Michael el Chayil

I learn mishnayos every day and try to do a seder or two each year. Having Kehati on my phone (Android; you iPhone users will have to find your own apps) makes it easy to learn several mishnayos a day during the many otherwise wasted minutes of standing around waiting during the day. I am now just finishing the mishnayos of Pesachim. Now, you might think that I'd just switch to Sukkos because it was, after all, Sukkos and I am, after all, learning seder Mo'ed. Nope, I like to go in order and keep my learning seder tidy. Moreover, there is the famous g'zeira shava of ט''ו ט''ו. That is, Pesach and Succos are the only two holidays that start on the 15th of the month, and many halachos are learned one from the other because of that. So there. In a recent Thought for the Day: Shmini Atzeres -- Serving HaShem Without Props , I noted that Shmini Atzeres is a Yom Tov that by design and intent has no mitzvos unique to it. More than that, the month after our High Ho...

I get a daily halacha email from the Dirshu organization; great way to get a tour or Mishna Brura. Occasionally they will also include a very nice "vort" about the auspicious occasion in which we find ourselves and proffer a new perspective. For example, they recently discussed a point about the holiday of Shmini Atzeres. As is well known, Chazal understand Shmini Atzeres as our Father who is our King saying to us, "I find separation from you very difficult, please stay one more day." Very nice... but if that's the whole issue, then why not make Sukkos a day longer? Moreover... um... we aren't really going anywhere, right? So why do we need a whole new Yom Tov -- with it's own kiddush, sh'he'chiyanu, musaf, etc. Just make Sukkos one day longer and the situation will have been addressed. Right? Obviously this Chazal is meant to convey something quite profound about Shmini Atzeres. The short answer is that we have had six weeks of focu...

I have read enough science fiction and seen enough horror films to have been really worried in recent days about an alien invasion. Anyone who has seen Westworld or Invasion of the Body Snatchers knows very well that an alien invasion can start with creatures who look very human, but they always have one give-away "tell". In this case, I have noticed quite a few very human looking creatures... but to the observant, paranoid, science nerd they made one glaring mistake in their charade: Everyone knows that human breathe through the nose and mouth. These creatures largely breathe through their chins, many have noses that are nothing more than clever camouflage. Some even breathe through their elbows! My evidence? Their mask usage. Then I thought their might be another explanation. They -- the "veldt" -- has what they call the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So inspirational! Our sages said something similar -- That which is hateful to yo...

The laws of physics (classical, anyway) are expressed mathematically as second order differential equations. Besides that cool fact, here is another: If you would know all the laws of physics and two more bits of information, then you could (in principle) deduce the entire trajectory/history/travels of an object. Those two bits of information are either: The position and trajectory of the object at the beginning of it's travels (aka Cauchy or initial conditions). The position at both the beginning and end of the trajectory of the object (aka Dirichlet or boundary conditions). (Sigh... the physicist in me needs to qualify that any point(s) along the trajectory will do, because the laws of physics are time reversal and translation invariant. I would note sources for the interested reader, but I am quite confident that the only interested reader at this point is yours truly.) None of that, of course, has anything to do with Sefer Tehilim. The idea, though, is quite relevant to Dovid ...

Two scenarios: Scenario I: A young boy awakened in the middle of the night, placed in the back of vehicle, told not to make any noise, and the vehicle speeds off down the highway. Scenario II: Young boy playing in park goes to see firetruck, turns around to see scary man in angry pursuit, poised to attack. I experienced and lived through both of those scenarios. Terrifying, no? Actually, no; and my picture was never on a milk carton. Here's the context: Scenario I: We addressed both set of our grandparents as "grandma" and "grandpa". How did we distinguish? One set lived less than a half hour's drive; those were there "close grandma and grandpa". The other set lived five hour drive away; they were the "way far away grandma and grandpa". To make the trip the most pleasant for all of us, Dad would wake up my brother and I at 4:00AM, we'd groggily -- but with excitement! -- wander out and down to the garage where we'd crawl ...

