<p><strong>The Nightingale</strong></p>

<p>The story is told<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a> of a king who once decided to reward a peasant who had done him a great service. "Shall I give him a sack of gold? A bag of pearls?" thought the king. "But these mean virtually nothing to me. I want, for once, to truly give something -- something that I will miss, a gift that constitutes a sacrifice for me."</p>

<p>Now this king had a nightingale who sang the sweetest songs a human ear had ever heard. He treasured the nightingale over all else, and literally found life unbearable without it. So he summoned the peasant to his palace and gave him the bird . "This," said the king, "is in appreciation for your loyalty and devotion." "Thank you, Your Majesty," said the peasant, and took the royal gift to his humble home.</p>

<p>A while later, the king was passing through the peasant's village and commanded his coachman to halt at the peasant's door. "How are you enjoying my gift?" he inquired of his beloved subject.</p>

<p>"The truth to tell, Your Majesty," said the peasant, "the bird's meat was quite tough -- all but inedible, in fact. But I cooked it with lots of potatoes, and it gave the stew an interesting flavor."</p>

<p><strong>Is This Freedom?</strong></p>

<p>Why does Judaism prohibit me from doing whatever I want? people often ask. Why can't we just be free, liberated, and individualistic? Why are there so many laws, instructions and rituals in Judaism that govern every aspect of one's life, from the way we eat to the way we marry?&nbsp; Would it not have been nice if the opening of the Tem Commandments would have read like this: "I am the Lord your G-d who has taken you out of Egypt in order to set you free. Now, young women and men, listen ye to my words! You can do whatever you want, wherever you want, however you want, with whomever you want, as long as you don't hurt another person. I honor your individual rights to choose your own lifestyle and behavior, without anybody governing your decisions. Conform not to any standard; just live it up!"</p>

<p>But, as you know, G-d chose another script for the Ten Commandments. They were not written by Woody Allen, Alan Ginsburg, or Aldous Huxley. At Sinai G-d gave the Jewish people a Torah – filled with directives, instructions and restrictions. I am in the airport, my flight is delayed, and I am the only one who can’t enjoy a hot dog and fries in McDonald. As the sun rises, I am the only one who has to stand up in front of the entire plane and put on tefilin to the dismay of the flight attendants who will now testify that they have spent 11 hours with a UFO. Shabbos arrives and I am the only one who does not go to the golf course…</p>

<p>Is this why we left the house of bondage in Egypt – to become slaves to the Almighty?</p>

<p>And yet the Sages saw it otherwise. “<em>There is no free man, save for he who occupies himself with the study of Torah” (</em>Ethics of the Fathers, 6:2.) Really?! If anything, it is exactly the other way around: as long as you don’t learn Torah, you are free to engage in so many activities, the options are open. Once you embrace Torah, there goes your freedom Charlie… Torah mixes into everything… A life that is faithful to the precepts of the Torah is indeed greatly “constricted” and “confined.”</p>

<p>Why – people often ask me -- limit myself in any way? Why not give free rein to my thoughts, feelings and inclinations, and let them lead me where they may? Why automatically exclude certain pursuits and experiences from the possible paths my life might take?</p>

<p><strong>Democracy and Laser Technology</strong></p>

<p>Among the great technological achievements of the last half-century is the development of the “laser beam.”</p>

<p>Briefly: The nature of light is such that it scatters as it moves away from its source, thereby lessening its intensity and effect. The laser overcomes this limitation by concentrating its energy in a straight line, so that it retains its potency even at great distance from its point of origin; thus its utility -- as a source of light, heat, or other uses -- can be exploited in ways previously unimaginable.</p>

<p>A laser beam is narrowly confined so that the light does not spread to the sides. It is thus completely focused in one direction only, maintaining its strength even at great distances from its source. In fact, the laser beam can even make a hole through a metal barrier several inches thick at a distance of several miles.</p>

<p>The photons in a laser beam all move in the same direction, so they can be precisely focused. This focus concentrates enormous energies on a tiny spot, allowing mere light to vaporize even steel.</p>

