I'm sure you all know who the Torah Temimah is, and what other wonderful books R' Baruch HaLevi Epstein wrote. What you may not know is that he wrote a commentary on the 5 Megillas called Gishmei Bracha (or later, Torah Temimah on 5 Megillahs). I am a big fan of the Torah Temimah, and have been trying to translate another of his commentaries on chumash - Tosefet Bracha on my website. You can see a few pieces on most of the parshas there.
Anyway, here's the scoop. Torahlab are selling a pocket sized version (with clear print) of the original Hebrew version of his commentary on Megillat Eicha for a silly price. But it is for this week only. Click on the link and get yourself a copy to make your tisha b'av more meaningful.
http://torahlab.org/store/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=484
(This is what they write about the book:)
Rabbi Boruch HaLevi Epstien (1860-1941) cites Talmudic and Midrashic souces verbatim, merging the Written and Oral Torah. In addition, his unique style of commentary allows us to understand Eichah through the lens of Chazal.
This volume also contains an 86 page compilation of the Laws of Tisha B’Av by the Rokeach, Or Zarua, Sefer HaManhig, Shibolei HaLeket, Kol Bo, Abudraham and Tashbatz.
All this in a pocket sized edition (measurement) available only through Torahlab at the remarkable price of $3.95 with free shipping!
Price: $3.95
(PS Even though I work for Torahlab, this is not an advertisement paid for or sponsored by them. I genuinely think this is a great sefer and want as many people as possible to learn it and spread Torah. And at this price there really isn't any excuse not to get it)
David Sedley's Thoughts and Musings (and some audio shiurim too)
Showing posts with label torahlab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label torahlab. Show all posts
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Friday, June 08, 2007
Shabbos Torah - Lech Lecha
Some things to read over Shabbos (my wife is waiting for the computer, so this will have to be quick)
We read chapter 3 of Pirkei Avos this week I am working on a translation of Rabbeinu Yona's commentary of Avos which will hopefully be published soon. In the mean time you can look at my first rough draft of it over here:
Rabbeinu Yona
Please send me your thoughts and comments. There is still a lot of work to be done on it, but I would very much appreciate your feedback. Also don't forget to check out the latest on the parsha from torahlab.org.
I have written a few things on the parsha, Shelach Lecha, which may be of interest (click on the links for each one).
A summary of the portion
My thoughts on the parsha (written many years ago while I was in Edinburgh)
And my translation of selections from Tosefes Bracha's commentary on the parsha (by R' Baruch Halevi Epstein - the Torah Temima)
Shabbat Shalom (I know I can't make up my mind how to pronounce Hebrew words - that's always been one of my many problems)
We read chapter 3 of Pirkei Avos this week I am working on a translation of Rabbeinu Yona's commentary of Avos which will hopefully be published soon. In the mean time you can look at my first rough draft of it over here:
Rabbeinu Yona
Please send me your thoughts and comments. There is still a lot of work to be done on it, but I would very much appreciate your feedback. Also don't forget to check out the latest on the parsha from torahlab.org.
I have written a few things on the parsha, Shelach Lecha, which may be of interest (click on the links for each one).
A summary of the portion
My thoughts on the parsha (written many years ago while I was in Edinburgh)
And my translation of selections from Tosefes Bracha's commentary on the parsha (by R' Baruch Halevi Epstein - the Torah Temima)
Shabbat Shalom (I know I can't make up my mind how to pronounce Hebrew words - that's always been one of my many problems)
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
28th Iyar - Shmuel HaNavi
Tomorrow is Yom Yerushalayim. No doubt everyone will be blogging about this important and wonderful modern festival.
In my day job at Torahlab.org I have just completed (just in the nick of time) a source sheet for students and a teachers' guide about Yom Yerushalayim. If you are a teacher, Rabbi, student or just plain interested you will find interesting and inspiring sources about Yom Yerushalayim. They can be downloaded (free of charge) from torahlab. Click on the link for the source booklet pdf and the teachers' guide pdf.
If you have time you should also visit their website: www.torahlab.org (even though hopefully in the next couple of days they will have a brand new website up and running at the same address). Click on my blog there - at the moment Rabbi Burton is leading with the most reads of his blog - help me out please!
