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Avodah
In Avodah V43n1, R' Micha noted: > At the end of Bereishis, the brothers tell Yoseif an outright fabrication. (Given Chazal's assumption that Yaaqov didn't actually say such a thing [...]
On Wed, Jan 01, 2025 at 04:35:09AM +0200, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote: >> >From R' A Zivotofsky: >> Claim: There is a mesorah on turkey. Ask almost anyone from [...]
On Wed, Jan 01, 2025 at 04:38:09AM +0200, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote: > An example of various levels of what chazal may have thought of levels of > effort [...]
On Tue, Dec 31, 2024 at 11:29:36PM +1100, Rabbi Meir G. Rabi via Avodah wrote: > R Micha, I am still unsure of your meaning > Is it relevant that [...]
>From R? A Zivotofsky: Claim: There is a mesorah on turkey. Ask almost anyone from the older generation and they will confirm that they and their family and their community [...]
An example of various levels of what chazal may have thought of levels of effort needed above pure din. I?d love to better understand the threshold calculations and what they [...]
R Micha, I am still unsure of your meaning Is it relevant that YaAkov is arranging a self-serving deception, he WANTS his father to reach the wrong conclusion in order [...]
On Wed, Dec 25, 2024 at 06:34:17AM +0200, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote: > Worthwhile reading -- Jewish customs by R Dr Zvi Ron. Deeply researched in > both halachic [...]
Blogs
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- Rabbi Yaakov Feldman
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- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 10 Episode 14:"Happy Chanukah! And to all our Christian Friends, we say........"https://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/95201Please click on this link to contribute whatever you can to keep this podcast on the air: https://thechesedfund.com/yeshivaofnewarkpodcast/keeping-the-ark-afloat With [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Iggeres D'Rav Sherira Gaon, part 12: Babylonian Baraisos, Ancient Yeshivos, Tanya vs. Tanu Rabbanan[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V68P9T-TRic?si=vvUVLMQfRIVFXSDH]Fundamental and fascinating stuff about the traditions in Bavel, the order of learning in yeshivos during the [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Join us for the Second Cycle of Arukh HaShulchan YomiStartingTuesday February 11th 202513 Shevat 5785We will cover:All of Orach Chaim Most of Yoreh Deah Excerpts from Even HoEzer Excerpts from Choshen Mishpat over the course [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Anyone interested in getting together in the greater NY area for an event in honor of the culmination of the first cycle of Arukh HaShulchan Yomi, please contact me ASAP. [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 10 Episode 13:Sheva Brochos Standoff:The Ba'al Mussar vs. The Halachist:Panim Chadashosaccording to Rav Isaac Scher zt"l vs. The Chazon Ish zt"lhttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/94873 [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Eating and Drinking Before Lighting the Menorah,Including At Chanukah Parties[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rr73tMZeB8?si=XgvUxw-88N3ej3-G]A recording for the BHP daily Halachic Whatsapp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz8rrxqRcfy9rMOXRLG6GS [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
I added shorts to my YouTube channel:https://www.youtube.com/@YosefGavrielBechhofer/shortsYou can also find them on my Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/yosefgavriel/and some of them on my Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/bigdei.shesh/reels/ [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 10 Episode 12:"Barber"ous Outrage,"UnFair"Lawn Vilification:The Dangers of Selective Explanatory Narrativeshttps://listen.jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/92310Please click on this link to contribute whatever you can to keep this podcast on the air: https://thechesedfund.com/yeshivaofnewarkpodcast/keeping-the-ark-afloat With downloads approaching the [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 10 Episode 11:? עוד יותר טובAn Ode to Breslover Bitachon: What the Controversy over the Rav Shalom Arush Megahit Revealshttps://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/91882Please click on this link to contribute whatever you can [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Where Does a Chatan (or Chosson 😁) Light Chanukah Candles On the Night of His Wedding?