Michael el Chayil

Divine providence is just so cool. I was recently given a new sefer about life lessons we can learn from Mr. (sic; as was his preference) Avi Shulman, which we began reading at our s'uda this past Shabbos. This morning's DailyDose was a story about Mr. Avi Shulman and the mussar he took from a simple trip to the airport. To top it off, today's Vayimaen video presented a powerful mashal from the great mashgiach R' Matisyahu Saloman, ztz"l, which fit beautifully with the story. (I would share the direct link to this video, but that takes you to YouTube, and I can't be responsible for what ads and/or other "videos that might interest you" may show up. Buyer beware.) The upcoming עשרת ימי תשובה/Ten Days of Repentance begins with Rosh HaShanah and culminates with Yom Kippur. The observance of these events in our yearly cycle could not be more different. On Rosh HaShannah we have a festive meal, celebrate our relationship with the King of the Universe by t...

Consider these two facts we know about Avraham Avinu: Avraham Avinu kept all the mitzvos, both those from the Torah and those of Rabbinic origin. Avraham Avinu performed a self-administered (!!) Bris Milah at 99 years of age. Question: Why the delay? The mitzvah of Bris Milah is about as fundamental to Torah Judaism as you get. The answer is surprisingly straightforward: Avraham most certainly could have circumcised himself. But that is not the mitzvah of Bris Milah. Being circumcised (roughly a third of the world population) does not make you Jewish any more than eating a salad makes you a vegan. The circumcision is, so to speak, the way we Jews sign on the dotted line that we have accepted the Covenant that HaShem, the Creator and Author of reality, has offered to His treasured nation. When Avraham Avinu circumcised himself at the behest of the Creator, he was entering into that convenant. He obviously couldn't do that until the covenenant was offered. Can we talk a bit about ראש...

Here are some seemingly good things: Having the flight attendant tell you minutes before take off that you can move all the way up to the middle of the plane and have a whole row to yourself. Your flight arrives 30 minutes early (and you were much closer to the front of the plane), so you can make mincha and not miss a kaddish. Having a choice of kosher snacks and beverages on a flight and getting two of the chocolate quinoa ones. (Chocolate makes it delicious and quinoa makes it a healthy snack choice; win-win.) Here are some seemingly bad things: Flight delayed by two hours while sitting on the runway. Being suddenly wrenched awake from a deep and peaceful sleep by a blaring horn. Having a kidney stone that is in the upper 20th percentile of size and being hospitalized out of town on the day of your return flight. Let's start with that last one. I don't want to get into that game of "what hurts more, kidney stones or childbirth?" I also want to keep this TftD SFG (s...

The OU has a very nice program called Halacha Yomi that consists of a daily (except legal holidays) email that covers a broad range of halachic topics. ( More about this program and to subscribe here. ) In a recent Halachi Yom, the topic of food made with even small amounts of meat or wine was discussed. My wife and I read and discuss them in the morning during breakfast. After reading/learning through the email, my wife asked, "So what about grape jelly?" Hmmm... good question. I never thought about it, nor had I seen it discussed. I decided to do some research. In the old days, I would have just Googled for any references to grape jelly, nine days, Tisha b'Av, etc. Then I would have perused the hits until I found something relevant/interesting. I like to do research before talking with the dayan so I don't waste his time. Now we have AI, so that saves me time also, right? Well... Let me walk you through my journey. I decided to start my research be looking for the b...

Everyone loves a good leniency. There is a famous dictum that applies to all areas of halacha: ספק דרבנן לקולא, ספק דאורייתא לחומרא/Where an irresolvable doubt is present: with regard to Rabbinic decrees, we rule leniently; with regard to Torah prohibition, we rule stringently. A famous example that comes up annually is respect to counting the Omer when one has definitely missed a day. On the one hand, it might be that the counting of each and every day is the fulfillment of a Torah requirement; therefore, we continue to count the rest of the days. On the other hand, it might not be a mitzvah at all once a day has been missed, in which case it would be innappropriate to make a bracha. Since (nearly) all brachos are mandated by Rabbinic decree, one does not make the bracha before counting the days of the Omer after the missed day. So far, so good. Boringly straightforward at this point in my learning. Imagine my surprise, then, when I learned (Yoreh Dea 92:7) that one can be lenient...

There is very little rhyme or reason for how a topic for a TftD gets chosen. Basically, I learn something, think, "Oh, cool!" and then write it up.... as soon as I have time, which has been quite limited recently. As a consequence, I have a growing backlog of "oh cool" thoughts that I am itching to publish. That being the case, I may as well choose one that goes together with the epoch in which we once again find ourselves—the Three Weeks—which began with the fast of שבעה עשר בתמוז and culminates with the commemoration of the destruction of the Temple, may it be rebuilt soon and in our lifetime, on תשעה באב. I was discussing a question on Chumash this last week, and of course we looked at the רש''י on that verse. After realizing that I had fully understood what רש''י was saying, I commented that someday I need to actually learn רש''י and not just read it every week. The expression "I saw an interesting רש''י this week" is ju...

