10:41 PM
Gil Student
by Joel Rich
Korach latched on to popular current issues to further his personal agenda. The medrash about tchailet and mezuzot may be a literary device rather than a factual account (Rabbi Wieder can you hear me?).
Difference (with textual support) between Edah, Kahal and Am. Edah is a faction with a self-serving agenda (no, I did not make this up and anyway, it disbanded), Kahal has a communal agenda and Am has a national identity – people, land and HKB”H.
Shades of R’YBS – need more focus on larger concerns (we are each judged both as individuals and as members of Kahal Am).
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Sources in Tanach and Talmud. Is it a mitzvah, a nice to do or avoid (Rambam)? Parallels with praying to angels or asking someone else to pray for you. Lots of possibility of misunderstanding basic philosophical issues (e.g. do angels have free will?).
[Me – rationalist might argue that the value is increased intensity/focus of individual who is praying. Question: If meitim yodim would avi mori vrabbi Zll”HH wait for my request or be working on it before I knew I needed it?]
Nature vs. nurture in current scientific thought and as viewed by Chazal. We add a third component – the existential. It’s complicated but the bottom line is we’re born with certain predispositions but not bound by them (e.g. blood thirsty – become a mohel or shochet; boring – become an actuary).
Don’t fall back into old routines. Have a Seder. Don’t have a girlfriend. Don’t cut off old friends but don’t compromise your standards. Have concrete goals over the summer. Have a seder around Tfila time and a special place for learning. Have role models and be a walking Kiddush Hashem. But, you can have healthy outlets!
If parent tells you not to smoke, not to take the bus or not to go to camp, do you have to listen? What if they’ll never know or it’s painful for you to follow their directive? Excellent tracing of sources from gemara to present day poskim (I was blessed with great parents – to me it was always yes but then again they employ(ed) the guide at the side approach).
Remember who you are!
Brief Ben Azai history – was he ever married? [ me – fascinating that we might say that there could be an exemption, but then again why don’t we require marriage at bar mitzvah?] Then analysis of his statement about mitzvot – comparing running to a mitzvah and running away from aveirot, restatement of Rabi’s rule about mitzvot chamurot and kalot, the infectious nature of mitzvot and our attitude towards mitzvot.
Not the front page issues but some interesting “real life” examples (“you make the call”).
Introduction to a series on the 3 weeks et al. Especially worthwhile for those who have been inundated with “here’s what you need to know” and not enough “here’s why it is like that”.
An interesting (Hebrew) discussion of tamel hamitzvot = the why of mitzvot (Is this the “why?” that true blue Briskers don’t find of interest?). Rambam says that mitzvot are only litzaref us – so don’t ask why certain # of animals in Karbanot (Maharal disagrees)
R’AW – Perhaps sometimes we are looking at tachlit of the mitzvah or its hagdarah rather than taam (he reviews cases and gives examples).
{me – is it “wrong” to wonder why karban oleh v’yored only applies in 3 cases. Does anyone know of a meta-reason/message from these?}
Thanks to my good friend Councilor K, I get to listen to these pay to play CDs. This one struck me since R’Reisman reveals the great secret of “Bashert” – people prefer to believe everything happens because it’s bashert (comment – this may well be true, but it’s then also easy to see why Marx is quoted as saying “Religion is the opiate of the masses” – BTW, what he actually said is “Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness”. I think R’Chaim would have agreed with the first sentence).
Practical survey of issues and sources including when to say, what types of trips, how define danger, how far (time or distance)…
Tosefet Yom Kippur, Shabbat and Tisha B'Av – how did the Rambam understand these?
Analysis of a seemingly simple bracha – its nature and the specific meaning of the words.
Beginning of a series - Compare to Talmid Chacham – is it fear (Mora) or respect (Kavod) and some practical differences.
A review of the lst chapter – take note of the use of the 1st and 3rd person, as well as the pervading sense of helplessness.
3 weeks/9 days – building, eating meat, wine at havdalah, showering, clothes washing and the exact time period.
How to understand the importance of Nashim Tzidkaniyot’s role in enabling Talmud torah (formerly called separate but equal) and how it gets them into olam haba.
You can’t learn Yechezkeil without history from Yirmiyahu. Interesting insights into understanding the cross impacts of Eretz Yisrael and Babylonian Jewry. [me – so how does that free will vs. predestination thing really work?]
Summary of the “knocks” (Kol Dodi Dofek) and general take on R’YBS and Zionism. He thinks R’YBS was Chardal.
More jokes than usual for R’Taubes (but you’ve likely heard these already!). How does our current “state of doubt” about who really is a Kohain impact birchat Kohanim (isn’t it safek brachot lhakhel?), avodah in future, aliyot and pidyon haben (story with the Vilna Gaon continually being podeh self until he met a Rappaport).
Interesting opening concerning remarriage (halachically but not legally) of Tzahal widows in order to retain benefits [me - similar issue in U.S. for Social Security]. In Israel not just an issue of gezel/dina dmalchuta [ I know, I know] but of disassociating the government from the people (not good!). Main topic – parsha teaches us that sometimes we must just accept the suffering of innocent (see Karl Marx above?).
