Dear Dr T.,
I have a problem with my two and a half year old. He is always hurting his one year old brother. Even if I am playing with them both, the older one may just take a toy and throw it at the baby.
I am writing to you as a last resort though I don’t know if you can help me. I certainly have asked many people – parents, siblings, friends, and even a rebbitzen in my community. People say all kind of things: …
Our Gemara continued discussing the middah of laziness, it’s negative and infrequently positive qualities. I was particularly struck by something the Orchos Tzaddikim (16) mentions. In categorizing various forms of laziness he mentions intellectual laziness:
Not only does the lazy man fail to attain knowledge of the Torah, since he does not occupy himself with the Torah as he should, but due to his laziness, false notions enter his heart …
Our Gemara on Amud Beis quotes a verse in Mishle (6:9):
עַד־מָתַ֖י עָצֵ֥ל ׀ תִּשְׁכָּ֑ב מָ֝תַ֗י תָּק֥וּם מִשְּׁנָתֶֽךָ׃
How long will you lie there, oh lazyone; When will you wake from your sleep?
Let us take this time to discuss psychological ideas about laziness and its cure. There is such a thing as bad character. However, psychology, unlike mussar, looks to unders …
Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses the concept of עוסק המצוה פטור מין המצוה one who is involved in a mitzvah is exempted from another mitzvah. One matter that comes up is that a groom, who on the night of his wedding is involved in the mitzvah of consummation of the marriage, and therefore is also exempt from the obligation to recite the Shema. There is a need for a special scriptural exemption for the groom because unlike ot …
Our Gemara mentions a number of special and technical requirements for a Get, a Jewish divorcement bill. Unlike marriage, it can be only accomplished through a written document and the document must spell out the “סיפור דברים” The verbal description of what is occurring.
Likkutei Halakhos (פריה ורביה אישות א:ב) sees symbolic and metaphysical significance in these legal requirements. In order to break the marr …
Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses the halakhic requirement that a Succah must be a temporary dwelling. The commentary of Bas Ayin (Succah 11) written by Rabbi Dov Me-Abritch (1760-1840) offers a symbolic interpretation of this halakha, similar in style to what we have been studying the past few daf.
The temporary nature of the Succah reminds us that even when we reach spiritual heights they are difficult to hold onto, and necessarily temporary. …
