Michael el Chayil

My wife and I look forward to the publications from the Bais Horaah. They pick a timely topic and explore it with its halachos in a thorough and understandable format. Just before Sukkos, a 20 pager came out (they are usually only two pages) -- score! We read them at the Shabbos table. Actually my wife reads them and I listen/offer running commentary. I didn't expect to learning anything new, but review is always good. Also I then get to offer even more commentary. My wife read, "The schach must be secure enough that it will not blow off in a normal wind."  Yes, yes... "Even if the wind is not blowing, but the schach would blow off in a normal wind, the sukkah is not kosher even in still air." Yes, yes... "Even if the sukkah is in a protected place, like between two houses, so the wind is blocked, the schach needs to be secure enough to stay in place even if the place were not protected." Yes, yes... wait... what? Our sukkah is on our back deck, protec...

The gematria of השטן/The Accuser is 364. The sages tell us that the Accuser is only allowed to speak against us 364 days a year. On Yom Kippur, though, he is silenced. What about just שטן (you know, satan, the devil, the serpent, etc)? Wouldn't it be great to get another five days without an accuser watching our every move? We get that also! The five days from Yom Kippur through the first day of Sukkos, the accuser doesn't get much traction. Since we are busy with the mitzvos of Sukkos, HaShem lets our unintentional sins slide because we are so busy with the mitzvos of building a sukkah and getting the four species. If it were just the quantity of mitzvos, though, that hardly explains fending off the prince of darkness. After all, Pesach has lots and lots of mitzvos and requires much more preparation. Every Shabbos also has lots of preparation. (My daughter explained Shabbos to a non-Jewish co-worker as "basically Thanksgiving, but every week.) Yet the Accuser is on full d...

The main expression we have of living in the sukkah is eating there. The factors that require one to eat in a sukkah are based on the idea that we are to consider the sukkah our main residence during the 7/8 days of Sukkos . Hence, eating events that would usually occur in your dining room during the rest of the year, should take place in the sukkah during Sukkos. Formal meals in the sukkah, but snacks on the run -- just as during the rest of the year you snack all over the place -- so, too, during Sukkos can be eaten outside of the Sukkah. Just as you would leave your dining room if there were, Chas v'Shalom , a leak in the ceiling; so, too, you can leave your sukkah because of rain. But what if you want to stay in the sukkah? You worked so hard on it, and it's only once a year, and you have pictures and decorations that tell the story of your last 30 years in Chicago... I mean... it's geshmack to be in the sukkah. Even the whining about the cold and the bees is part of th...

There is a Russian expression (really, I confirmed it with a Romanian dental technician): Once you are 40, if you wake up and nothing hurts; you are dead. That is one way to look at growing older. Here's another. There was an ad campaign (I am told) that featured a 20's saying that he's never going to get cataracts, nor arthritis, nor even wrinkles. Why? Well, it was a campaign for disease that was infecting and killing a certain segment of the population. It ended with a plea for donations for more research. They also had a more lighthearted approach, putting a positive spin on wrinkles and grey hair as beautiful; mostly because it meant you hadn't died yet. That's one approach to aging. Basically difference spins on "well, it beats the alternative!" I would like to suggest a different approach. One of the most distressing situations I can imagine is being bored. Before you pshaw my phobia, consider that solitary confinement is one of the most feared puni...

If you have already heard of תדיר ושאינו תדיר תדיר קודם -- frequent and not frequent, frequent first -- and are surprised by the title, you are welcome to skip to the end, but please hear me out. If you are not so familiar with the topic, let's start with a short introduction. In those cases where two obligations come up for a single event, this rule determines which comes first. For example, in bentching there are additions for both Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh. On Shabbos Rosh Chodesh, you will perforce say one before the other; halacha neither requires nor even condones speaking different things out of both sides of your mouth. The rule of תדיר ושאינו תדיר תדיר קודם tells you to say the addition for Shabbos first, and then the addition for Rosh Chodesh. This also comes up in the chapter of psalms we say after morning prayers. The extra psalm for Rosh Chodesh -- which is said 18-ish times a year -- comes after the daily psalm -- which is said 52-ish times a year. What about לדוד/Psal...