I saw interviews a couple of weeks ago with college students on spring break in Florida -- "I've planned this for months; a little virus isn't going to stop me!" Uh-huh. Worse though, I still see people being lax about social distancing and hygiene. I also hear unfortunate comparisons to the flu, "Ok, even if I get it, it's not usually fatal. It'll be a week of being sick; nu?" What does COVID-19 do to a body? So, there are these little cells in the pipes and tubes that bring air into the lungs. These little cells have hair like structures whose job is to sweep the grit mixed in the air out of the lungs. COVID-19 kills those cells, so the lung is left unprotected. Now do you see the problem? No? You still think, "Ok, I'll cough more and probably be sore. But aren't you overreacting?" Hmm... ok, it's like this: Imagine a garbage pickup strike in New York. All those people dumping all that garbage and it's not going any...

Here is my hope and expectation: When I stand in front of the the Creator of the World for my final judgment, I will be roundly chided: "Michael, Michael, Michael... don't you think you were overreacting a bit -- let's be honest, way more than a bit, like over the top -- to the COVID-19 outbreak in 5780?" I am pray for that embarrassment, because I know with certainty that I don't want to be held responsible for even one murder. Let's put this in perspective. On Monday, March 16, 2020 CE, there were 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 outside of China (which seems to have finally leveled off). On Tuesday there were 116,000; an increase of 16,000; taking the conservative mortality rate of 1%, that means 160 deaths. Not much out of a population of 3 billion. On Wednesday, there were 18,000 more case; 180 more deaths. Thursday, 28,000 more; 280 more deaths. Friday, 30,000 more; another 300 deaths. Saturday, up 32,000; another 320 deaths. These numbers are most ...

The reaction I got to my TftD: Psak Halacha Regarding Protection that Beats Firearms was much, much different than what I expected. By way introduction to my surprise, allow me to relate a story regarding my father, Yaakov ben Yosef, alav ha'shalom whose yahrtzeit is approaching; 13th Adar (he was niftar a month before Purim, but in a straight year like this one, it is Ta'anis Esther). Several years ago, approximately 13 years before my father's p'tira, I received a distressing phone call: my father had suffered a major heart attack and was just now being air lifted to the closest cardiac intensive care unit. In fact, the heart attack had started the night before, but because of misdiagnosis and generally incompetent medical staff at the small hospital near his home, he had been left suffering all night being treated for indigestion! Baruch HaShem, I was able to get there right away and again three weeks later when he had his triple bypass surgery. Baruch HaShem, the...

I once mentioned to my family that I found it interesting that many of my closest friends are people to whom I rarely speak. I was referring, of course, to those with whom I daven at the Chicago Vasikin Minyan. My children -- in all their wide-eyed innocence and purity of spirit -- replied, "Abba, it is probably because you don't speak to them that they are your friends." Ok.... now I have your attention. I had heard in the name of R' Fuerst that it is incumbent on every shul to have someone carrying a weapon on Shabbos. I read in the pamphlet put out by the Beis Hora'ah that the p'sak of R' Fuerst is that it is forbidden to carry a weapon outside on Shabbos. (In a place where there is no eiruv, such as Peterson Park in Chicago.) I decided to ask the rabbi in person to get the straight story. The following is my transcription of the dialog; quoted without comment. Please also note that in this case, the indicated emphasis was the way R' Fuerst said ...

As I was reading through the verses of the rebuke at the end of parshas Ki Savo, I was struck by the irony of that after we hear this very disturbing rebuke -- with all it's gory details -- on Shabbos morning, we will then be treated to the sixth of the seven haftaros of consolation/condolence. Shouldn't someone have realized this could happen and planned for it? Oh... wait because of the way Chazal set up the Torah readings and haftaros, this will always  happen. That means that... this is supposed to happen?! Why? Hmm... upon further reflection, perhaps I do see the logic. Let me 'splain. Imagine a man in his late 30s; 38-ish, just for argument's sake. He's married, has three children (g 12, g 10, b 5), progressing nicely in his career as a software engineer at a major technical company; Motorola (before the internet happened...), for argument's sake. He has bronchitis, that just keeps hanging on. On third exam in as many weeks, the doctor decides to sta...

