Michael el Chayil

On June 29, 2014, I started a TftD with this: I was struck by the following idea at n'ila a few years ago. Ashamnu, bagadnu, ... gazalnu? From global to specific? Rather, I think we can understand all 23 expressions of admission as applying to each and every sin that we commit. Even if this is not p'shat, it gives a perspective on the damage done by every sin, even the "little" ones. So nine years ago that had been bothering me for "a few years" and it still strikes me each time I say viduy. Looking back at that TftD, it still rings true to me. Moreover, as I wrote then, even though it might not be p'shat in the viduy, it is a good thought and (I hope) that HaShem is giving me an A for effort. This morning, though, I found a gemara that leads me to believe that this might actually be p'shat! (Notice the copious use of weasel words to keep me free of actual liability.) Chazal (Avoda Zara 36b, fist line, you can't miss it) quotes the prop

I mean, really, wouldn't we just as soon move forward? Of course we need to make the necessary changes and ask for forgiveness and pardon. But once we have done that, let's drop it already. Can you imagine sitting down with your spouse or child every morning, pulling out that book (again) and starting your day with, "Well... let's review all of the awful things you have done to me, but for which I have forgiven you." Yet, in the Avinu Malkeinu we say twice a day during the 10 days of repentance, we actually plead -- oh, please write us into Your book of things for which we have been forgiven and pardoned. The phrase "written in a book" means that it is constantly/permanently at the front, so to speak, of HaShem's mind. I saw this question in the sefer K'dushas Levi. (I mentioned to my son-in-law that I had a copy and he suggested I look at the section on Rosh HaShanah -- I am so glad I did.) As is well known, תשובה/repentance comes

Shabbos morning after davening, a chavrusa presented to me a question I don't remember hearing before, nor even knew was a thing. Chazal say (Rosh HaShanah 16b) that a year that doesn't start with shofar will not end well. Since the first day or Rosh HaShanah this year was on Shabbos, we didn't blow shofar. So the question is: What will protect us from a difficult year? Honestly, I didn't really appreciate the question. We didn't blow shofar because Chazal told us not to; זה הוא/what's the question? Then he told me the Meshech Chochma is the source of the question. I now appreciated better that it was my ignorance that was preventing me from really appreciating the question. He told me the answer of the Meshech Chachma and I thanked him... though still not really appreciating what I was hearing. After mincha that afternoon the Agudah had a guest speaker,  R' Rajchenbach, the rosh kollel of the Kollel Zichron Eliyahu. The rosh kollel started with the question

The mishha in Avos says to be as careful with "light" mitzvos as "important" mitzvos, because you don't know how the reward is calculated. There are several different explanations of the lessons one is meant to learn from this mishna, but the unifying theme is that we just don't know how the final דין וחשבון/accountability will be computed. I had an amazing experience at work today that brought this mishna to life for me like never before. We had our quarterly group meeting today, attended also by the heads of our internal customers. (The group I work for by and large provides software tools that allow that group to do the work our external/paying customers need done.) The head of that group showed a slide of all the wonderful things we had done for them over the last year. The list included very large features, some required months of effort and as many as a dozen people involved. People had been given special recognition awards for some of those projects.

[Gleaned from R' Fuerst's Sunday morning shiur, Sept 10 -- last one this year! Any mistakes are mine.] Take a look at the beautiful set of Mishna Brura on most of our shelves and you'll notice that one volume looks particularly pristine. Right, I don't even have to tell you which one; and it's not because it also happens to be the thinnest volume. Nonetheless, everyone really does need to know a bit more about eruvin than either (1) I don't hold by any eruv, or (2) I don't know what the fuss about the eruv is. [My two cents: For the (2) people -- the rule is that in case of doubt on a Torah prohibition, you are obligated to rule stringently. If you don't know then you certainly should not be carrying on Shabbos! For the (1) people -- umm... there is an entire masechta eruvin; perhaps you ought to come down from that high horse and get a better view of reality.] In fact, a hotel fits quite nicely into the definition of courtyards as describ