Sundown is still a bit late for R' Schwimmer's Friday night chumash shiur at the Tessler home, but we are getting close. We are also between Rosh HaShannah and Yom Kippur, which is an excellent time for some honest and significant soul searching. That being the case, R' Schwimmer graciously agreed to give a short shiur last Friday night on Shabbos Shuva. If you were there, you may want to just move on, as my summary is not going to approach the inspiration you have already received. If you were not there, then I hope this sparks your interest enough to make going to the shiur a regular part of your winter Shabbos evenings. The shiur started with two questions on the time in which we now find ourselves. One is something I have contemplated for years and I believe is a relatively famous topic. Namely, why do we have the Day of Judgement first and then 10 days later the Day of Atonement. Any reasonable person would much rather work out a deal before going to court. Going to co...

I am not known for being subtle. That also means that subtle messages often pass me by, way under my radar. When I hear the same message -- nearly word for word -- from two different shiurim one right after the other, even I sometimes notice. There is a mitzvah to do תשובה. That means to confess your past bad deeds, regret them, abandon them, and accept with full sincerity to never repeat them. What would you say is the main part of that? I would think that abandoning one's bad ways, regretting them, and accepting never to do them again. After all, if we don't change, have we done תשובה? If I don't regret the sins, have I really changed? Confession? Pshaw... there is a religion that has little booths for confession.  They are sort of like telephone booths, but more dark and cramped, and only for extremely local calls; through a little opening to an adjoining booth. You tell the priest, whom you can't see and you hope he doesn't recognize your voice, all the bad thin...

Funny story. For years we have not eaten grapes on ראש השנה. (Funny story within funny story, I couldn't decide how many "n"'s and whether to put an "h" at the end of the transliteration of ראש השנה; so I punted and decided to just leave it in the original.) We didn't eat grapes, because I had been told that the Vilna Gaon (I'll leave that one alone) said we shouldn't eat grapes on ראש השנה. Why not? It's a secret 😉; you know, kabala stuff. (No final "h", one "l"; sigh...) I thought this was well known. After all, if I -- who did not grow up in the Orthodox Jewish tradition -- know something, then everyone must know it. Fine, fine, that is getting less true as I get older, but still. Anyway... We are, בעזרת השם , having guests for the first day of ראש השנה and they wanted to bring a Waldorf Salad -- which happens to include grapes and walnuts. (My wife knew that, not me.) Of course, we all knew that the walnuts would have...

I have been giving a weekly shiur on Sefer Chafeitz Chaim for some time. Just last night, we finished the sefer. Minutes after the shiur  concluded, I received two different emails inviting me to online presentations about the Chafeitz Chaim, whose yarhtzeit is today, 24 Elul. Amazing coincidence, no? The last syef, 15, of the last siman, 9, of Hilchos רכילות, which follows a slightly larger section on Hilchos לשון הרע, begins with an all too common scenario that the Chafeitz Chaim uses to demonstrate just have fast and how deeply a relatively parve situation can dive into the murky waters of רכילות ולשון הרע. Near the end of that example, the saintly Chafeitz Chaim explains how one should act in that situation. Then, for the last paragraph, the closing thought and message, that same saintly Chafetz Chaim seems to take a sharp left turn. ודע/Now know that everything we have written in this sefer regarding the great care one must take to stay away from the sin of לשון הרע is re...

