HaLeiVi

Why is this day different from all other days?

Why in the world did they pick a day in Nissan, when we don’t fast or say Tachnun, to commemorate a tragedy — and in a non-Jewish manner of course?

There were Taaneisim for tragedies in past, as in the 20th of Sivan, but not for all. Perhaps the Spanish expullsion did not get a day because there was no unified Spanish community to organize it. Moreover, the survivers didn’t need any reminders that they were away from their birthplace and downtrodden, hungry, robbed and weary.

After the holocaust there wasn’t a unified She’eiris Hapleita community and people are affected by it till this day.

What’s the point of a blank thread?

What about if you don’t wear the Tallis over your head? The Arizal calls that a Bracha Levatala.

Please define brainwashing.

Doesn’t sound like you actually learned in Bais Yaakov. This is simply the battle cry of any anti-Bais Yaakov.

Saying Parshas Haazinu is a Segula for Emuna. So is Sippurei Tzaddikim. Get more, and deeper, into Torah and Mitzvos. Daven to Hashem for more Emuna.

Speak openly to Hashem; tell Him that you will remain loyal even with all the questions you may have. This is very powerful and can break through barriers of Emuna.

There is no Mitzva to entertain every opposite-of-Emuna thought.

I’m not so sure we call them our people. Now we are one, but the way we are is different than anyone else in the world, and is not natural. Do Muslims condemn the killing of Muslims? Do Christians mourn the death of their co-religionists?

Are people really personally affected by a stranger’s tragedy? I don’t think so. There are surely feelings of sympathy and “our hearts and prayers are with them” while we munch pop-corn and click on the next news item.

This is magnified when the people we are talking about are oppressed. When someone is being overworked, under-rested, beaten and over-stressed, he has very little time in his hands and room in his heart to feel for others.

Who ever said it was aunt and uncle? It could have been whole families and sub tribes. My point is that we have no idea what went on.

As to the 4/5 issue, this is from a Medrash on one word that has other translations as well. We also have no idea what the situation was at the time. With so little insight, we can’t answer much definitively nor ask. But from the fact that those that went out were in 49 levels of Tuma and were Ovdei Avoda Zara, just imagine what the rest were like. They were very likely completely void of any Bnei Israel identity.

We would never have been a unique nation. By today, we wouldn’t be slaves anymore, perhaps, but we would have been freed only to fully join the Egyption people.

There are two Leshonos. In the first Lashon, we took for granted that the thickness of the tree stump doesn’t make a difference and the question is if Lavud helps. In the second Lashon the situation is reversed, we take for granted that Lavud is no issue but we are unsure about if the base is not thick enough.

After trying to learn that Kanim must mean Pachos Meshalosh, since Gudrisa would be like an Ilan — as long as we hold that there is no difference between them — the Shoal explains that there is a difference between a tree, whose stump is thick enough to be a Dyumad, and Gudrisa Dikanim, where only the top is wide enough. This difference is the basis of the question in the second Lashon.

The Shoal is responding, just like you don’t think Kanim and Geder are the same, since you differenciate between Lavud and Lavudless, I too differenciate between an Ilan and Gudrisa Dikani.

The second Lashon follows the same logic path with opposite assumptions.

Another reason not to eat a Kezayis is that you shouldn’t be Yotzei Marror with Karpas.

PI is not exactly a number, it is a formula. You can never finish the function and get a result.

I’ve seen Popa b. Abba’s explanation before.

By the way, what bothered Tosafos is the fact that we worried about a tiny width of the lid, since the whole thing is an approximation in the first place.

WIY, that doesn;t mean anything. It is conventional Yiddish spelling.

We had in Shabbos 35, “???? ????? ???? ??? ???? ?????”.

Davi means to look. When Daniel Davened in Bavel he opened a window towards Yerushalayim. When we Daven, we look toward Hashem. This may be the origin of the word.

Bentch however, might simply come from the German Vintsch, which is used in Yiddish often by Bentching someone. Literally, it means to wish. It is mostly used as in, to wish someone well.

Zahav, judges will throw the book at a non-first-timer.

It might have been an urgent text. There is such a thing.

Rabbi Dovid Kaplan wrote in his book, The Kiruv Files, that he once had to Daven in an airport and was embarrassed to do so. Suddenly a group of teens showed up, their head shaven besides for a pony from the center of the center of head, and started dancing right in middle of the place. He thought to himself, they aren’t embarrassed to behave this way in public and they do their thing, how can I be embarrassed do Daven to Hashem.

The truth is, I’ve heard this argument before and it really is disturbing. How can we be embarrassed when Muslims put out their rug in middle of a busy street in Manhattan or wherever and aren’t embarrassed about their practices. My consoling thought was that we are the only ones with the Yetzer Hara to be normal.

Dov, that was a gimmick to get him to learn the rest. That is the context of all the other stories mentioned in the same Gemara.

He has to have a perspective of what the Torah is, Bichsav and Baal Peh. He also has to know practical Halacha, which should be learned in a manner that is not overwhelming and that won’t give the wrong picture of what Mitzvos are.

Chazal say that one should divide his day in three. A third for Mikra, a third for Mishna (Halacha), and a third for Talmud. The Ramchal says that the proportion changes as you master each level.

The advantage of starting with Gemara is that a person connects to it and can enjoy it. Many have succeeded with learning Gemara, even with pre-Teshuvos.

What does Grape Juice have to do with Purim? In what way is it better than seltzer? I mean, if you like it then it is Lekavod the Seuda, but for its own sake, I don’t think it is Mevasem. Perhaps I just never took enough.

Besumi is the positive term for Shikkur. As I pointed out in another thread, the Gemara uses it in Shabbos 66b for drinking too much. Perhaps it means tipsy or Gelufin, but Rashi says Shikkur. Shikkur is not Aramaic. The Aramaic term would be Ravi, but that is a derogatory term. We don’t say you should imbibe wine. We say drink yourself happy.

The Gemara in Shabbos is also talking about having drunk enough for them to try to get rid of its effects. However, we don’t refer to Talmidei Chachamim as Ravi.

Some bring proof from Raba’s response to Reb Zeira that there is an unspoken Maskana that we actually shouldn’t drink. I wonder if, perhaps, there is proof from there to the contrary. If Raba would have stopped drinking then he would have no problem eating the Seuda together with Reb Zeira. From the fact that he didn’t want him to come we see that he continued to drink but didn’t want Reb Zeira to come and put himself in harm’s way.

Or because 4×40 ??. And since ? is Nis’chalef with ?, it is the same as ??. So these four Mitzvos took the place of the Sak.

Why do you say there is no source for getting drunk every Shabbos? Look at Shabbos 66b and in Rashi there. (Note the familiar word, Mivasmi. It probably means they went to sleep.)

The Gemara, saying Ad Delo Yoda Bein Arur Haman Leboruch Mordechai, implies that you don’t have to keep the reason for the Simcha in mind. This is how the Maharal learns, in Torah Ohr.

Going to sleep!? Baloney.

But obviously, all the Bochurim dancing around the Kallah is perfectly normal. The problem is when barely anyone is there.

Tell him to go preach to this particuar therapist. He wants to hear his Torah.

Popa, I think you’re gonna need Bar Shatya to get you out of this one.