I once saw one car make a left hand turn right in front of an oncoming car going straight through the intersection. (I was waiting to make a right turn at said intersection.) It was clear from my vantage point that the turner absolutely did not see the oncomer; not before his turn, nor even during his turn, and obviously not after. The oncomer, on the other hand, was (Thank Goodness) all too aware of the turner; it was only the quick reflexes of the oncomer that rendered the turners actions only annoying. I also so how angry the guiltless oncomer became... red in the face, pounding his steering wheel, and obviously screaming in rage. (No one can hear you scream in space nor behind closed windows of a car speeding now the street.) I try to remember how ludicrous and pointless that rage was whenever I feel myself getting angry. I have mixed success with that. However, I recently heard a shiur that gave me a new tool in my arsenal to avoid anger. The kohanim have a mitzvah to bless Kl...

Long story short: I ended up at the "Rabbi's" table for a chasuna I attended recently. Waiting for the pictures to be finished and the dancing to start has never been more pleasurable. I don't want to be accused of just another name dropper, so I shall only mention that I was seated between two notable talmidei chachamim: R' Fuest, shlita, Dayan, Agudath Yisrael, Chicago; and R' Zucker, shlita, Rosh Kollel, Chicago Community Kollel. I mention them (besides to impress you), because of the fascinating discussion I had the opportunity to observe. (I shall not be writing "shlita" in what follows, but I thought it each time I wrote a name.) R' Zucker had gotten a question from a woman one erev Shabbos. She had somehow been very efficient that erev Shabbos and finished her preparations a bit early. She was thrilled to be able light candles like a mentsh without the usual rush and "on condition that I can still do the stuff I have to finish....

There is an old canard that women are disrespected, chas v'shalom, by Torah Judaism. That myth, much like the myth that Jews run the world (why, yes, I do  mean to compare those who espouse either), is fueled by hate and jealousy. Of course, to make it believable -- as that author of the greatest slaughter of Jews in modern times demonstrated -- one needs to add just a little bit of truth into the big lie. That is, bits of true statements/ideas taken out of context and woven into a false fabric of destructive lies. Am I being too subtle here? The truth in this case, is that women can not function as kosher witnesses in an official setting that requires two witnesses; such as in court, or at a chuppah, or on a halachically binding legal document. What they neglect to mention, of course, is that two brothers -- even the great Moshe Rabbeinu together with his exalted brother Aaron Kohein Gadol -- are also not valid as witnesses in those same situations. This is clearly not a case of...

Here's a fact: Approximately 10% of dairy cows are treifos ((gleaned from the OU web article,  Milk from a Possibly Treif Cow ). Here's another fact: the milk from a treif animal is treif. One more: By strict Torah law, in a mixture of like kosher and non-kosher liquids, the non-kosher component is nullified by a simple majority. By rabbinic decree, though, we require the familiar nullification by one part in 60. Putting that together, we seem to come to the following obviously erroneous conclusion: Since 10% of dairy cows are treifos and milk from a treif cow is itself treif, and all or our large dairy farms mix milk from many cows in many herds, so the milk in any one bottle is composed of 90% kosher milk and 10% treif milk, since 10% is much higher than one in 60; conclusion: it is forbidden by rabbinic decree to drink any milk from a large dairy farm. How do I know that conclusion is  obviously  erroneous? Simply because the OU, OK, Star-K, CRC, and a whole slew of ...

I am often accused of being over-analytical. Guilty. (I mean, maybe you don't care that there shouldn't have been any sound of X-Wing fighters hitting the outside of the death start because there is no medium in space to support sound waves .) I am also often accused of being overly precise. Guilty. (I mean, nothing can be "very unique" because the word "unique" means "one of a kind" and the only number less than one is zero, so "very unique" pretty much means "doesn't exist".) In any case, both traits -- analytical and precise -- come in very handy when applied to halacha in general,  and all the more so in monetary disputes . As discussed , two of the great tools for managing uncertainty of information in halacha are חזקה/presumption and רוב/majority. Once you are in the realm of uncertainty, you are certainly outside the realm of simplicity. For one thing, many cases of uncertainty have more than one kind of uncertainty...