Have I mentioned how fortunate I feel to be learning in the Peterson Park Kollel? The mishna in Avos (4:2) says it is better to be the tail of a lion than the head of a fox. Besides all the talmidei chachamim who learn full time, there are lots of ba'alei batim (talmidei chachamim in their own rights) who spend a portion of their day in the kollel. In the mashal, I am barely the tip of the tail of the lion; and I feel very fortunate to be there. As one of those ba'alei batim was leaving, he left me with a question: Why don't we say thank you to HaShem on Rosh HaShannah for everything that He has done for us since last Rosh HaShannah! I had an inkling of an answer, but the question was so good that I just wanted to enjoy it for a while. I thanked him as he was running out and then I spent some time contemplating that apparent gaping omission. The truth is, the Mishna Brura, siman 112, addresses that question from a different angle. In shmone esrei, we are allowed (and encour...

We live in a world of GUIs -- graphical user interfaces. I grew up in a world of CLIs -- command line interfaces. I like CLIs. You tell the computer what to do; it does it. Simple. GUIs are, well, gooey. The programmer decided the best way for you to accomplish your task, and now it is his way or the highway. Just follow the rules, push the right buttons and you'll be fine. (Let's be honest  -- there are no buttons; just spots on the screen where that same arrogant programmer put a graphic of a button.) Sometimes, though, even that GUI expert has to come down off his high horse and actually explain something. That, I find, is when a lot of problems start. People are so used to "touch and swipe" that they read some of the words. Then when something goes wrong, they exclaim, "Hey! My phone isn't working! Why did it do that?" As bad as it is to skim the words in a pop-up alert, it is nothing compared to skimming a Biur Halacha. I think it is fair to say tha...

When we first moved to Dallas, we told the rabbi, Rabbi Aryeh Rodin, shilta, that we would like to "upgrade" our level of kashrut to the community standards. That is, we felt we were keeping kosher (we were not, of course), but wanted to be sensitive to other people's (in our mind, unnecessary) stringencies. You know, stringencies like looking for a hechsher when the ingredients on the label seemed just fine. Buying kosher cheese, even though we knew it was made with vegetable rennet. You know, stringencies. Rabbi Rodin came over and started by telling us, "There is nothing magic or mystical about kashering. The basic rule is that you get it out the same way it got in. Pots that always used with liquid for cooking, were to be kashered with hot water. Something that was used with dry heat -- like a roasting pan and the oven grates -- had to be kashered with (high) dry heat. Simple. I was very impressed and it changed my perspective on kashrus and the kashrus industry....

Let's take a look at the annual cycle we experience. The Three Weeks culminating in Tisha b'Av itself are accompanied by three special haftaras reminding us of our situation. Following that we have seven Shabbosim of consolation, also with their special haftaras; so special, in fact, that they even override the haftara for Rosh Chodesh Elul. We then have the Days of Awe; ten days of repentance beginning with Rosh HaShanna and concluding with Yom Kippur. Five days later, the season of our joy, Sukkos! Many years ago, I had the merit that R' Matisyahu Soloman, z"tzvk visited me at home; more on that visit in this TftD . I saw a two volume set of מתנת חיים, writings by R' Matisyahu Soloman, z"tzvk  on the 40 days from Rosh Chodesh Elul through Yom Kippur. Of course, I took a set right away. (I already have מתנת חיים on the Pesach Hagadah.) R' Solomon begins by noting that this annual cycle -- suffering and mourning, then consolation, then repentance and forgi...

Nothing can quite make you feel as old as quoting a comic strip that is unknown to your listener. When I spoke to a group of college students, I knew better than to refer to Doonesbury (even though it is still around). I thought I was safe, though, with Dilbert. Nope. Sigh... Anyway,  on strip that is spot has Alice, the female engineer, looking for a better position in the company. The rule in companies, by the way, is that when you want to promote an internal candidate to a new position, you often need to post it, just in case there are better qualified candidates than the one you want to promote. The idea is sound, but when the manager just words the requirements in such a way that only one person fits. In the Dilbert example, Alice reads the job description: near-sighted, has a red pickup truck, and answers to "Bob". Dilbert notes that "they probably have someone in mind"; Alice still contemplates if she could make it work. (I have seen -- and even written -- jo...