[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2lo_I68vY4?si=DpbeLKbdsjpodeXw]A recording for the BHP daily Halachic Whatsapp group https://chat.whatsapp.com/Gz8rrxqRcfy9rMOXRLG6GS [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/400366Rabbi Meyer Fendel zt"lMy friend Barry Jacobson has written movingly about Rabbi Fendel zt"l, whose levayah will be today:A very great man. Rabbi Fendel ran a top-notch school, as HANC excelled in both Limudei Kodesh and [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
One of Reb Avrohom Elya's most famous pieces, concluded. Why Zionism and not, on the one hand, some universal ideal, nor, on the other hand, simply Torah and Mitzvos?Text below.Podcast version [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNE36eAxOs4?si=sWuENIk1Zlc8MuYt]A Talk on Emunah and the Holocaust to the girls of the 8th grade at YBH at the conclusion of their "Names Not Numbers" Holocaust program this year. For [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
One of Reb Avrohom Elya's most famous pieces. We end part 1 with a cliffhanger: Yes, we learned and grew much from and through Herzl. But what about Zionism itself?Podcast version at https://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/91750Text below.[youtube [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
A guest speech I gave in honor of Rabbi YCD Cohen's Shiur in Yerushalmi's Siyum on Meseches Bikkurim and Seder Zerai'mRead about Rabbi YCD Cohen's Yerushalmi Shiur in Manchester at [...]
- Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer
Rischa D'Araisa Season 10 Episode 10:Can Thanksgiving help heal the divisions among us?(My answer: No)https://jewishpodcasts.fm/yeshivaofnewark/91467 [...]
- admin
Rav Dovid Lifshitz zt”l (whose 31st yahrzeit is today) often spoke about the connection between shaleim as wholeness, and that of another conjugation, “shalom“, peace. Shalom is not simply a cessation of violence. That [...]
- admin
Parashas Behar is a list of mitzvos. The first section is all about shemittah and yovel. A family’s ancestral land cannot be sold into perpetuity. Instead, if someone is forced [...]
- Micha Berger
This week I’d like to discuss three seemingly unrelated questions about the words of the tephillah: The focus of Shabbos Mussaf davening is the paragraph that begins “Tiqanta Shabbos…” What [...]
- Micha Berger
Here’s my theory about the origin of this minhag. My point here is not really about advocating for the minhag. I just feel a need to push back when people [...]
- admin
והיה רגיל להוכיח אותי על שראה שאינני משתתף בצערא דאחרינא. וכה היה דברו אלי תמיד שזה כל האדם. לא לעצמו נברא רק להועיל לאחריני ככל אשר ימצא בכחו לעשות. [My [...]
- Rabbi Seth Mandel PhD zt"l
Micha’s note: The following was a post written to the Mesorah email list by Rabbi Dr. Seth Mandel zt”l, a rebbe-chaver of mine (more: a rebbe who insisted on treating [...]
- Micha Berger
(I put these thoughts together for a reply for my daughter Gavi, who pointed me to a medrash that “everyone in her neighborhood” were talking about, but I then was [...]
- Micha Berger
“Poteach et Yadekha“, oil on canvasHaim Masliach, 2021 A comment by Ilana Elzafun* brought this Seforno to my attention. This week’s parashah (Lekh Likha), Bereishis 16:13, describes Hagar’s prayer to [...]
- Micha Berger
Dear R Dr Broyde (Cc: Avodah), Over Shabbos, I read your article about getting ChatGPT to discuss whether a kohein in a same-sex marriage may go up to duchen. I [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:13 1. T The things we say can also link celestial worlds, rectify this one, and interconnect with the upper worlds, as we’ll now see. After all, we’re [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:7 (¶ 118 [middle]) 1. We’d do well to take something into consideration, Ramchal adds here. It’s that just because something or someone is imperfect doesn’t mean [...]
