Skip to main content

Thought for the Day: Why Hearing Divrei Torah Requires Birkas haTorah

I needed to know to whom the Shita Mekubetzis is referring when he says "rabeinu", so I asked a long time chaver from the vasikin minyan (and before).  I gave him the reference (source for my post regarding "Tzadik Gozer v'HaShem M'Kayem") and he got back to me later that day.  So far not unusual, because he is amazing about things like that.  (The Shita Mekubetzis means the Radbaz, by the way.)  He also commented that it was a fascinating p'shat, so I forwarded him what I had written.  That is unusual, because I usually consider a source and not a consumer for my thoughts.  In any case, he commented back, "I hadn't thought about it that way, so wondered both why you were seeing it that why and also why I hadn't thought about it that way."

Before discussing the "it" we were discussing, I just want to note that conversations like this are precisely why I started writing these TftD emails.  These emails are certainly not polished, publication ready articles.  Rather, I try to learn at least one new something that is interesting each day.  Actually writing out the thought helps clarify and solidify the topic for me.  Even more important, though, is that I hope it stimulates thoughts and interest for you.  In fact, the Halichos Shlomo says that one must says bikas hatorah before listening to divrei torah.  However, it is not because of "shomei'a k'ona".  Oh, no... nothing that mundane.  Listening to divrei torah requires birkas hatorah because listening to divrei torah prompts torah thoughts in the mind of the listener.  Think about that: the thoughts you have regarding torah matters are so precious to HaShem that He chose each of us from all of the nations to give us His Torah.  HaShem chose to give you His Torah ha'K'dosha so that He could enjoy your thoughts and chidushim!

Truthfully, I have no idea what to say after that.  I am kind of bowled over myself by that revelation.  (See?  Until I wrote it down, I hadn't really appreciated what that halacha meant.  You should try this yourself!)

One more thing... it seems that "tzadik gozer v'HaShem m'kayem" is not a statement from Chazal.  Where is it from?  Stay tuned....
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thought for the Day: Pizza, Uncrustables, and Stuff -- What Bracha?

Many years ago (in fact, more than two decades ago), I called R' Fuerst from my desk at work as I sat down to lunch.  I had a piece of (quite delicious) homemade pizza for lunch.  I nearly always eat at my desk as I am working (or writing TftD...), so my lunch at work cannot in any way be considered as sitting down to a formal meal; aka קביעת סעודה.  That being the case, I wasn't sure whether to wash, say ha'motzi, and bentch; or was the pizza downgraded to a m'zonos.  He told if it was a snack, then it's m'zonos; if a meal the ha'motzi.  Which what I have always done since then.  I recently found out how/why that works. The Shulchan Aruch, 168:17 discusses פשטיד''א, which is describes as a baked dough with meat or fish or cheese.  In other words: pizza.  Note: while the dough doesn't not need to be baked together with the meat/fish/cheese, it is  required that they dough was baked with the intention of making this concoction. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: What Category of Muktzeh are Our Candles?

As discussed in a recent TftD , a p'sak halacha quite surprising to many, that one may -- even לכתחילה -- decorate a birthday cake with (unlit, obviously) birthday candles on Shabbos. That p'sak is predicated on another p'sak halacha; namely, that our candles are muktzeh because they are a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור and not  מוקצה מחמת גופו/intrinsically set aside from any use on Shabbos. They point there was that using the candle as a decoration qualifies as a need that allows one to utilize a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור. Today we will discuss the issue of concluding that our candles are , in fact, a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור and not מוקצה מחמת גופו. Along the way we'll also (again) how important it is to have personal relationship with your rav/posek, the importance of precision in vocabulary, and how to interpret the Mishna Brura.  Buckle up. After reviewing siman 308 and the Mishna Brura there, I concluded that it should be permissible to use birthday candles to decorate a cake on Sha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: אוושא מילתא Debases Yours Shabbos

My granddaughter came home with a list the girls and phone numbers in her first grade class.  It was cute because they had made it an arts and crafts project by pasting the list to piece of construction paper cut out to look like an old desk phone and a receiver attached by a pipe cleaner.  I realized, though, that the cuteness was entirely lost on her.  She, of course, has never seen a desk phone with a receiver.  When they pretend to talk on the phone, it is on any relatively flat, rectangular object they find.  (In fact, her 18 month old brother turns every  relatively flat, rectangular object into a phone and walks around babbling into it.  Not much different than the rest of us, except his train of thought is not interrupted by someone else babbling into his ear.) I was reminded of that when my chavrusa (who has children my grandchildrens age) and I were learning about אוושא מילתא.  It came up because of a quote from the Shulchan Aru...
Post a Comment
Read more