How Open Minded Should Our Children Be?

This was so beautifully explained and interpreted. I love to listen to Rabbi YY, he brings everything he speaks of, to life. Just like the feeling he wants for us to discover "Our G-D," not just the G-D of our fathers,but to develop our own personal, authentic relationship, which is unique.

Picture but no sound!

The problem I have with this shir, is he uses words like Jethro and Moses as though e he is not taking to his Yeshiva boys, but then the class is like super hard to follow.
Hence I say Rabbi Yossi Paltiel is better.

I must point our that in the Rambam perek Eched Layom of Sunday. The Rambam writes that the Halacha is exactly the opposite of this medrash


מצות פרה אדומה שתהיה בת שלש שנים או בת ארב

http://www.chabad.org/dailystudy/rambam.asp?tDate=1/16/2011&rambamChapters=1

why bash rabbi jacobson with rabbi paltiel. each one is good for his crowed. rabbi jacobson is very good for the people he is gearing to, rabbi paltiel is not good for starters. please respect each rabbi for what he is good at.

i don't uderstand why this shiur is dated 5771 since was given is 5769???
just live the original date so we know that this year 5771 there is no new shiur!!!

It was a mistake. We fixed it now. Thanks for pointing it out.

Levi asked:
"HASHEM SAID THE HALACHA IS LIKE RABBI ELIEZER? I must point our that in the Rambam perek Eched Layom (Laws of Parah Aduma, 1:1) of Sunday. The Rambam writes that the Halacha is exactly the opposite of this medrash."

Answer:

First of all, you are correct that the Rambam is following the opinion of the Rabbis who argue with R. Eliezer. R Eliezer said that the Parah is ok if over 2 years old, and the Rambam holds like the Chachomim that it must be at least three.

However, the Midrash never said that Hashem was paskening like Rabbi Eliezer, merely that Hashem was quoting the Halachachik opinion of R. Elizer in his name. Each opinion is equally part of Torah and both are brought in the 1st Mishna of Masechet Parah. Untimately the final halacha does follow the majority opinion, not R. Eliezer.

I could spend all day listening to the shiurim on this web site. Wish I had time to do that. Thsi is such a terrific web site. yashar Koach!!!!

Baruch HaShem

I was once a Christian. After I studied Yiddish Kait in Chabad, now I say "Ata Yadaeti!Ze Keiri! (now I know He is my G-d)". I heard that the best way to find counterfeit is to study what is real. I know what they teach in Churches, so I would never go back.

ShMusing on Q & E
1.& 2. Burning sore that might never be healed.
Moshe’s VAYOEL is a great enigma! We may bring all kind of reasons, guesses from different sources, but ultimately we would never be able to understand why Moshe swore Yisro about his firstborn son, as we don’t know why part of Yisro’s and Moshe’s souls connected with souls of Cain and Abel …
It is hard to imagine the depth of Moshe’s pain for his child, his beloved Gershom, in front of his dark destiny… What could he do with that? How could he help him? Was that endless burning pain that motivated him to rebel against G-d’s wish to destroy Jewish people after their worshiping of Golden Calf? What did he think when G-d decided to start all over with his own descendants? Did he rebuke G-d for his son that had been “sold out” for “Avoda Zara”? Did his own oath to Yisro made him so sensitive, stubborn and persistent in protecting Jewish people? ? ?
He tried to reach out to every single Jew, tirelessly and patiently teaching him or her Torah laws, training their faith in a way that was unique for their personalities. He nurtured and tendered more then 600 000(?) individuals. When he kept all them in his heart and giving them light of Torah he might thought about his misfortune descendant that one day will need their help to recover from his illness, from his “ experimenting with the alternative” and then, in return, they will be able to give him a part of their heart for healing… Besides, the world itself will be purified and will be ready to serve as rehab environment for him. (For good or for bad, but it was Yisro, who interfered in his plans: “The thing that you do is not good. You will surely become worn out- you as well as this people that is with you…”) I am not sure why Moshe asked G-d for Rabbi Eliezer to be one of his descendants. He was the one who insisted on early maturity of the Red Heifer, who make a fix that the Golden Calf had destroyed. But why did Moshe recognize it as the greatest virtue? Does it mean that TEKUN ALOM caused by the sinners themselves make this process irreversible?
3.Marriage of convenience v. marriage of love
The question sounds rhetorical …
4.&5.
After his first summer in a Jewish camp, my son was ready to become a Rabbi and I did not give him my support... I considered him to be not mature enough for such a decision. He made an immediate switch into opposite direction… I still doubt what would be good for him; but I am sure, for me- the chance was lost…
6. Judaism as an adventure of coming back to self.
Unfortunately I never had deep connection with Judaism. My Bobby was frightened to death, when any of us mentioned Synagogue at her presence: “Hush! Don’t say it loudly!” The only thing I remember from my childhood that the Rabbi was as busy serving people as my Mom, who was a Pediatrician.
7.&8. From medicine we know that there are few types of immune protection that help a person to survive any disease: natural, acquired and through shots. We can use this analogy, when we raise our children and want them be able to stand against darkness and diseases of modern life. As for Jewish education system, for me it’s good enough as long as it gives no growth for such monsters as Jared Loughner with various types of addictions…

Rabbi Jacobson,
Thank you! You ended with the most important question that every educator must ask himself every day..... How do I make my student or son proclaim "ze keili"?! For this, we must know our students well and seek out how to draw them out and bring out the best in them. There is much to say on this topic but suffice to say that this must become the most important topic for every educator.

I just listened again to the class on Yitro. How powerful!!! I wish i could have been able to hear that 20 years ago- I didn't say I wish I could have heard it but wish I could have been able to hear it. if I would have heard it then , I would have dismissed it as not for me.But now it went right to my heart- and sechel. Plus the story of the Aleph is one of the most beautiful I have ever heard. Thank you.

עדיין לא מובן אחר שהסברת כ"כ יפה החילוק בין השקפה של יתרו והשקפה של משה למה משה הסכים שגרשם
יקבל חינוך כמו יתרו רצה ולא כמו משה רוצה? י

why does the torah mention menashe as the ancestor of shvuel when he had at this stage done teshuva and have his true biological and idealogical grandfather moshe mentioned as his grandfather?