Before you start to wonder if I was abducted by aliens... No, I am still the guy who gets a haircut when his wife lets him know that he is not welcome in the house until he gets his haircut. It turns out, though, that committing to getting a haircut has serious halachic ramifications. The mishna (Shabbos 9b) starts with: A person may not sit down in front of the barber close to mincha until he davens. Rashi explains that "sit down in front of the barber" means "to get a haircut."  Let's think about that. Rashi did not get paid by the word. Rashi is everyone's rebbi in how to most succinctly explain a topic. We all marvel at how Rashi is able to open up and explain a topic with so few words. Rashi always is either pointing out an essential feature you may have missed or stopping you from heading down the wrong path. I racked my brain trying to figure out what else I could have thought the mishna meant by "sitting down in front of the barber" other t...

I spent the majority of my childhood in the 1960s. They were tumultuous times. I was too young to be an active participant, but I was an observer and I have certainly seen how those events shaped history for decades to come. My wife and I were traveling through Memphis and decided to visit the National Civil Rights Museum , which takes you through the centuries of history and ends at the room in the Lorraine Motel where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. It was intense and enlightening on many levels. That Motzei Shabbos we wanted to visit the music district and we happened to get a Lyft driver who was a very nice black lady. She asked us about our stay. I mentioned the visit to the Civil Rights Museum. She asked about my impressions. (My wife was already nervous at that point.) I told her that I grew up in California where the schools were never segregated and how shocked I was by just how bad things had been in the South. I asked her if things are all good now? She said there ...

I was in St. Louis. We had a nice dinner at the local kosher Indian restaurant that was in the neighborhood near the shul. We got to our hotel on the other side of town; apparently השגחה was not operating when I chose the hotel. I got up in the morning to drive to the Agudah to daven k'vasikin alone, and then finish davening with a minyan. They don't have a vasikin minyan; oh well, I guess השגחה was still not operating. I set the destination into my GPS and started driving. Something seemed odd. The night before the GPS had taken us from the restaurant straight to the freeway and the hotel was just a couple of blocks from the exit. That morning, though, the route was along city streets for a while and then to the freeway. I decided to just double check that I had set the destination correctly. I pulled over a couple of intersections before the freeway entrance I was directed to take. Yup... destination correct, so I pushed "continue with trip" on GPS. The route had ch...

This week's parasha is עקב. The word has a few meanings, but in context it means "because of"/"due to"/"as a result of". The first few verses tell us that as a result of harkening to, safeguarding, and performing the משפטים/laws that HaShem has commanded, HaShem will keep the covenant that He made with you, and will show you the kindness He promised to your ancestors. And He will love, bless, and multiply you. And He will bless the fruit of your soil -- grain, wine, and oil. And He will bless your flocks. And He will love you above all other nations. And neither your nor any of your cattle will be sterile nor barren nor ever miscarry. And He will remove all sickness from you. And He will take care of your enemies by giving them the kind of diseases you knew about in Egypt. That is a pretty fair offer, no? One might even say more than fair. Now the more usual word for "because of"/"due to"/"as a result of" would be בגלל or ...

I have done two things this week that were entirely new experiences for me. One, I just completed the topic of הוצאה/moving an object from one domain to another in masechta Shabbos. This time was different, because it is the first time I have learned a gemara by topic instead of by daf. That is, instead of just moving through the gemara page by page, I skipped from the end of 9a to the 11th chapter, הזורק. Now that I have finished the topic, I am going back to 9b. Doesn't sound like a big thing to you? It was very strange for me to leave all those unturned/unlearned pages to jump up to Chap 11. In fact, once I started, it became clear how beneficial this was, as the topics from the first 7.5 daf, which are largely untouched in the intervening pages, are all over the place in the 11th chapter. Why did R' Yehuda do that? No clue. But I do see why that's the way it is learned in kollels. Live and learn. Here's my other new thing: I made a siyum on 8th Av with a chavrusa wh...

