“Everyone is obligated to say: The world was created for me” (Sanhedrin 37a). “We have the importance of an entire universe.” (Rashi) This does not refer to an illusory selfish feeling of arrogantly thinking to be better than others. Every human is a one-time phenomenon. When a person is born, it’s like the creation of Adam; Read More
Category: Topical Studies
Eliezer meets Yaaqov
introduction: The story we are going to tackle today is about that time when Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus met a disciple of Yeshua of Nazareth. The baraitha (i.e., a story that was known orally but wasn’t written down until much later) depicts a friendly conversation between the two, but ends up with Eliezer being denounced Read More
Why is Rosh haShana New Year?
What is Rosh haShana? Our sages gave this name to the 1st day of the 7th Biblical month, which is called Tishrei in Jewish calendar (Tishrei תשרי derives from the Akkadian language and means “the beginning”, directly related to the Hebrew ‘Reshit’ ראשית). In Scripture it is called Yom Teruah יום תרועה (the day Read More
RaMChaL zt”l on Suffering of a Tzaddik, Atonement, and Perfection
The following is from the text “Derech Hashem” (The Way of G-d) by Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (RaMChaL). Derech Hashem is a systematic exposition of Torah fundamentals explaining basic beliefs regarding the existence of G-d and His purpose in creation. The rule that the Community of the Future World [Olam Haba] is restricted only to those who attained Read More
Parashat Ki Tisa II – The Erev Rav
“And when the people saw that Moses delayed….” (Ex 32:1). Why are they called sometimes “the people” and sometimes “the sons of Israel”? It has been noticed that when Torah mentions only “the people”, it implies a participation of the “Erev Rav” (the “Mixed multitude”) as it’s written: “The sons of Israel traveled… and the Read More
The Erev Rav Part 1: Introduction
“The Erev Rav delay the redemption much more than all the nations of the world” – Raaya Mehemna – Sefer Ha Zohar The Torah only mentions the erev rav briefly. Today erev rav is a term that gets thrown around in some circles with numerous assumptions and pre conceived ideals. In reality, do we really Read More
The Erev Rav Part 2: Moshe and the Mixed Multitude
The erev rav (mixed multitude) mentioned previously, in Shemot 12:37-38, was the group of non-Jews who joined Israel when they left Egypt. According to our sages, Moshe consented to take them along without first consulting with HaShem. He did this for the sake of trying to bring them under the wings of HaShem (conversion). The Read More