Michael el Chayil

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 To...

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...

Talmud Bavli, Ta'anis 8a: אמר ריש לקיש מאי דכתיב "אם ישוך הנחש בלא לחש, ואין יתרון לבעל הלשון" (קהלת י, יא) --  לעתיד לבא מתקבצות ובאות כל החיות אצל הנחש ואומרים לו: ארי דורס ואוכל, זאב טורף ואוכל, אתה מה הנאה יש לך? אמר להם: ואין יתרון לבעל הלשון   (What follows is my translation/elucidation based on Rashi; your mileage may vary) Reish Lakish expounds on this verse, "If the snake bites because it was not charmed, then there is no advantage to the charmer's art." (Ecclesiastes 10:11) -- In the future, all the animals will gather and come to the snake and say to him: The lion pounces and eats (right where he is, as the lion fears no other animal), the wolf rips (that is, kills) and eats (after taking the prey back to his lair, as he fears other animals). But you, what benefit do you have? (you bite people and kill them, but don't get any benefit from your kill). The snake answers them: Oh yeah? Well benefit does a person get from speaking לשון הרע/defamin...

In a recent TftD , I said this: By the way, what is the reward for making Shabbos enjoyable?  The P'nei Yitzchak Zuta quotes Chazal (Shabbos 118b): for just enjoying Shabbos, one is granted his heartfelt requests. A win-win situation if there ever was one. I'd like to drill down on that a little deeper. A certain chassid (not a fashion statement in those days, just someone scrupulous in his mitzvah observance and always looking to go beyond the letter of the law) had himself checked the knife of the shochet and could feel a tiny nick in the blade. The shochet could not feel it, nor could the mashgiach. This chassid wanted to know if he was allowed to refrain from eating the meat, or -- since a Jew eating the meat of a kosherly slaughtered animal is part of the perfection of that animal -- was he required to eat the meat even though he personally had felt the nick? The Beis Yaakov addressed the question and prefaced his final p'sak with: (1) perfection of the animal is never...

Imagine you are walking on the sidewalk. Maybe to shul, maybe just out for a stroll. Suddenly you feel something hit you, not big, but annoying. You hear a squeaky voice shouting, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!" That's  irritating. You look up and immediately find the source; a squirrel in the tree next to you, taking aim with another nut, and continuing his chant. What is your response? If your response is to engage him with logical arguments about how despicable that chant is and that it is based on lies and to want to punish and silence that squirrel; then I have nothing to say to you. If, on the other hand, your response is wide-eyed shock/amazement that a squirrel is talking; I'm with you. Bilaam, though -- a prophet at the level of Moshe Rabeinu -- had the first reaction when his donkey started talking with him. What was he thinking? Bilaam was well respected/feared. Yet in this instance, he is just getting frustrated and acting like a compl...

Learning again with my grandson this morning, I wanted to show him something about Bilaam's third attempt to curse Klal Yisroel. As I was looking through a chumash, he grabbed a siddur and said, "Zeidy, you don't need to search in the chumash, it right here in the front of the siddur." Nachas. But let's take a moment to contemplate that fact. True enough, Bilaam was hired to curse Klal Yisrael, but he failed at every turn. HaShem was having none of that, and each attempt was turned to a blessing. Interestingly, by the way, the Gemara analyses Bilaam's blessings to uncover what his intent actually was. Be that as it may, why should any words uttered by the evil and vicious Bilaam be enshrined in our liturgy? First, here is that amazing statement: מַה־טֹּ֥בוּ אֹֽהָלֶ֖יךָ יַֽעֲקֹ֑ב מִשְׁכְּנֹתֶ֖יךָ יִשְׂרָאֵֽל/How goodly are your tents, Yaakov; your dwelling places, Yisroel! Bilaam had no intention, of course, to bless our nation. We see from what came out of his...

I am learning the laws of meat and milk in my afternoon seder. I am using, at the recommendation of R' Fuerst, the sefer מעדני השלחן. It is written in a similar style to the Mishna Brura. It has the text of the Shulchan Aruch on top, followed by the באר היטב below, then the many body of the sefer: מעדני השלחן: main text/p'sak halacha מטעמי השלחן: underlying reasons and deeper analysis פאר השלחן: references to source material. I don't do any yomi programs. Instead, I have the luxury to fulfill my obligation to just delve into Torah. In particular, when I find something that doesn't match my expectations, I often get to take a deep dive. It is amazing the pearls that are there! For example, 89:3, the מעדני השלחן says, tangentially, that the obligation to eat meat is the same for Shabbos and Yom Tov. Bit of a shock, no? There certainly is an obligation/strong suggestion to eat meat (not poultry, but cow/sheep/what have you among the kosher land animals) and drink wine (not...

I have a grandson who is nearly bar mitzvah and lives only a few blocks away. He is now (1) old enough to walk over by himself, (2) between day camp and sleep away camp age, (3) bored (now that school is out). Now that I am retired, I am able to help out a bit with the boredom, and so I have a new chavrusa a few times a week. By his choice, we are learning Yeshayahu, aka Isaiah. He will also occasionally just drop by to hang out with Bubbie and Zeidy. He stopped by this morning on the way to davening, so he got to enjoy a R' Biderman vort with us via the Reb Meilechs Chizuk WhatsApp channel. As it turned out, the vort we heard from R' Biderman dovetailed very nicely to the topic we learned in Yeshayahu. R' Biderman told over a vort from the Toldos. Dovid HaMelech tells us (T'hillim 16:8): שִׁוִּיתִי יְהוָה לְנֶגְדִּי תָמִיד כִּי מִימִינִי בַּל אֶמּוֹט/I have placed HaShem in front of my always, I shall not stumble Just because I have placed HaShem in front of me at all ...

