know מחלוקת is bad. We all know know that מחלוקת is bad. But is it really? It's not like murder, or avoda zara, or immorality, right? Right? Let's check that out. First, there was the sin of the golden calf. A distressingly dark blotch in the history of Klal Yisrael. It is clear from the narrative in  parshas  Ki Sisa that Aaron helped in the construction of said idol . The Torah tells us (Sh'mos 32:2) that Aaron asked them to bring earrings from the women and children. Rashi brings a medrash to explain his plan: Aaron said to himself, “The women and children are fond of their jewelry. Perhaps the matter will be delayed, and in the meantime, Moses will arrive.” So: (1) that plan didn't work; and (2) Aaron was delaying and working as slowly and lazily as possible, but he was  working to build an idol. R' Biderman brings a Chasam Sofer to explain why he participated at all: The Chasam Sofer zt'l answers that Aharon understood that if he refused the nation a

On Yom Tov there is a Torah obligation of שמחה/rejoicing. The mitvah of שמחה is strongly associated with meat and wine. On Shabbos the obligation is עונג/pleasure. Eat whatever you like best. You can even fast on Shabbos if you like that better than eating. Go figure. The sefer מעדני השלחן is of the opinion that just as there is a mitzvah of שמחה on Yom Tov for שמחה, there is an equal obligation on Shabbos. We do not pasken that way. The מעדני השלחן points to three sources for his p'sak. One I already discussed in a previous TfdD . Another is a ספרי, the halachic medrash on Bamidbar on verse 10, chapter 10. The verse is talking about when to blow trumpets for the korbanos. It refers to festivals, rosh chodesh, and וּבְי֨וֹם שִׂמְחַתְכֶ֣ם/the day of your rejoicing. The ספרי says that י֨וֹם שִׂמְחַתְכֶ֣ם is referring to Shabbos, and R' Nosson says it refers to the korban tamid. The מעדני השלחן says that proves there is a mitzvah of שמחה on Shabbos just like Yom Tov. He is alone i

Chazal (Brachos 19b) have quite a discussion about this verse (Mishlei 21:30): 'אין חכמה ואין תבונה ואין עצה לנגד ה Which translates as: There is no wisdom and no understanding and no advice against HaShem. It basically means that sometimes you just have to do it, no matter how strange it seems. The discussion begins with noting that if someone discovers that he he wearing שעטנז -- real, live, Torah prohibited mixture of wool and linen -- then he must immediately remove it. If all his clothing are שעטנז, then he has to remove all of it immediately. But what about if he is in the middle of Times Square at noon on the Sunday of Labor Day Weekend? The Gemara answers, 'אין חכמה ואין תבונה ואין עצה לנגד ה; which here translates, roughly (but accurately) as: What part of "remove all שעטנז immediately did you not understand?" The Gemara is stunned and makes several -- doomed to failure, of course -- attempts to refute that halacha. Note well: all those, so to speak, "fa

Some time ago I wrote a TftD  about a Chazal (Brachos 5b/6a) saying that if a person doesn't wait for another Jew to finish davening ma'ariv, then they rip up his prayers in his face. Sounds a bit over the top, but I am  asking HaShem to do stuff for me that I certainly don't deserve. Apparently that comes with some strings attached. Cool. What shocked me, though, was that Chazal were then quite effusive about how much reward one receives for waiting a few minutes. Here's how I expressed my shock: Honestly, I am thinking that not having my prayers ripped to shreds in my face and not being guilty of causing the Divine Presence to be removed from the Jewish people ought to be  plenty  of motivation... Since when do I expect some grand reward just for acting with normal human decency? I didn't find any good answers, and I still had the question. Then I ran into another Chazal, just 12 daf later (18a) that uses the expression of "? מַה שְּׂכָרוֹ " and waxes