Michael el Chayil

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...