I remember in the naivete of my youth thinking how strange it is was that people were always complaining about how annoying people who claim to always be right are. After all, no one can be right all the time. I thought, "But it's easy to always be right. Just don't say anything unless you have all the facts." Of course, that is naive, but it turns out there are two reasons that plan can go sour. For one thing, because many find it hard to stick to that rule and it is  precisely  those people who are so annoying. The remediation for that is two fold: (1) train yourself to ignore those people, and (2) don't become one of those people. Both can be solved with serious study of M'silas Yesharim. The second fault with the naive view is, as one learns with experience, many of life's issues and challenges come with ineludible (great word, no?) uncertainties and nonetheless , an actionable decision is required. Halacha gives us two great tools for coping with th...

If you don't regularly daven כותיקין, then I don't think I can really explain how it feels to wake up and see the sun shining through the window. Maybe its something like the feeling one would experience if he arrived to his own wedding a day late. Sure, there are things you can do to remediate, but you really have lost something that cannot be recovered. Even that is not quite the same, because -- as the saying goes -- "there are plenty of fish in the sea", but that תפילה כותיקין is forever lost. What is the remediation? As with any remediation, that תפילה כותיקין is lost, but there are a few levels of salvaging some shreds of communication with the Creator. First, as the Shulchan Aruch says (O.Ch. 89:1), the time for תפילה extends till 10:00 AM. (That is, the first third of the day.  For brevity, though, we'll henceforth call that 10:00AM, which is the time when you have a twelve hour day that begins at 6:00AM. Appropriate adjustments need to be made for other...

I don't often get to hear an advanced Torah pilpul shiur. Those are the kind of shiurim that have enough mass appeal to be readily available on popular Torah shiur download sites. Moreover, most of time for shiurim is while riding my bicycle, which is most definitely a terrible time to get so involved in a topic that one loses track of his surroundings. I also don't often get to hear a shiur from a rosh kollel whom I have known since he was just starting to learn in kollel. (I experienced a pleasant bit of cognitive dissonance, in fact, when I heard him say, "one of they yungeleit asked me a question"; oh, right... the rosh kollel is no longer yungeleit.) Yesterday I to experience both at once. Since this particular rosh kollel davens vasikin, I was also able to clarify some points with him this morning. Here goes. Mistakes are mine; this is a case where one should most definitely blame the messenger. The daf yomi cycle is (apparently; yes, I am quite out of touch...

There are two different kinds of בין אדם לחברו/interpersonal damage related to vision. One is called היזק ראיה/damaging sight, the other is, of course, עין הרע/The Evil Eye.  I say "of course", because I think that the term עין הרע is more well known than היזק ראיה. I never understood the difference -- nor even that there was  a difference -- between the two until I started learning Bava Basra. Bava Basra basically begins with a long discussion of היזק ראיה, which I kept mentally translating as עין הרע. I did that until I got to a commentary that said something like, "which is one of the way that היזק ראיה is different from עין הרע." Whoops. That realization led to enough cognitive dissonance that I was forced to re-examine what I had learned, and even go back to re-learn some of those gemaras. (Another in my long list of reasons why I don't learn Daf Yomi; I am not a linear learner.) For those who are as easily confused as I am, I present this high level overvi...

The Torah includes a borrower as a kind of guardian. That is, the borrower accepts a certain level of responsibility to protect the object, including damage or loss that was beyond his control to prevent. There is, however, one gaping loophole in that responsibility: if it broke/died in normal use. In that case the borrower is off the hook completely. After all, he borrowed it to use and the lender lent him the object for normal use. I stress the phrase "normal use", because there are subtleties hidden there.  The rishonim give two different explanations of why the borrower should be exempt from paying in the case of damage not due to negligence that occurred during normal use. The one that rings a bit more straightforward to my 20th century, mechanistic world ears is simply that physical stuff wears out with use. That's just the way the world works. Therefore, when the lender lent the object for normal use, he was implicitly accepting that is might break. It is certain...