27.10.09
discuss the parashah in google wave!
a Google Wave to discuss the weekly #parshah, to try out the medium while discussing #torah http://tinyurl.com/yjtt9mn
15.10.09
soul survivors
If our soul doesn't spend time learning God's Torah and keeping God's mitzwoth in this world, our body won't rise up in the end of days, in the time of the resurrection. (Ohr HaHayyim, Haazinu)
He learns it out from here: If the heavens [soul] listen to my speech, then the earth [the body after the soul's departure] will hear my voice [when it calls, as the Zohar teaches, in the end of days to awaken the body once more]
He learns it out from here: If the heavens [soul] listen to my speech, then the earth [the body after the soul's departure] will hear my voice [when it calls, as the Zohar teaches, in the end of days to awaken the body once more]
14.10.09
fathers and kings
The Bnei Yissachar explains why Teshuvah only works for Jews: We know that according to halachah, a King can't override his honor, whereas a father can. Jews have an exclusive father-son relationship with God, so He puts aside His honor and forgives their trespasses.
12.10.09
thoughtful humor
"A mentsch tracht und der Abishter lacht" is a yiddish expression meaning more or less "Man plans and God laughs."
It's generally taken as a sort of blanket acknowledgement that we don't know what's best for us, or as another expression of Murphy's law, but I recently found a new way to understand it.
Towards the very end of Likkutei Moharan (II:118) Rebbe Nachman explains that while in our day and age, it is very easy for someone to reveal new Torah simply by speaking it, without having to think about it, HaShem derives special pleasure from the Torah we have to think about. He used the yiddish word trachtin to emphasize the effort expended on thinking about the Torah.
From this teaching, a new understanding of the Yiddish expression occurred to me: when a man thinks about Torah, HaShem laughs from joy.
It's generally taken as a sort of blanket acknowledgement that we don't know what's best for us, or as another expression of Murphy's law, but I recently found a new way to understand it.
Towards the very end of Likkutei Moharan (II:118) Rebbe Nachman explains that while in our day and age, it is very easy for someone to reveal new Torah simply by speaking it, without having to think about it, HaShem derives special pleasure from the Torah we have to think about. He used the yiddish word trachtin to emphasize the effort expended on thinking about the Torah.
From this teaching, a new understanding of the Yiddish expression occurred to me: when a man thinks about Torah, HaShem laughs from joy.
1.10.09
the farsighted king
David HaMelech saw that in the end of days, we'd be left with only the three daily prayers as a means to truly experience HaShem. (Tikkunei Zohar 127b)
I haven't had a chance to look into what the commentaries make of this. But I like the way it stands on its own. God willing there will be follow-up posts on the topic.
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