<p>Lasers are now used in numerous technologies, from dental drills to CD drives to household tools. Lasers are also widely used in surgery. Laser technology has allowed surgeons to develop many new techniques to reduce injury to tissues and shorten the healing time for incisions. With the laser beams, surgeons silently and smoothly penetrate deep into the body and perform various procedures to bring healing to people.</p>

<p>It is not a coincidence that during the same decades when the concept of “freedom at all costs” has overtaken our society – Divine providence allowed science to develop laser technology, because it is through this technology that we can gain insight into the true function of Torah and Mitzvos, and the objective of Jewish law. Torah is the spiritual “laser technology” of the world.</p>

<p><strong>Scattering the Energy</strong></p>

<p>On the face of it, the Jewish code of behavior is a limiting factor, something that detracts from the great variety of possibilities that life has to offer. In truth, however, the very opposite is the case. As the example of the laser beam demonstrates, it is precisely the “limitations” imposed on a force that extend and amplify its potentials and enable its optimal realization.</p>

<p>A life without parameters is a life that quickly dissipates in the cosmic heterogeneity in which we exist, draining it of all power and impact. When we follow our instincts, habits, cravings and appetites without any restrictions – our inner momentum, focus and depth are weakened. When we allow ourselves the freedom to go in every direction, when there are no boundaries or imitations and we are free to do everything and anything -- our light scatters all over the place and we never realize our ultimate power and potential. Our energies are squandered, our richness is compromised, our creativity silenced, and our brightness dulled.</p>

<p>Conversely, when we “restrict” the light, and do now allow it to flow anywhere and everywhere – we fine-tune our inner creativity, we cultivate our power, we become the most powerful people we can become, we access all of our momentum and we can vaporize even steel…&nbsp;</p>

<p>It is like the chords of a violin which must be tied down to allow the music to play. Torah and Halacha do not come to tie us down, but rather to allow our music to soar.</p>

<p>The Baal Shem Tov teaches, that Halacha is the acronym of “Hareoo L’Hashem Kal Haaretz,” let the whole earth sing to G-d.” What for one person is meat-and-potatos is for another person a nightingale capable of producing of the most beautiful music in the world<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a>.</p>

<p><a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> Rendition by Rabbi Yanki Tauber: http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/133024/jewish/The-King-the-Peasant-and-the-Nightingale.htm</p>

<p><a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a> This essay is based on a talk delivered by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Shabbos Chanukah 5730 (1969), said in honor of the “Pegisha”-Shabbaton, a weekend for secular students, which took place that Shabbos in Crown Heights. My thanks to Professor Yermeyahoo Branever and Rabbi Yanki Tauber for their renditions of this talk (<a href="http://www.meaningfullife.com/torah/ethics/6/Concentrated_Light.php">http://www.meaningfullife.com/torah/ethics/6/Concentrated_Light.php</a>) from which I culled a few paragraphs.</p>


<p>What&#39;s With All These Laws? - Laser Technology of the World</p>


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halacha

laser technology

laser

torah laws

Laser Technology of the World

Essay Shavuos

What's With All These Laws?

<p>Korach and John Lennon: The Father of Spiritual Anarchy</p>


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The Father of Spiritual Anarchy

Essay Korach

Korach and John Lennon

A Conversation Between a Religious & Progressive Jew - Rabbi Scales & Dr. Fins Debate Jewish Continuity

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Rabbi Scales & Dr. Fins Debate Jewish Continuity