If you like olives and you don't care about forgetting your learning, then you may want to stop reading now. Take your time; I'll wait. Ok, so either don't care for olives or you do care about remembering your learning (or both). I like olives. Growing up I only ate pitted, black olives. They were also a fun food, as the fit quite neatly over the tips of child sized fingers. I did not  like green olives. Then I grew up and discovered martinis; which contain a pitted green olive -- filled with either an almond or pimento -- as garnish. Quite tasty end to the martini. More recently, I have discovered spiced and pickled Mediterranean whole olives; they come in an assortment of sizes, colors, and tastes; quite delicious. Then I went to R' Fuerst's shiur yesterday; Sunday, July 14, 2024. A day I shall not soon forget. The shiur is entitled: Interesting Shailos: Haircut/Shave/Shower Before Shacharis, Shaking Off Dust from a Beged on Shabbos and more . It is available on T...

Yes, I am well aware that we are just entering Tammuz and painfully aware that we are headed to the dreadful Three weeks and the dreaded Tisha b'Av. Nonetheless, I'd prefer to discuss the upcoming Days of Awe. Don't worry; we'll ease into it with some grammar. I mean, most people do  find grammar pretty awful, right? (The phrase, "no pun intended", has rarely been less fitting.) Chazal tell us (Brachos 12b), that from Rosh HaShanah to Yom Kippur, we alter the conclusion of the third and eleventh brachos of shmone esrei. The third bracha becomes המלך הקדוש; the eleventh becomes המלך המשפט. Rashi immediately explains to us that המלך המשפט is to be understood as מלך המשפט. Okay... Then, just in case you have any doubts about that explanation, Rashi marshals three verses from Tanach (Yehoshua 3:14, Malachim II 16:17, and Yirmiyahu 31:39) that also contain double word phrases where both words take a ה prefix and Rashi says that are to be understood as though only t...

A willful violation of Shabbos is a capital crime. If there are witnesses and warning, the perpetrator would be subject to execution by סקילה, the most severe form of punishment prescribed by the Torah. (I am leaving the word סקילה untranslated because the accepted translation has connotations that are so far from the reality of סקילה that is simply false.) No witnesses, כרת/spiritual excision. If done willfully but without full knowledge of its severity then was brings a sin offering; not cheap, as a full grown cow could set you back a thousand dollars or two. What kind of violation are we talking about? No one would be surprised that firing up the BBQ or even throwing a nice steak on a hot BBQ are both in that category. No frum/orthodox Jew is going to do that. How about putting a tea bag in a cup and filling the cup from your hot water urn? Yes; same transgression. (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 318:4, Mishna Brura sk 39). I have, on occasion, visited shuls on Shabb...

A Jew is not allowed to learn Torah (according to the Vilna Gaon, this includes thinking about divrei Torah) before making ברכת התורה. You aren't allowed to eat an apple before making bracha, you aren't allowed to wave a lulav before making a bracha, you aren't allowed to learn Torah before making a bracha. Simple. Straightforward. Until you are in a position where you can't make ברכת התורה. How could that happen? A common case comes up every Shavuos -- you want to learn Torah, but you stayed up all night. For how long is ברכת התורה effective? Certainly from the time you say it until you go to sleep. (Not drifting off for a few minutes, but in bed asleep.) Some poskim, though, hold that Chazal established ברכת התורה to be said daily; something like the morning brachos. Another way you could be in this position: you can't remember if you said ברכת התורה. Usually in case of doubt, we just don't say the bracha. That is because brachos are by Rabbinic decree, and th...

You know it is true. There can be no interruption between the bracha and its target event, be that eating or the performance of a mitzvah. Why not? The Beis Yosef, R' Yosef Karo's commentary/analysis of the Tur, discusses this question in a surprising location; to be disclosed at the end, b'ezras HaShem. Let's start with the text of the bracha. Before eating an apple, for example, we say:  Blessed/praised are You, HaShem, King of the universe, who created the fruit of the tree. Where do you see anything about eating an apple  -- or any other fruit, for that matter -- in that statement? I mean, doesn't that sound like something you'd say when seeing a cool fruit, or even thinking about how much you like apples?  The text of bracha before performing a mitzvah isn't any better. Take the waving of the lulav/myrtle/willow/esrog, for example: Blessed/praised are You, HaShem, King of the universe, who sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us regarding t...

As of this writing we are on the brink of bringing in Tammuz, 5784. We are less than three weeks from The Three Weeks. We are, I am sad to say, tracking to commemorate another year of this long diaspora and loss of our Beis HaMikdash. The Aguda has published a video interview with Dayan Aharon Dovid Dunner, shlita: The Scourge of Machklokes: Fights, Divorces, and the Pursuit of Shalom I highly recommend you watch it in its entirety. There was one point the dayan made, however, that really struck me. It is such simple advice, and something that can easily be made a part of your life. At 12:41 the dayan begins saying over the famous story of how R' Yisrael Salanter was galvanized into action to create the mussar movement. There was a simple shoemaker who earned a respectable living. One day he received news that he had come into a lot of money (either a lottery or an inheritance from a wealthy distant relative; not really an important detail). This simple shoemaker was immediately la...