(this is a cross posting from torahlab)
Yarzheit of Shmeul HaNavi
28th of Iyar, Yom Yerushalayim, also has another meaning in the Jewish calendar. According to tradition (Shulchan Aruch 580; 2, based on Megillat Ta’anit – although in the original it says 29th Iyar) it is the yarzheit of both Shmuel Hanavi, and his mother Chana. For hundreds of years on this date people would go to the grave of Shmuel Hanavi, which is on the Rama (part of former ‘east Jerusalem’). The original custom of lighting fires and torches was not on Lag B’Omer, but ten days later, on the 28th of Iyar. Rabbeinu Ovadiah Bartenura came to live in Israel, and writes back to his brother that people would gather from all around on the day of his death and light torches. (This is printed in Darkei Tzion – available here: The editor has emended the date, because he thinks it must be talking about Lag B’Omer and the Yarzheit of R’ Shimon Bar Yochai. Of course at the time of the Bartenura (which was before the printing of the Zohar) nobody thought that date was his yarzheit, nor do we have any record of fires on Lag B’Omer before the modern era).
King David and Shmuel the prophet met in Ramah one night (while David was fleeing from King Shaul) and figured out the exact location where the Temple should be built. Even though David himself was not permitted to build the Temple, he purchased the land and took the Ark there. David and Shmuel were both totally committed to Yerushalayim and making that the central capital of Israel (before David made it his capital there had been no central place of authority – Shiloh was the site of the Mishkan, but governance was localized within each tribe). The Talmud in Zevachim 54b learns from the verses in the chumash and shows how they figured out exactly where the Temple should be situated. Although Jerusalem is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah (though it is mentioned 656 times in the rest of Nach), David and Shmuel were able to figure out the place that G-d had chosen from before creation to be His resting place on earth.
In a beautiful quirk of history, the place where they met to figure out this location – Ramah – which is also the burial place of Shmuel, was also liberated in the Six Day War which we celebrate on Yom Yerushalayim.
Wishing you all a wonderful Yom Yerushalayim, and a happy bonfire day, and may the merit of the prophet Shmuel help us and protect us against all modern day enemies who want to diminish the greatness of Jerusalem as the center of Israel and the Jewish world.
In my day job at Torahlab.org I have just completed (just in the nick of time) a source sheet for students and a teachers' guide about Yom Yerushalayim. If you are a teacher, Rabbi, student or just plain interested you will find interesting and inspiring sources about Yom Yerushalayim. They can be downloaded (free of charge) from torahlab. Click on the link for the source booklet pdf and the teachers' guide pdf.
If you have time you should also visit their website: www.torahlab.org (even though hopefully in the next couple of days they will have a brand new website up and running at the same address). Click on my blog there - at the moment Rabbi Burton is leading with the most reads of his blog - help me out please!
(this is a cross posting from torahlab)
Yarzheit of Shmeul HaNavi
28th of Iyar, Yom Yerushalayim, also has another meaning in the Jewish calendar. According to tradition (Shulchan Aruch 580; 2, based on Megillat Ta’anit – although in the original it says 29th Iyar) it is the yarzheit of both Shmuel Hanavi, and his mother Chana. For hundreds of years on this date people would go to the grave of Shmuel Hanavi, which is on the Rama (part of former ‘east Jerusalem’). The original custom of lighting fires and torches was not on Lag B’Omer, but ten days later, on the 28th of Iyar. Rabbeinu Ovadiah Bartenura came to live in Israel, and writes back to his brother that people would gather from all around on the day of his death and light torches. (This is printed in Darkei Tzion – available here: The editor has emended the date, because he thinks it must be talking about Lag B’Omer and the Yarzheit of R’ Shimon Bar Yochai. Of course at the time of the Bartenura (which was before the printing of the Zohar) nobody thought that date was his yarzheit, nor do we have any record of fires on Lag B’Omer before the modern era).