A Conversation Between a Religious & Progressive Jew

<p style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><strong><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">A Can of Beans</span></strong></span></p>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; color: black">Three guys are alone on a desert island: an engineer, a biologist and an economist. They are starving and don't have a thing to eat, but somehow they find a can of beans on the shore.</span></strong></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; color: black">The engineer says: "Let's hit the can with a rock until it opens."</span></strong></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; color: black">The biologist has another idea: "No. We should wait for a while. Erosion will do the job."</span></strong></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><strong><span style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; color: black">Finally, the economist says: "Let's assume that we have a can opener".</span></strong></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><strong>&nbsp;</strong></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><strong><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">The Desert</span></strong></span><br>
&nbsp;</div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">What was the significance of the fact that Torah was given in a wilderness, in a barren and infertile desert, not in a civilized terrain, nor on soil conducive to human living and nature’s blessing. Why did G-d communicate His blueprint for life and enter into an eternal covenant with the Jewish people in the aridity and desolateness of a desert?</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; ">&nbsp;</div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">In a past essay, we discussed three explanations.&nbsp;1. The Torah was given on soil not owned by any particular people or community, to signify that the Torah belongs to every single Jewish soul. 2. The giving of the Torah in the wilderness represents the idea that Torah is not a product of a particular culture and genre. It enriches all cultures, but transcends them. 3. The function of Torah is to confront and refine the “barren wilderness” within the human psyche and the world.</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">Today we will explore a fourth and deeper dimension, articulated by the Lubavitcher Rebbe in a pre-Shavous address, 1972. It is a message that may be&nbsp;particularly relevant to the modern Jew.</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><strong><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">Feel-Good Religion</span></strong></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">One of the errors that a Jew living in the modern era is likely to make is that Judaism makes no existentially profound demands on its believers. Judaism is a feel-good religion, and its objective is to make one feel comfortable about ones self. For many religious leaders and teachers today, the primary objective is to present a version of Judaism that will fit nicely in to the mind-set and living patterns of their constituents and will reassure them that they are wonderful people. Many rabbis are committed above all to teach a Judaism that will not shake up our comfort-zones.</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">In many ways this has become the hallmark of the American version of Judaism – designed to conform to the paradigms of modernity. “In the image of the modern, American Jew, have we created Judaism.”</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">“My goal is to study and practice a Judaism that does not interfere with my conveniences,” a man once told me. “I have my lifestyle, philosophy, schedule, habits, and social patterns; as long as Judaism can fit into this, I will make room for it and enjoy it too.”</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">But if we communicate a Judaism just to make people feel good, why do we really need it? Why not just figure out what works best for our lives and pursue <i>that</i>? Therapy, yoga, exercise, suburban living, meditation, nutrition, sports, the arts, music, etc. If Judaism is merely here to nurture my pre-defined identity and satisfy my ingrained appetites, why bother with it all together?</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">And can the feel-good Judaism inspire a future? Can such a type of Judaism take root in the hearts of the youth? Can it appeal to the idealistic dimension of the human soul, searching to touch the Divine?</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><strong><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">A Tale of Two Images</span></strong></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">But suppose that Judaism was real -- it was the authentic blueprint for life from the living G-d -- then the question should not be, “How do I find a Judaism that does not disturb me too much,” but rather – what does Judaism really say about my calling? What does Judaism believe about life, death and everything in between? What does Torah have to say about the most important question and dilemmas facing the human mind and heart? The question must be not&nbsp;how I can mold Judaism in my image, but how I can mold myself in the image of Torah? How can I revisit my image and recreate myself based on the visage of man articulated in Judaism?</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">If Torah is true, I must have the courage to take a hard, deep look at my preconceived notions, thoughts and behavior patterns, ready to discover truth that may challenge me.</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; ">&nbsp;</div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">This is why Torah was given in the barren desert, in uncivilized wilderness, where it had no predefined culture to contend with and to be compared with. Only in the physical and artistic silence of the desert can we open ourselves to a radical search for truth. Only in a desert, can we walk into something with our whole being, ready to find anything.</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">If Torah would have been given in a city or amidst a beautifully natural terrain, it would have, by definition, conformed to the culture prevailing in those particular areas. In the great river lowlands where civilization began (the Tigris-Euphrates rivers and the Nile), the eye is captivated by the shifting scenes of nature; in cities, the eye is overtaken by the works of man -- art and architecture. In such environments, the Israelites would only be able to absorb a religion that would fit into their psyches, patterns, and sensibilities, like all the Pagan religions of the time. The Jews could never attune themselves to the word of a G-d who transcends nature.</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">Sinai challenged the Jewish people to revisit all of existence from its deepest genesis; to reexamine life and history from its very nucleus; to see the world not from the human perspective, but from the perspective of G-d who cannot be confined in human modalities. A revolution of this magnitude cannot take place in a populated environment, not even in an environment where life blossoms and nature flourishes. Only in the emptiness and desolateness of the wilderness is the ego subordinate to the search for truth. Only in the silence of the desert</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: #675785">, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">can a person bid farewell to all of his or her paradigms and allow his soul to absorb radical transcendence.</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><strong><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">A Rash People</span></strong></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">This explains a deeply enigmatic episode which occurred at Sinai.</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">The Bible relates that when Moses presented the covenant before the Israelites, they responded, "We will do and we will listen" (Exodus 24:7). This expression has always been a source of wonderment and surprise to rabbis and a refutation of the anti-Semitic portrayal of Jews as calculating and self-protective. "We will do and we will listen" implies a commitment to observe the covenant even before the Jews heard its details and understood its ramifications.</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">The Talmud (Shabbas 88b) tells a story about a Sadducee who once saw one of the great Talmudic sages, Rava, so engrossed in learning that he did not attend a wound in his own hand. The Sadducee exclaimed, "You rash people! You put your mouths ahead of your ears [by saying "we will do and we will listen"], and you still persist in your recklessness. First, you should have heard out [the covenant details]. If it is within your capacity, then accept it. If not, you should have rejected it”!</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">His argument was logical. Imagine somebody offers you to invest a large sum&nbsp;of money in a developing company. To respond, “Sure, here is the money, and then afterward I will listen to the details,” is ridiculous. If you do not know what the company is all about, why subject your money to possible loss? And yet, in this case, the Jews declared that they were ready embrace a life-altering covenant, even before they heard all the details and knew what Judaism was all about! Why? How?</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">Rava answered the Sadducee with these words: "We walked [into it] with our whole being.”</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">What Rava meant was this: By definition, a relationship with G-d cannot be created on our terms; it must be on His terms. If there is something called Truth, if there is something called Reality, we cannot define it; it must define us. We cannot accept it on condition that it suits our senses and expectations. On the contrary, we must realign our condition to it. Once the Jewish people knew that G-d was communicating with them, they did not want to fit religion into their imagination; they had no pre conditions for a relationship with truth. It was in the desert that the Jews can declare, “We will do and we will listen.”</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;</span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: black">This process must occur each year anew. To receive Torah, we must have the courage to walk into a desert; we must strip ourselves from any pre-defined self-identity. We need to be ready to hear the sound beneath the sounds we are accustomed to. Torah is not merely a cute and endearing document filled with rituals, to satisfy nostalgia or tradition. Torah demands that we open ourselves up with our whole being and declare, “We shall do and we shall listen!”</span></span></div>

