Man is a creature at war with himself. Your heart wants one thing, your mind tells you you should want something else. What are we to do and stay sane?
The Gemara discusses the halakhic concept of Piv V’lebo Shavim, the requirement that certain declarations are only valid if the intention and the words correspond. For example, if one declares something to be Teruma but meant to say maaser.
Notwithstanding the lomdus and halakha, …
Should any woman, on the basis of her gender, refrain from studying Torah? If a woman does study Torah, what status can she achieve? Can she become a Talmid Chacham and would people treat her as such?
Our Gemara toward the end of amud beis mentions Beruriah, the daughter of Rav Chananya ben Tradyon and wife of Rabbi Meir. She was a great Torah scholar who learned three hundred Halachos from three hundred rabbis in one day. She is even …
Maharal (netzach yisrael 48) compared אנכי ה in the עשרת הדברות to אנכי אנכי הוא מנחמכם from ישעיה נא. In the עשרת הדברות which is about Hashem’s essence it is necessary to say “I” only once. In Hebrew אנכי is a stronger “I” than “אני״. Compare the English word “me” to “ I”. However in the prophecy of the future there is a doubling …
The Gemara discusses the sugya of Tefos L’shon Rishon, which is a complex analysis of how do we understand the intent and enactment of a statement made, that has two contradictory parts. The opinion of Tefos L’shon Rishon is that either we assume that his primary intent was in his first words, or that his first words become activated and that whatever is said second does not have power.
While this may be true in lomdus, in …
The Gemara notes (toward the top of amud beis) that the owners of the sacrifice achieve their forgiveness via the priests eating from the korban. The Ramah (Toras HaOlah II:25) discusses a number of features of the Asham and Chattas sacrifices that show a beautiful regard for human dignity.
Since these were sin offerings and the consumption of the sacrificial meats achieved the forgiveness, the Torah made certain restrictions to spare embar …
Tosafos “keiylu” (second on amud beis) discusses certain features of the Jewish calendar, including that Pesach never falls out on Friday, which means Shavuos never falls out on Shabbos.
Peri Latzaddik (Sefer Kedushas Shabbos 3) notes the dichotomy that the first Shavuous, when the Torah was given actually occurred on Shabbos, never again to be repeated. What is the significance of this?
He explains that the way of the world is …
