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Divrei Chaim: the death of Aharon and Miriam
Why does the Torah need to tell us that Hor HaHar, the burial place of Aharon, was on the border of the land of Edom? Rashi (20:23) explains that it was because Bnei Yisrael drew close to Edom that they lost Aharon. All Bnei Yisrael did was ask Edom for ...
Dateline: 2013-06-18 6:30am -07:00T (395 words)
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Divrei Chaim: the significance of the 9th of Tamuz
Yirmiyahu haNavi tells us (52:6-7) that on th 9th day of the 4th month, i.e. the 9th of Tamuz, that there was a great famine in Yerushalayim and the walls were finally breached. So why do we fast on the 17th of Tamuz in commemoration of the walls being b...
Dateline: 2013-06-17 8:15am -07:00T (691 words)
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Divrei Chaim: my son's yeshiva's siyum
In past years I have always written about the end of year siyum made in my son’s yeshiva, celebrated once again last Sunday when over 70 boys finished Mes. Kesubos, and this year for some reason I neglected to do so because of silly distractions. This ...
Dateline: 2013-06-14 1:15pm -07:00T (1229 words)
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Divrei Chaim: the eternal parah adumah of Moshe
Rashi quotes R’ Moshe haDarshan as explaining that the parah adumah is a kapparah for the cheit ha’eigeil. How does that work – is it some kind of gezeirah shavah. i.e. this is a cow, the cheit was done with a calf, so they somehow go together? Ob...
Dateline: 2013-06-14 7:00am -07:00T (486 words)
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Divrei Chaim: words from someone who went off the derech
I won't tell you where the quote is from until the end: Every once in awhile, the older youth tried to straighten us up. Lectured us and admonished us not to act so silly.“Stop trying to be so wild.” Their efforts were entirely fruitless. And it got...
Dateline: 2013-06-13 10:30am -07:00T (483 words)
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Divrei Chaim: the Hafla'ah on Moshe's sin -- mei meriva
We once discussed (here) the amazing Chazal that says the “dibartem el ha’sela” that Moshe was supposed to do instead of hitting the rock was to learn Torah. Chasam Sofer (brief version here at the end of Shu”T E”H 121, longer version in his co...
Dateline: 2013-06-13 8:00am -07:00T (400 words)
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Divrei Chaim: the hebrew school education that could have been
Nat Hentoff has a great article here which he opens as follows:My Jewish parents had changed their lives – inner and outer – by coming to America. When their son was old enough to go to school, they were determined not to send him to the prestigious H...
Dateline: 2013-06-13 6:45am -07:00T (262 words)
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Divrei Chaim: winning sometimes means losing
“V’haya ha’ish asher yivchar Hashem hu ha’kadosh…" (16:7) Of course the person Hashem chooses is proven to be holiest of the group – what’s the chiddush? Why did Moshe need to spell this out to Korach and his minions? The Ksav Sofer offers...
Dateline: 2013-06-07 9:30am -07:00T (458 words)
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Divrei Chaim: hallel without hodu
A few weeks ago I wrote with respect to hallel on Yom ha’Atzmaut that if you hold that hallel should be said b'toras reading of tehillim as opposed to a formal kri’as hallel that may require a takanas Chazal to institute, then it seems to me that the...
Dateline: 2013-06-07 7:00am -07:00T (326 words)
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Divrei Chaim: hafrashas challah -- an opportune time for tefilah
There may not be any makor (at least that I know of) for gathering precisely 43 women to bake challah together as a special zechus and having everyone recite amein in unison to the bracha of hafrasha, but there is a good makor for using the opportunity of...
Dateline: 2013-06-06 7:45am -07:00T (319 words)
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Divrei Chaim: Aruch haShulchan on gerama vs. being goreim gerama
I’m having a hard time understanding a chiddush the Aruch haShulchan comes up with in Y.D. 276:36-37 (link). The gemara (Shabbos 120) writes that there is no issur of erasing Hashem’s name if done through a gerama. Example: someone has the shem Hash...
Dateline: 2013-06-05 7:30am -07:00T (316 words)
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Divrei Chaim: halachic proof vs. archeological proof
I have not investigated the issue of techeiles enough to even begin to have a thought on the matter, but I want to just call attention to what I think is an interesting methodological point R’ Asher Weiss makes in discussing the topic. From the respons...
Dateline: 2013-06-04 1:00pm -07:00T (180 words)
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Divrei Chaim: missing the trees for the forest
Moshe asked the meraglim to investigate, “Ha’yesh bah eitz im ayin?” whether Eretz Yisrael has trees. Rashi already is bothered by this very strange question. Did Moshe really think Eretz Yisrael (which he knew was eretz za’is shemen u’devash!...
Dateline: 2013-06-04 8:00am -07:00T (473 words)
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Divrei Chaim: an obligation to speak out
“Va’yamusu ha’anashim motzi’eiy dibas ha’aretz ra’ah… v’Yehoshua bin Nun v’Kalev ben Yefuneh chayu min ha’anashim ha’heim h’holchim la’sur es ha’aretz.” (14:37-38) This entire second pasuk seems redundant. Once the Torah me...
Dateline: 2013-05-31 10:00am -07:00T (449 words)
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Divrei Chaim: 40 years in the desert -- a reward, not a punishment
Yom la’shanah, yom la’shanah… Why is it that Hashem punished Bnei Yisrael one year per day of the mergalim’s misadventures? Usually there is a balanced proportion between the crime and the punishment, midah k’neged midah. Here, the punishment...
Dateline: 2013-05-30 9:15am -07:00T (426 words)
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