We all know that the diaspora thought which we are currently suffering is due, at its core, to שנאת חינם/baseless hatred. We all know, as well, that the way out of this stifling, prolonged diaspora is אהבת חינם/baseless love for each Jew. Wouldn't you think that we should go out of our way to greet each and every Jew we see with enthusiasm? Especially to a Jew who doesn't know about Tisha b'Av. I mean, wouldn't that seem to be a better idea than with the downcast eyes and weak, "Hi... but we don't really greet each other on Tisha b'Av", that halacha requires? A partial answer might be similar to the answer I received many years ago when I first learned about Tisha b'Av. I wanted to know if I could learn Mesillas Yesharim on Tisha b'Av. After all, I reasoned, what better day for character improvement than on Tisha b'Av itself? I was told that no, I could not learn Mesilas Yesharim because it is full of p'sukim and teachings from Chazal; ...

No list of great thinkers of the Western World could possibly elide Socrates. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Socrates fundamental convictions included: human wisdom begins with the recognition of one’s own ignorance the unexamined life is not worth living ethical virtue is the only thing that matters Those, even from a Torah perspective, are laudable ideals. It is widely accepted that the trial that led to his conviction and execution was politically motivated. Socrates challenged the status quo -- not with weapons, but with ideas. Socrates lectured in public to get people to open their minds and think. As far as his actual execution, this is how Google Gemini phases it: Socrates' execution, while controversial, elevated his status as a martyr for philosophy and intellectual freedom. He chose death over exile or compromise, solidifying his legacy as a symbol of unwavering commitment to truth and reason. He certainly is admirable, and that assessment has stood the test of tim...

Among the last few TftDs there has been discussions of how HaShem runs the world, i.e, השגחה/Divine Providence. I wondered if that was really a good term for what me mean, so I checked Google, and it's not bad: Divine Providence , in theological terms, refers to G-d's intervention and guidance in the universe. It's the belief that G-d is actively involved in sustaining and directing creation, including human affairs, towards a specific purpose. This can be understood as both a general, ongoing governance of the universe and specific, extraordinary interventions in the lives of individuals. In  any case, as a consequence, I have a new chavrusa! We are learning a two volume set on Faith, Divine Providence, and Free Will of שפתי חיים. (אמונה/Faith runs through both volumes, but the first volume focuses on Divine Providence, while the second on Free Will; within a Torah framework.) These volumes are based on the monthly talks given by R' Chaim Friedlander, z"tzl over m...

When looking into the night sky, besides the moon (and the occasional man-made satellites), you are seeing two realms: the fixed stars and the planets. (Yes, I know there are also comets and meteors. Let's focus on the horses before jumping to zebras.) The fixed stars, so called because their position in the sky never changes; if you know your position on the earth and the time of day, you can find any fixed star. The realm of the fixed stars is called the celestial sphere (there is some history behind that designation; not for now). The planets -- which is Greek for "wanderers" -- wander around the sky. (Feel free to Google any of those or sign up for Overview of Physical Sciences that I plan to teach some time in the future at HTC, בעזרת השם.) The word מַזָל actually means "constellation." (By the way, Google translate is so sure you want the common usage --"luck" or "fortune" -- that I had to play some tricks to finally get the literal tra...

I know the title is a bit schmaltzy, but I didn't know how else to describe it. Oh well. This coming Shabbos will be the 8th of Av. We generally don't like to make a siyum during the Nine Days, but Shabbos during the Nine Days is perfectly permissible. As it turns out, I have three siyumim to attend this Shabbos. I am making one myself for my anniversary/birthday (a person is considered like a newborn child on the day of his geirus, and of course I got married that same day; interesting story, but not for now). One is a close (both emotionally and physically, we sit right next to each other at the vasikin minyan) friend for the yahrtzeit of his mother, a"h. (I was close with his mother also, so I feel connected to that siyum also). One with a new chavrusa -- his very first siyum, and we just happen to be finishing on Friday.  There is a mitzvah to eat the entire day before Yom Kippur. Rashi gives two explanations. (1) We physically need the strength to survive the fast. (2...