<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify; "><span style="font-family: Verdana">&nbsp;<span style="font-size: 7.5pt; color: black">(This essay is based on a talk delivered by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, on Shabbas Parshas Bamidbar, 29 Iyar, 5732, May 13, 1972.)</span></span></div>


Entering into the Wilderness - The Feel-Good Judaism of the Modern Jew

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The Feel-Good Judaism of the Modern Jew

Entering into the Wilderness

<p>Every Small Step of a Person Is One Giant Leap for Mankind</p>


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human responsability

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zalman posner

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Every Small Step of a Person Is One Giant Leap for Mankind

Man on the Moon

<p>The Rabbis did not create enactments simply to protect the Torah, rather they dug deeper into the divine Torah itself to provide the extra power to preserve the Torah in dark times. He may not be revealed there but He&#39;s more there than in the &#39;Wine&quot; of Torah.</p>


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Where the Deepest Love Shines -- The Secret of the Oral Torah -- Likkutei Torah Parshas Matos Maamar: Veshoma Aviha

Why Did the Rabbis Make So Many Decrees?

<p>A Seder On Shabbos? - Where Halacha and Chassidus Coverge. An Exposition of an address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on the law when Pesach is on Shabbos</p>

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Where Halacha and Chassidus Coverge. An Exposition of an address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on the law when Pesach is on Shabbos

A Seder On Shabbos?

<p>A Sword in the Beis Midrash -- Part 1- The Debate on the Jewish Identity of Ruth &amp; King David. Studying the book of Ruth, Class 4</p>

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The Debate on the Jewish Identity of Ruth & King David.

