Shavuos Reading
I just wanted to share some of what I came across this Shavuos… 1- From YU’s “Shavuos-to-Go”, R’ Mordechai Torczyner writes about the connection between Shavuos and chessed. Often cited is the idea that...
Category: Mussar
Wisdom from Eeyore
The month that starts today, אִייָר or אִיָּר, borrows its name (as do all the months) from those of Babylonia, in commemoration of our exile there — and our redemption from it. In Akkadian,...
Two Tzadiqim on Loving the Evildoer
I found the following on a web site called “Two Tzaddiks: The Teachings of Rebbe Pinchas of Koretz and His Disciple, Rebbe Raphael of Bershad”: “In his teachings, R. Pinchas preached universal love, even...
Lists of Middos
One of the more amazing pieces of history of the Mussar Movement was that Rav Yisrael Salanter, despite his own antipathy for Haskalah (Enlightened Judaism), promoted a seifer written by a maskil, Rabbi Mendel...
Twelve Step Programs
I received the following email: Micha, is there a problem going to 12 step programs (either for one’s self, or for/with a friend)? Does the “higher power’ stuff smack of AZ [avodah zara] in...
Whomever gets to the water first…
אמרין עליו על רבי חנינא בן דוסא שהיה עומד ומתפלל ובא חברבר והכישו, ולא הפסיק את תפילתו. והלכו ומצאו אותו חברבר מת מוטל על פי חורו. אמרו “אי לו לאדם שנשכו חברבר, ואי לו...
A Berakhah for Chassidus Spinka
כִּ֤י שֶׁ֨בַע׀ יִפּ֣וֹל צַדִּ֣יק וָקָ֑ם וּ֝רְשָׁעִ֗ים יִכָּשְׁל֥וּ בְרָעָֽה׃ When [asher] a leader sins and does one of the commandments of Hashem his G-d which he should not do, in error, and expresses guilt. -Vayiqra...
The First Chassidim
The Gemara speaks of a chassidic movement: ת”ר: חסידים הראשונים היו מצניעין קוצותיהן וזכוכיותיהן בתוך שדותיהן ומעמיקין להן ג’ טפחים, כדי שלא תעלם המחרישה. רב ששת שדי להו בנורא, רבא שדי להו בדגלת. אמר רב...
Rights, Duties and Covenants
אמר רבא: כל המעביר על מדותיו מעבירין לו על כל פשעיו Rava said: Whomever is “maavir al midosav“, they [the heavenly court] passes [ma’avirin] over all his sins for him. — Shabbos 17b What...