I am a physicist by predilection and training. I made a living programming computers for decades. I feel I can make the following statement as a domain expert in the area of reality: There is no physical law, nor is there any computer instruction that ends with "except in cases of great monetary loss or pressing circumstances." When I had cancer, not a single doctor—and I was very fortunate to have had two Jewish, Torah-observant doctors managing my case—said that I needed chemotherapy... unless that would cause me to incur a great monetary loss or if it was just too much pressure. (It was, in fact, both; in spades.) This has nothing to do with anything, but my grammar checker didn't like that last parenthetical statement. So I asked Gemini about it, and I got the following response: This statement is an idiomatic construction used to confirm that something possesses two distinct qualities or characteristics simultaneously, and to an extreme or significant degree. "I...

I am currently saying kaddish for my mother-in-law, a"h. I have also organized learning mishnayos as an elevation for her neshama. I feel honored to be able to do this; she was important in our lives, and the way she reared my wife prepared her to be able to grow into a fully Torah-observant bas yisrael. I also learn mishnayos for the yahrtzeit of my father, a"h, and my father-in-law, a"h. Again, it is a zchus for me, and I do not take that lightly. I do neither of those things for my mother. No complaints, just saying. For whatever reason (likely because I am in the middle of doing so much for our Jewish parents right now), though, I decided to ask R' Fuerst this year if I should  be doing any of those things for my own mother. I started with, "I haven't been saying kaddish for my mother on her yahrtzeit; should I be?" (My follow-up question would have been, "Jewish or Goyish calendar?") The dayan answered, "It's a free country....

I endeavor to make a siyum every year on my anniversary/birthday. Last year I made a siyum on Nedarim, leaving just Nazir and Sotah to complete Seder Nashim (of gemara). That  meant that I would be making a siyum on Seder Nashim for my 50th wedding anniversary. Cool, no? As it turns out, though, I have actually made progress in my learning skills and/or I have retired, so I have more time to learn in the mornings. In any case, I now learn two or three daf a week instead of one. That  means that I can be m'sayim Seder Nashim this year, בעזרת השם, on our 49th wedding anniversary. (I don't feel the coolness of making the siyum on year 50 would justify delaying; besides, I concocted a justification.) That  meant, though, that I had to find another date to sponsor kiddush at our Vasikin Minyan for the siyum. This is my morning seder at Brisk. I learn before davening in the winter and after davening in the summer, so I like to make the siyum there. Also, it is where my wif...

Yes, I know very well that I have not written in quite some time. A discovery we made while cleaning out my mother-in-law's apartment seems a very fitting topic for my re-entry. After days and hours of sorting through boxes of documents and pictures, we were rewarded with two notable treasures: (1) a pair of diamond studs that had been presumed lost. (2) my mother-in-law's bas mitzvah speech. In truth, the value of the diamond studs pales in comparison to the speech find, but we had talked about those diamond studs for weeks (in fact, my mother-in-law, a"h, had also been bothered by their loss). The speech (and picture of her from that day!) solidified and deepened our appreciation for how much we owe to my mother-in-law, ברכה פייגה בת יעקב, ע''ה, A few years ago, I read a powerful משל/allegory in the Passover haggadah from R' Matisyahu Salomon. There was a bloke who wanted to know what it felt like to get the royal treatment. He hatched a plan to dupe a remote...

My mother was 20 when I was born, and she passed away at 69. Do the math; I knew her for 69 years—though one could argue that the first year or two, at least, can hardly be counted as knowing someone. I met my wife on Oct 30, 1977; I was 19. We became engaged on Dec 17. Of course I had met my future in-laws before Dec 17, but after that I was invited to family dinner every Sunday. I will, בעזרת השם, turn 69 this year. Do the math; I knew my mother-in-law for 69 years—all of which (except that last 18 hours or so of her life) were unarguably time of full awareness to know someone. I am as qualified as any, and more than most, to give you an honest perspective on a life well lived. Since my mother-in-law's funeral was during Nissan, there were no eulogies. That is, speeches designed to bring the listeners to tears. I told those assembled that our tears are a comfort to the soul of the departed, as they can feel that they made a difference in this world. In this month, whose name mean...

