Thursday, June 12, 2008

Interesting Posts and Articles #43

  1. Rav Heinemann gives a 47 minute shuir explaining and defending his position on Yom Tov mode ovens.
  2. Reb Wolf Zhitomir Does Teshuva For Clapping His Hands
    "Reb Volf's way was to never show any outward sign of emotion in serving
    Hashem, such as clapping hands or davening loudly. He said this could only
    be done when you feel inside the way you want to express yourself outside."
    I agree with the sentiment against over-the-top expressive and perhaps insincere piety, though the story given to illustrate it is almost a maaseh listor, as it is a case when the inner feeling matched the outer expression, by definition, and was even a muted expression of what would be justified. I also have difficulty seeing such extreme applications of this rule and feelings of guilt for "violating" what was a middas chassidus he invented in the first place, as tzidkus. It seems more like a personality disorder.
  3. Meanwhile, BeyondBT has a post by Rabbi Label Lam, about someone who is expressive in davening:
    He states that Olam Haba- the world to come is not a necessary result of the external performance of Mitzvos but rather a function of the internal dimension of those Mitzvos. He informs us that the outer aspect of the Mitzvos yields a “this worldly” benefit while the next world is a consequence of the depth and direction of the heart. Ultimately, Olam Haba is based on a relationship.
    ...
    When I was yet an unmarried Yeshiva student, we had the great honor of meeting a holy man. The Manchester Rav, Rabbi Yehuda Zev Segal ztl. prayed with us the afternoon service. Long after most of us had finished saying our prayers he remained bent over, shaking and weeping all the while. We watched in awe without knowing exactly what we were witnessing. I remember saying quietly to the fellow next to me, “I wonder what he did so wrong!”

    Days later while eating a Shabbos meal at the home of one of the rabbis we were discussing the visitor we had been treated to that week. The Rabbi told us that Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ztl. had considered the Manchester Rav to be one of the thirty-six hidden Tzadikim of the generation. I had a knack for asking obvious questions that elicited sharp responses, so I queried aloud, “If he is singled out, publicly as one of these hidden Tzadikim then he’s no longer hidden. His true identity has been exposed, his cover is blown and he cannot by definition be one of the thirty-six hidden Tzadikim in whose merit the world exists.”
    His rebbe gives him an answer.
  4. Freedom from Bondage, pt. 2, at Hirhurim.
  5. Guidelines of calling the police, part 5, at Daas Torah.
  6. Over at Chaptzem, an interesting post about male boss shmoozing with the ladies in the workplace:
    And some choice comments:
    thekvetcher said...
    you need to chill out a little i think you really enjoy it but are afraid to let go. in any other than heimishe atmosphere this goes on and it is normal. you are tooo uptight.

    June 04, 2008 12:03 PM

    Hey Kvetcher, You got some serious problems saying this to a frum married women. Just because you don't give a darn about HASHEM and his mitzvos and the issur to protect oneself against an ervah doesn't mean there aren't other people that do care and are disgusted by inappropriate interaction between married women and men that aren't their husbands. You are considered a rosho by your comments and one who causes others to sin as well, and disregards the mitzvos. I pity your soul when you get up to heaven
    and also
    I feel for your boss. Try to understand his point of view. He buys a business and tries to be nice to the girls and the more he tries, the more they get upset. He is confused and unsure as to why the air is so tense. Why are they so upset at me? So he tries even harder.
    I don't know anything about your marriage, but I can tell you this. If you don't learn the skill of communicating and talking over things before they go out of control, your marriage won't last for too long.
    Communication is the key.
  7. OnTheMainLine notes that Hagahot notes the forged Yerushalmi Kodshim is online at JNUL.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Bahalotecha
בס”ד
It says in this weeks parsha “ When you go to war against an enemy in your land, you shall
sound the trumpets “. Concerning this verse the Shalah haKodesh says that the enemy referred
here is the evil inclination. Like an invader he is always trying to nourish from Holiness. Time
and time again he comes to do battle. This battle should not be taken lying down, but one must
sound the trumpets. Meaning one must arouse their Nashama with great vigor. This is done by
performing the mitzvot with great kavana (intent). The sages mean this when they say that if
one’s evil inclination rises up against him let him take it to the bait midrash. If this does not
work he should say the sma, and if this does not work let him think of the day of death. Now we
must also consider “When you go to war against an enemy in your land” in its most simple sense,
as there is no doubt that The jewish people have enemies in the Holy Land now. Know that these
enemies are a manifestation of our evil inclinations, by this they are given force. By our
adherence to the Torah, and standing strongly against those who are against Hashem’s Torah. We
shall conquer all our enemies, with the help of Hashem.
One when assaulted by their evil inclination needs to run into Holiness, as it says “the chyot ran and returned” (Ezekial). By this running we will find ourselves in a new place with a new
awareness far from the thoughts of the sitra achra (other side). As it is taught by Eliyahu HaNovi in Tana DebElyahu that to prevent the evil inclination from gaining a foothold, like Ahoron haKohen one should daily light the Manorah so that it is always burning. As the Manorah has 7 openings, so are there found 7 openings in one’s head. We have 2 eyes. We must prevent our vision from leading us astray. One’s eyes need to be dedicated only for the use of Holiness. The eyes are conduits of Chuchmah (Divine wisdom, Creativity, inspiration). Let all ones inspiration lead to Holiness. Likewise one’s ears should not listen to evil. The ears are conduits of Divine understanding. Let all one’s understanding be found in the Torah. The nose is the sense by which mashiach shall discern judgment. It is a conduit for Dat (Divine knowledge). All the power Hashem gives to to man by his Dat, his power of speech and intellect, this is Hashem's place in the world.1 The “chuchmim” guide the nations providence by guarding and fulfilling the “mitzvot”. The fruit of the Torah is in the upper world. From yichud unification of the divine powers here below, unification is made above illuminating the sefirot above. While a portion of the dat is granted to the master of the yichud below, light illuminating his soul. Rabbi Nachunyah ben Hakana tells us that physical man will have no help from above, and no joining of “zivug” face to face (between parzufim). In every place he works in the upper markava he will not see completion, until he make an arousal below. One who does not adequately arouse below, there is not arousal above made so as to cause his work to be recieved or completed above.2 The main part of the strength of the Shechinah is enjoined in Dat (knowledge) of the secrets of the Torah. Of this one needs to know very much. One needs wide Dat and great Kidusha to understand the "parzufim" and the "Yuchudim" according to their truth.3 Let one know before they proceed that what they will do will be Holy. While the mouth should be used to speak words of Torah and prayer, not lushon hora (evil speech). The mouth is the conduit of Malchut. Let it be that all one’s actions drive them closer to Holiness in the governance of Hashem. If one guards these portals they will not nourish the evil inclination, and it will not come to slay them. When one is doing mitzvot it will have less strength to interfere. Like during tefila (prayer) the evil inclination will not interfere with their thoughts to distract his mind from his Divine contemplation. He will be able to perform his mitzvot with kavana (intention). By following such instruction we will win our battle against the yetzer hora (evil inclination). The yetzer hora will have no way to gain ascendency over us. Evil will have no way to gain nourishment. Then there will be yielded from the mitzvot that will be done in purity with great kavana a great degree of light ultimately heralding in with a great shofar blast our righteous mashich, when evil shall finally be defeated. Then we shall rejoice with Hashem in His Holy Temple and may this be quickly in our days.http://godssecret.wordpress.com

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