Ruth #4: A Sword in the Beis Midrash -- Part 1

<p>A Sword in the Beis Midrash -- Part 2- The Perspective of the Brisker Rav and the Ben Eish Chai on the Debate on the Jewish Identity of Ruth &amp; King David. Studying the book of Ruth, Class 5</p>

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The Perspective of the Brisker Rav and the Ben Eish Chai on the Debate on the Jewish Identity of Ruth & King David

Ruth #5: A Sword in the Beis Midrash -- Part 2

<p>A Sword in the Beis Midrash -- Part 4. The Mysterious Lineage of Moshiach. Studying the book of Ruth, Class 7</p>

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22_ruth_class_7_5771.pdf

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The Mysterious Lineage of Moshiach

Ruth #7: A Sword in the Beis Midrash -- Part 4

<p>The hallmark of a loving marriage is each partner&rsquo;s readiness to fulfill the explicit will of their spouse. If one partner expresses a desire for something, the other will do everything in his or her power to bring about its fulfillment.</p>

<p>A greater love is demonstrated when each partner also strives to fulfill the implied will of the other. To the truly devoted spouse, it makes no difference if a desire has been explicitly expressed or merely hinted at&mdash;he or she will carry it out with the same devotion and commitment to the loved one&rsquo;s gratification.</p>

<p>Finally, there are those very special marriages in which there is no need for even the merest of allusions. So deep is the bond between husband and wife that each intuitively knows what the other wants of him or her. Indeed, when two people love each other to such a degree, there is no greater joy than that experienced when one has succeeded in sensing and satisfying the other&rsquo;s desire all on one&rsquo;s own.</p>

<p>The observances of the month of Tishrei also fall into three categories. There are &ldquo;biblical precepts&rdquo;&mdash;commandments that are explicitly stated in the Torah. These include mitzvot such as sounding the shofar, fasting on Yom Kippur, or eating in the sukkah. There are also a number of &ldquo;rabbinical mitzvot&rdquo;&mdash;observances instituted by the prophets and the sages by the authority vested in them by the Torah. For example, the five prayer services held on Yom Kippur, the taking of the &ldquo;Four Kinds&rdquo; on all but the first day of Sukkot, and the pouring of the water on the Temple altar on each morning of Sukkot, are all rabbinical institutions.</p>

<p>Finally, the month of Tishrei has many minhagim or &ldquo;customs,&rdquo; such as eating an apple dipped in honey on the first night of Rosh HaShanah or conducting the kapparot in the wee hours of the morning on the day before Yom Kippur. The minhagim are not mandated by biblical or rabbinical law, but by force of custom: these are things that we ourselves have initiated as ways to enhance our bond with our Creator.</p>

<p>This class will analyze the difference between the three types of relationships and demonstrate how the relationship between the Jew and G-d is established during the month of Tishrei in the same three paradigms. It explored the three major categories of Jewish tradition: biblical instructions, rabbinic injunctions and Jewish customs.</p>

<p>Finally we will discover the climax of Tishrei: The dancing Hakafot on Simchat Torah, merely a custom, yet generating the most intense joy.</p>


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torah

mitzvos

marriage

jewish customs

hakofos

judaism

minhag

rabbinic mizvos

biblical mizvos

Between Biblical Commandments, Rabbinic Instructions, and Jewish Customs

A Tale of Three Relationships -- Communication, Intimation and Intuition

<p>If there is no Acharei- After in our Yom Kippur, there will be no guidance and direction. It will just continue to be a spiritual high and fad that will slowly fade away. 2 themes of Acharei -Mos; After the Death; 1) Sanctaty of Yom Kippur-Holiest day of the year. &nbsp; 2) Intimate profanity- Lowest of the low. Various opinions about how the Kohen Gadol counted as he sprinkled the blood in the Beit Hamikdash.</p>


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22_ac_acharei_mos_5770_final-0.pdf

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achareimos5770.mp3

yom kippur

nadav and avihu

acharei

holy of holies

When You Reach the Peak of the Mountain, It's Time to Go Home

The Day After: What Happens When You Come Off the Great High?

<p>The Post-Semicha graduation ceremony of 5776. Rabbis Graduate a full Year course on Practical Rabbinics by TheYeshiva.net.</p>

Post-Semicha 5776 Graduation Ceremony

Rabbis Graduate a Full Year Course on Practical Rabbinics

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