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The Way of G-d 2:6:4 1. G-d allowed for a prosecutor in His court, famously known as satan 1. His role is to argue against the accused, which them enables [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:12 1. R. Chaim already spoke 1 of the fact that we could only link celestial worlds, rectify this one, and interconnect with those upper worlds after we’d [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:6 (¶ 118 [beginning]) 1. Ramchal reiterates here 1 that wrong is a created entity 2 that was only designed to last for as long as G-d wanted [...]
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The Way of G-d 2:6:3 1. Given the above, the fact is that G-d doesn’t judge the world according to His foreknowledge but rather according to the way He wants [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:11 1. Following up on the thought offered in the last chapter that despite our being connected to physicality we’re nevertheless superior to angels, R’ Chaim now [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:5 (¶s 116 [end] – 117) 1. Ramchal says that he’s going to expand upon things he’d said above 1 and reveal things that are “deep” about [...]
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The Way of G-d 2:6:2 1. G-d appears in each Sanhedrin and court, influences it, and sees to it that justice is served 1. Now, in some instances [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:10 1. Given all of the above concerning our makeup and capacities, it’s reasonable to wonder whether angels are loftier than we are or we’re loftier than they. [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:4 (¶ 116 [beg.]) 1. Ramchal is about to offer something that will serve as a prelude to what’s to follow 1. It’s that even though G-d [...]
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Derech Hashem 2:6:1 In the course of His interactions with the world 1, G-d arranged it so that phenomena that affect both the things that humankind brings about 2 and [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:9 1. Following through on the discussion of the previous chapter, R’ Chaim contrasts the situation of the generation that dwelt in the Sinai Desert 1 with that [...]
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Da’at Tevunot 3:3 (¶’s 103- 115) 1. It seems logical, doesn’t it, that goodness would be a product of something that emanates goodness while wrongfulness would be a product of [...]
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Da’atTevunot 3:2 (# 98 – 102) 1. Ramchal starts to explain the role of wrong and injustice in the world with a proposition derived from Rambam1. It’s that when G-d [...]
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Nephesh Hachaim 1:8 1. R’ Chaim offers a rather complex discussion here about the positioning of the Cherubs in the Tabernacle and Holy Temple in order to illustrate his point [...]
- Neil Harris
The website 18FORTY has a fantastic and thoughtful multimedia post on OTD that is worth watching, reading, and listening to. If you are reading this then you know I don’t [...]
- Neil Harris
Spoiler, there isn’t much substance to I what have to say. Also, I am spoiling the end of the Skywalker saga. After reading an excellent essay by Rabbi Harry Maryles [...]
- Neil Harris
I checked my recent writing history today and the last legit post of mine was really 3.5 years ago. For some that’s a long chunk of time. In that time [...]
- Neil Harris
My wife’s comment on Simchas Torah pretty much summed it up, “I feel like this is the biggest tease for you.” You see, my mom a”h was niftar right before [...]
- Neil Harris
When today comes around I usually think about things my father missed since he has been gone. I decided that this year I’ll attempt to list a number of things [...]
- Neil Harris
Walking out of shul, the morning after Yom Kippur, a follow early Sunday morning riser casually said to me, “Back to normal, right?” I was taken off guard (and also [...]
- Neil Harris
I have started this post about 2 dozen times over the past 3 years and I never seem to get more than about 300 words written about why I stopped [...]
- Neil Harris
I want to share something that Rav Efraim Twerski said at his Shabbos HaGadol drasha. After starting off with 10 questions Rav Twerski said over an amazing Torah from Rav [...]
- Neil Harris
So, tonight’s the 6th yahrtzeit for my dad, Avraham ben Zorach a”h (Al, of blessed memory). Like everyone else that has lost a parent I lit my 24 hour yahrzeit [...]
- Neil Harris
“WARMED BY THE FIRE OF THE AISH KODESH– Torah from the Hilulas of Reb Kalonymus Kalman Shapira of Piaseczna” by Rav Moshe Weinberger and adapted by Binyomin Wolf is more [...]