As you may know, Pesach is less than 30 days away. You know that either because (1) we are past Purim and Pesach is always 30 days after Purim, or (2) the most oft-heard phrase in your home is, "Aaaagh!!! Pesach is less than a month away!!! Aaaagh!!" (Number of exclamation points is based on estimates by someone who no longer has children at home. Your level of stress and urgency may vary.) You would think that the oven, which has been filled with hot chameitz all year and now needs to be a completely chametz-free zone, would be a  huge  stress point. Nope. Preparing the oven nowadays is an eerily calm island in a sea of frustration. That is because the very same heat that created the problem can now be used to solve it. The basic rule is the way the chameitz went in is how we take it out. Of course, since it is Pesach, we are way stringent. Besides that, we like to destroy the chameitz instead of just removing it (which has its own disposal and contamination issues; not ...

Now that we know what bracha to make on non-kosher food, as detailed in this TftD , we are ready to address the original-ish question. (It is only "-ish" because that question was about water, which gets a resounding "no," but the question of using non-kosher wine is still open.) But, first, a joke. A Jew is meeting with a non-Jew at the non-Jew's house while the non-Jew is having a snack of ham and wine. (The reaons for the meeting and why at the house of the non-Jew and why the non-Jew choose this moment to eat are all beyond the scope of this joke.) The non-Jew is cordial and offers the Jew some ham. "No thank you. We only eat kosher food." The non-Jew is a bit surprised (again, outside the scope of this joke), but still wants to be a good host. "Well, may I at least offer you some wine, then?" The Jew replies that we drink kosher wine. Now then non-Jew cannot contain himself, "So if there was only non-kosher food and wine available, ...

The discussion started with, "If one of the hostages in the tunnels found some water, could he use that to make kiddush?" The answer to that question is a definitive "No." You just can't make kiddush on water (Shulchan Aruch 272:9). The Mishna Brura refers us to 296:2, sk 10, and notes that you also may not use water for havdala, and that is true even if the primary beverage in your country is water; it is just not considered prestigious enough to use for kiddush. Even crazy expensive—apparently there are "extreme luxury" waters that go for more than 10k$ for a rivi'is—still can't use it to make kiddush. Okay... but all this got me thinking... what exactly are the rules regarding eating non-kosher food when one is in danger of dying without eating that food? When I started, I was pretty sure that one would not make kiddush using non-kosher wine. Using non-kosher wine or food just didn't seem appropriate for kiddush. I also wondered what bra...

When relating the story of Eliezer, the servant of Avraham, seeking a proper shidduch for Yitzchak, the Torah repeats the story four times: Eliezer tells us what he wants to happen, then the events unfold, then Eliezer tells Rivka's family what he wanted to happen, and then Eliezer tells Rivka's family what actually transpired (with some minor but quite significant modifications). On that, Rashi comments (B'reishis 24:42): Rabbi Acha said: The ordinary conversation of the servants of the Patriarchs is more beloved before the Omnipresent than the Torah of their sons, for the section dealing with Eliezer is repeated in the Torah, whereas many fundamentals of the Torah were given only through allusions. An example of one of those allusions is in this week's parasha, כי תשא. We have two full parashas and the beginning of a third that give all the details regarding construction of the mishkan, all its vessels, the vestments of the kohanim while working there, and the incense...

Maybe you have already heard... I find myself having particular difficulty not repeating myself. 30 years cancer free, ביום הזה ממש/on this very day. This very day, Purim, 30 years ago, the doctor called me at 4:00-ish PM to tell me that I was cured of cancer. Every year since then I have made my first s'udah on Purim in the morning (which the Rema says is just fine, 695:2, smart guy), and it doubles as a סעודת הודיה/meal to give thanks to the Creator. Oh, you'd like the back story? In Oct/Nov of 1996, I visited the doctor because I had bronchitis. We only had one car at the time, and my daughter was also under the weather, so I went to our family practitioner to make things easier. She, the doctor, diagnosed me with bronchitis—which I routinely got that time of year in Chicago—and prescribed a course of antibiotics. Usually that did the trick, but this time the illness hung on. Before going back to that doctor, I mentioned to a chaver of mine that I was seeing a woman doctor, ...

Some time ago, I found this cool olive oil store that imported the oil in the original casks. You bought at much as you wanted and paid for that amount. They also sold bottles in which you could take your oil home. Two issues: (1) I had to double-check the reliability of the hechsher (the oils were infused). (2) Did I have to buy the bottles, tovel them, and then bring them back to get the oil? On the second issue, I spoke with R' Fuerst. We discussed a few options, but at the conclusion, the dayan decided that I didn't need to tovel the bottle at all. How does that work? They want to sell me olive oil, but they need to put it into a container for me to get it home. So I buy the oil and tell them which container I want them to put it in. As far as I am concerned, I am only buying oil. They charge me a fee for the bottle, but I am never really buying the bottle. The bottle is still owned by the goy when it is filled with oil, and the bottle is בטול/completely secondary to the oi...