Michael el Chayil

You may remember this statement from Chazal that was discussed in a previous TftD : Rebbi Yochanan (Brachos 4b) says: איזהו בן העולם הבא? זה הסומך גאולה לתפילה של ערבית/Who is identified with the Olam HaBah community? The one who davens ma'ariv in response to redemption. There I discussed what I would consider to be the simple/plain understanding of R' Yochanan's statement. This time I would like to present my understanding of how Rashi learns this statement. "Wait!", you are thinking, "Isn't Rashi our go-to for simple/plain understanding?" Usually, but here Rashi seemed (to me) to take a deep dive into our whole perception of reality and how we should respond to it. Rashi comments:  מי שאינו סומך גאולה לתפלה למה הוא דומה לאוהבו של מלך שבא ודפק על פתחו של מלך יצא המלך ומצאו שהפליג אף הוא הפליג אלא יהיה אדם מקרב להקב"ה אליו ומרצהו בתשבחות וקלוסין של יציאת מצרים והוא מתקרב אליו ובעודו קרוב אליו יש לו לתבוע צרכיו Here's my summary/explanation: ...

When I was first married, I was in graduate school. Each morning I would put on my backpack, head over to my office, and then learn all day; physics, that is. Here I am several decades later and back to that routine, though now I head over to the beis medrash of Kollel Zichron Eliyahu, and learn Torah for a good portion of the day. Life is good. One other common activity is getting that first coffee at the office/beis medrash.. The conversations around the coffee station (hot water urn and a variety of instant coffees :) ) are a bit different though... As I was getting my coffee, I addressed R' Schwimmer (whom I know from his excellent chumash shiur on Friday nights during the winter) and said, "I bet you would not be happy with me if I sat down in beis medrash to eat a turkey and Swiss sandwich, would you?" R' Schwimmer deftly replied, "HaShem wouldn't be happy with you." Fair enough. But why not? Here's where that question came from. I have just st...

Retirement is great; really, really great. Last Friday, though, was the first "missed paycheck". It was a very strange feeling. I have worked with my financial advisor and R' Fuerst to determine that retiring at this time was the right move financially, and hashkafically. Still... not getting a paycheck and realizing I need to start "paying myself" out of savings felt more than a little strange. I have a new chavrusa with whom I learn R' Biderman (in Spanish ... longish story) on Friday mornings. The parsha was BeHar and much of the Wellsprings of Torah (Manantiales dela Tora) was on the topic of the true source of פרנסה/livelihood. Namely, פרנסה/livelihood comes from HaShem and not from our efforts/השתדלות. There is no question that we are obligated in השתדלות, but we are obligated in lots of things -- davening, learning Torah, keeping Shabbos; 613 categories of obligations. Our השתדלות/efforts don't generate the פרנסה/livelihood any more than keeping k...

R' Elazar says that R' Avina says (Brachos 4b): Anyone who says תהילה לדוד (Psalms 145) -- fondly known as אשרי -- three times a day is מובטח/guaranteed to be a member of the Olam HaBah community. Note, by the way, this is not some kind of segula. The מעדני יום טוב in his elucidation of the Rosh explains that this thrice daily recital is like the cherry on top of your normal everyday mitzvah observance. It's the finishing touch to transform a person into a Ben Olam HaBah. We are thrilled, of course, to have such a clear directive. The Gemara, though, wants to know why. Chazal again... always clouding the issue with facts. So the first special quality of אשרי  is that each verse begins with a letter of the alephbeis -- in order -- from א to ת. (Yes, we all know that נ is funky; we might get to that.) If that's what's so special, pushes back the Gemara, then we should say Psalms 119, which has eight verses for each letter of the alephbeis (and, I may add...

Rebbi Yochanan (Brachos 4b) says: איזהו בן העולם הבא? זה הסומך גאולה לתפילה של ערבית/Who is identified with the Olam HaBah community? The one who davens ma'ariv in response to redemption. This is a very  free translation, but I don't know how to make it more accurate. There are so many questions on this statement, but let's just explore a couple to which I found an explanation. What does תפילה have to do with גאולה; in particular, the redemption from Egypt? Our תפילה is mostly asking for things we need in this world -- health, wealth, security, national homeland, etc. Why does asking for those things identify us with Olam Habah? The מעדני יום טוב on the רא''ש brings two complementary explanations. The first approach comes from contemplating why  HaShem redeemed us from the bondage of Mitzrayim. Extolling HaShem for the redemption brings me to the realization that we were released forever from any and all earthly subjugation in order to be free to serve the Creat...

Chazal (Brachos, 3a) relate that R' Yossi was once traveling and needed to daven, so he ducked into one of the abandoned buildings in Yerushalayim. Eliyahu waited outside for R' Yossi to finish. When R' Yossi came out, he and Eliyahu exchanged greetings, then Eliyahu asked R' Yossi why he had gone into the abandoned building. R' Yossi said, "to daven." Eliyahu replied that he should have davened on the side of the road. R' Yossi said he was afraid that he would be interrupted by passersby. Eliyahu told him that in that case, he should have davened a shortened t'fila. The Gemara then says there are three reasons to avoid going into abandoned buildings: (1) If they have been abandoned for some time, the walls could collapse. (2) Mischievous spirits like to hang out in such buildings. (3) חשד/Suspicion that one is going there to meet a lady of questionable morals. Let's think about this. R' Yossi doesn't want to be disturbed while davening...

A couple of weeks before my retirement, I mentioned it to R' Fuerst; who responded, "Are you making a siyum?" Baruch HaShem I was and I have. I made a siyum on seder Nezikin -- gemara, not just mishnayos. It has been in the works for years and just happened to coincide with my retirement, which just happened to coincide with Erev Pesach. I also put a good friend of mine -- who is famous for his gematrias -- on the spot by asking him the night before the siyum for a good gematria. I said, "no pressure, but if you have something off hand, that would be great." He didn't. No worries. Then the next morning before davening (I typically do my siyumim on Shabbos after davening at the vasikin minyan), though, he pulled me aside to tell me he had stayed up later to find a gematria for me. So nice... and now I needed to rework my speech. Oh well, I had about two hours... The gematria for 50 is הקל טוב (with an 'א', of course)/The G-d of Good (more or less). He...

It is always a treat when a grandchild calls. We have one, nearly 11, who is quite a conversationalist. She called erev Shabbos and, after the usual "what's new at school", "how's the weather", she asked, "Zeidy, since HaShem promised that He will always take care of us and we'll always win, why do we have to have wars?" Yikes. After a short pause to think of what to say, I told her this: You know how sometimes when you get sick, your mommy and daddy make you take pills or even get a shot? And they tell you that it hurts/tastes bad now, but it will make you better? When a Jew does aveiros it makes our neshama sick. The suffering is because we made ourselves sick, and the difficult things that happen to us  are part of the cure . I felt pretty good about that answer. True, and on a level that a 10 year old could understand. Then she asked, "So the Jews who did aveiros caused the war?" "Yikes" doesn't begin to describe the...