Michael el Chayil

This is an incident recorded in the gemara (Sanhedrin 39) that either a rabbi of the Reform Jewish Religion faith or a Roman governor (often hard to tell those two categories apart) declared to Rabban Gamliel: "Your G-d is a thief! He stole Adam's rib!" His daughter (either the governor's or the rabbi's) piped up and said she could handle this one. She called for a policeman and told him she wanted to report  a crime: "Someone broke into my house last night, stole an old flower pot, and left a gold vase in its place!" The policeman started laughing and asked how he could get the thief to visit his house. She turned to the accuser and said, "HaShem took a rib, but left him a wife; how can you complain?" That is a good answer for a Roman governor or a rabbi of the Reform Jewish Religion. For a thinking person, though, it begs the question: Are you allowed to do that? Are you allowed to steal something with the intent to repay with something mor...

The mishna in Avos (5:17) begins with this surprising statement: כָּל מַחֲלֹקֶת שֶׁהִיא לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם, סוֹפָהּ לְהִתְקַיֵּם. Loosely (and not entirely inaccurately) translated: Every argument that is made out of religious fervor will last forever. You may very well be thinking, "Ah yup. Religious nuts are destroying the world and they never stop!" Yet the mishna there is actually praising a מַחֲלֹקֶת שֶׁהִיא לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם and condemning its evil cousin, the מַחֲלֹקֶת שֶׁאֵינָהּ לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם. To appreciate what Chazal are telling us, we are going to need to more carefully define what a מַחֲלֹקֶת is, and also what it means to be לְשֵׁם שָׁמַיִם. While the Torah requires a death sentence for certain crimes (murder among them), only a court of 23 expert judges can render such a decision. The Torah requires an odd number of judges on any tribunal in order to prevent deadlock. Suppose though, that it is the unanimous decision of the court that the defendant by exec...

Every group has its inside jokes, and vasikin is no different. There is one for Pesach involving Rebbitzin Isserles, there is one for Shavuos regarding the menu, and there is some sharp mussar regarding the 11 observed days of s'firah. Twice a year there is the quite popular announcement: For those of you who appreciate the smaller things in life, sunrise was one second   today than yesterday. Small though it may seem, it is a welcome respite. This time of year also comes with a personal simcha for me, as my rav, R' Dovid Siegel, shilta, comes for his annual visit from Eretz Yisrael. I am very fortunate that he always makes time for us to discuss my "life trajectory"; how the last year went, where I feel there are particular challenges, and counsel regarding the upcoming year. I never know the precise day he will arrive, so it is always a wonderful surprise. This year even more than usual. The person who usually sits next to me is away for a family simcha and his se...

We are accomplishing huge things with the shofar blasts on Rosh HaShana.  There are Jews who barely distinguish themselves from the surrounding culture. They light Chanuka candles next to their decorated xmas trees. They'll have ham and cheese on their matzah during Passover. They'll drink herb teas during their Yom Kippur fast. Shofar, though? They don't want to hear any old horn; they want 100 blasts on a kosher ram's horn shofar. Big, big things are happening with those blasts and every Jew feels it deep in his soul. R' Akiva Eiger was once asked  before Rosh HaShana what was the appropriate כוונה/intention for the shofar ceremony. There is so much going on, this Jew knew he would not be able to keep everything in mind, so he wanted just one -- the most important one -- כוונה/intention on which he could concentrate. R' Akiva Eiger told him that he was asking a very important question and he had an answer for him: Have in mind to fulfill the Torah mitzvah of...

I got an email yesterday reminding me that it was Rosh Chodesh today and tomorrow, so davening would be starting 10 minutes earlier. Not to be outdone, the vasikin minyan started earlier today and will start  even more earlier  tomorrow. On the one hand, we are only starting earlier than usual by a few seconds. On the other hand, we are starting at 4:49 AM CDT. You decide who is more frum. 😛 Fine, fine... we are not  starting earlier because of Rosh Chodesh. In fact, next Rosh Chodesh, we'll be starting later each day. Rosh Chodesh, of course, has nothing at all to do with when we daven. What's the point (besides the obvious showing off how dedicated us vasikin daveners are, while taking a jab at the rest of the world; just saying)? The point, though, is to underscore how bad it is to jump to conclusions from a tiny data set. The Pele Yo'eitz has an entire section devoted to the evils of הֶסַח הַדַעַת/running on auto-pilot. I wrote a post some time ago that h...

I have a terrible memory for isolated facts. This is not false modesty; it's just the fact. It seems like I have a good memory because I can remember connected facts; facts connected with reasons. When I learned Hebrew, for example, I worked diligently to memorize enough grammar and vocabulary to build a sort of scaffolding. As that scaffolding became more sturdy and turned into a solid structure, I was able to add new facts by adding onto the existing structure. You now know far more about the way I think than you expected; you have only yourself to blame. Why is this important? I now finally know enough halacha (about daily living, anyway), that I have a structure on which to hang new concepts! Woo hoo! Good thing, as R' Fuerst threw a few at us in his Sunday morning shiur on תפילת הדרך. The new idea started with a question: Are women obligated in תפילת הדרך? My first thought was, "Why not?  Hmm... it's not a time-bound, positive mitzvah. It is for protection on th...

Everybody loves grammar, right? The Hebrew word ללמוד means "to learn". The Hebrew word ללמד means "to teach". Same root letters (three, as is typical): ל-מ-ד; the two words differ only on בנין/conjunction. ללמוד is in the simple conjunction, whereas as ללמד is in the intensified conjunction. The Hebrew language itself tells us that teaching as in intensified form or learning. Of course, to give over an idea, one needs to have a deeper understanding himself first. That is one reason I look forward to giving a shiur. It takes me hours of preparation to give a 45 minutes shiur; must of that time is spent really just clarifying for myself the ideas to be presented. Having the opportunity to speak about תפילה, therefore, is always very appealing to me. Every preparation means more review; more review means a chance to learn something new about תפילה; learning something new makes that next תפילה a more fresh/interesting experience; the more fresh and exciting any exper...