The question of why the Day of Judgement comes before the Day of Atonement probably has as many answers as "why does Chanukah have eight days?" I heard and thought about a different angle, so of course I want to share it. Our intense preparation for Rosh HaShanah just started on Sunday with slichos. Slichos have at their core the 13 attributes of mercy that were revealed to Moshe Rabeinu after the terrible tragedy of the Sin of the Golden Calf. It is interesting to note how Moshe Rabeinu started this plea for atonement (Shmos 32:30/1): First Moshe Rabeinu tells the nation that they have committed a terrible transgression and he will do his best to gain atonement for them. Then Moshe turns to HaShem and declares: Your nation has committed a terrible transgression, they made golden gods! So Moshe even magnified the sin when addressing the Creator as his opening argument! Let's not quibble about the grammar just now. That's the way you mount a defense? Imagine an accused

I really love this Spanish expression: Más sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo.  The devil knows more because he is old than because he is the devil. (For your monolinguals.) The Rema (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 581:3) informs us that (at least for Ashkenazim) we do not blow shofar on erev Rosh HaShanah. As usual, that is all the Rema has to say. As usual, the Mishna Brura (sk 24) gives the reasoning behind the p'sak. We all know the reasons, but I'd like to unpack this Mishna Brura and get a glimpse of what the saintly R' Yisroel Meir Kagan really gave to us. The Mishna Brura first tells us that we stop blowing the shofar on erev Rosh HaShanah because we want to make a break between the permitted (that is, blown because of long standing tradition) shofar blasts and the ones we are obligated by the Torah to blow. The Mishna Brura adds two points: we don't blow on erev Rosh HaShanah even when Rosh HaShanah starts on Shabbos -- so, in fact, we will have a break in an

Ok... this is short, but oh so practical. As mentioned in a previous TftD , I endeavor each year to make a siyum on a seder of mishnayos for both my father and father-in-law. Their  yahrzeits  are far enough apart that it is more or less practical. What is less practical, though, is getting a minyan together for the kaddish. One option is to just announce after ma'ariv at some shuls that I am making a siyum for a  yahrzeit . People are accommodating, but it is not  always convenient for everyone there. My father's  yahrzeit  is 13 Adar I... but when there is only one Adar, then people are often in a rush to get home to help with Purim preparations.  So I had a thought. I wondered if making a siyum with people dancing around wanting to leave is really such a great z'chus for the niftar. Maybe I would be better off making the siyum on Sunday morning when people have more time and are more amenable. Besides, there is a larger crowd, so no one feels trapped. On the other hand,

I am uncomfortable with the term "rebbi"; I don't know why, it just doesn't seem to sit/fit well with me. However, if I did have a rebbi, it would be R' Dovid Siegel, shlita; now of Kollel Ahavas Torah in Eretz Yisrael. R' Siegel comes to America each year. He is wont to daven vasikin, which works out very conveniently for me. This year, however, the logistics did not work out. There was never a question of whether we would see the rabbi; only a question of venue as he has a very busy schedule. When I say "we", I mean my wife and I. R' Siegel has been a mentor to me and has been instrumental in helping us to continue building a Torah marriage even though we both came from a background bereft of any real spirituality; which is to say, bereft of reality. The hashgacha arranged that R' Siegel walked in from Telshe to address the olam for shashlos s'udos at the Agudah. The rabbi needed a ride back after Shabbos, so we had the merit of hosting

  [Paraphrased/extracted from The Treasure of Simchas HaMitzvah -- R' Ezriel Cziment ] In the  In the middle of the dire predictions of the rebuke we find in Ki Savo, we are given a clear and explicit reason for all this sorrow (D'varim 28:47): because you did not serve the Lord, your God, with happiness and with gladness of heart, when [you had an] abundance of everything.   תַּ֗חַת אֲשֶׁ֤ר לֹֽא־עָבַ֨דְתָּ֙ אֶת־יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ בְּשִׂמְחָ֖ה וּבְט֣וּב לֵבָ֑ב מֵרֹ֖ב כֹּֽל: Um... what? And more than that, the Rambam brings this as halachah -- if one doesn't serve HaShem with joy, then he is deserving of all the misfortunes that befall him. That didn't help at all... this is halachah? And we never see that even failure to perform a positive mitzvah comes with punishment at all (I mean, you need to bring an elevation offering, but not a punishment, per se.) Wait... there's more: What does the Rambam mean "he deserves what he gets"; either he is g