King David and Shmuel the prophet met in Ramah one night (while David was fleeing from King Shaul) and figured out the exact location where the Temple should be built. Even though David himself was not permitted to build the Temple, he purchased the land and took the Ark there. David and Shmuel were both totally committed to Yerushalayim and making that the central capital of Israel (before David made it his capital there had been no central place of authority – Shiloh was the site of the Mishkan, but governance was localized within each tribe). The Talmud in Zevachim 54b learns from the verses in the chumash and shows how they figured out exactly where the Temple should be situated. Although Jerusalem is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah (though it is mentioned 656 times in the rest of Nach), David and Shmuel were able to figure out the place that G-d had chosen from before creation to be His resting place on earth.
In a beautiful quirk of history, the place where they met to figure out this location – Ramah – which is also the burial place of Shmuel, was also liberated in the Six Day War which we celebrate on Yom Yerushalayim.
Wishing you all a wonderful Yom Yerushalayim, and a happy bonfire day, and may the merit of the prophet Shmuel help us and protect us against all modern day enemies who want to diminish the greatness of Jerusalem as the center of Israel and the Jewish world.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Yom HaZikaron and Road Safety
This is a copy of my blog entry for www.torahlab.org. I felt it was worth sharing here as well. Have a look at their website for a lot of excellent stuff about Judaism and Torah.
We are in between Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron (actually today should be Yom HaZikaron according to the calendar, but it was pushed off by one day to avoid chilul Shabbat – these Israelis think of everything! I’ll be in America or Britain they would have also made it tomorrow, but they would have called it a public holiday and had a 3 day weekend). These are both days on which we commemorate tragedies, both personal and national. The juxtaposition between the two days is almost certainly not accidental, but was designed by the ‘powers that be’ to contrast pre-State of Israel when the Jews were defenseless and murdered by the million and the State of Israeli whose army defends Jews. I’m not sure I agree with linking the holocaust and the State of Israel – it almost seems like a justification of the holocaust, or a form of ‘told you so’ from the Zionist enterprise.
But it does give me the opportunity to think about Israel, and those who have died in its defense. According to the Jerusalem Post 22,305 men and women have died defending Israel since 1860. In the past year 233 soldiers died. That is a huge number, and to think of all those families having to cope with the tragedy and continue with their lives is more than I can deal with. They all died al Kiddush Hashem, and we can only pray for them that their souls should be bound in the souls of eternal life.
According to the Jerusalem Post, last week Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi laid a flag on the grave of the last soldier to have died in the line of duty. - St.-Sgt. Matan Baskind. The sad thing is that I searched the web and couldn’t find any information about him, or even any report of his death.
I don’t wish to take anything away from the mourning of Yom Hazikaron, but I am so bothered by the next few words of the article. The even sadder thing is that the Jerusalem Post tells us that he was killed in a car accident two weeks ago! Israel has one of the highest rates of road fatalities of any country.
In 2006 there were 446 fatalities on the roads. That is almost twice as many as the number of soldiers who fell in battle in that year! And that was the lowest number for 40 years! That is truly something to mourn about. I don’t know how long it will be before we need a national memorial day for those who fell on the roads of Israel.
Of course everyone blames everything, it is nobodies fault, and nothing can be done to prevent it etc. I am not coming to write about lessons in road safety, or to criticise. In fact what I really wanted to say was a big ‘thank you’ to someone who I don’t know, and only spoke to once for a few minutes.
In general I try very hard to never cross the road against the traffic lights. I wait for the green man even when the road is deserted (who knows whether there may be a child watching who will think it is OK to cross against the lights – apart from the fact that it is illegal). Even though it bothers me every time that the lights are biased against pedestrians. At some intersections it takes two complete cycles of light changes to get across the road (you get to half way and have to wait again to get the rest of the way across).
So last week I was crossing the road, and there were two sets of lights (one for each half of the road). They both turned green, so I crossed. As I reached half way the light for that side of the road turned red. Since the cars were still stopped, and I had only missed it by a fraction of a second I continued across the road (if you weren’t paying close attention you would think I started crossing while it was still green).
When I reached the other side an elderly gentleman started berating me for crossing against the lights! And like a fool, instead of thanking him for caring, and for doing his bit to curb the death toll, I started explaining that it was really OK, and the light was basically green, and the cars were stopped, and it wasn’t dangerous (all true, but irrelevant). I wanted to take the chance now, since I’m not sure I’ll even see this man again, to thank him. Thank you for caring about my life and the lives of all the others on the road. Thank you for bothering to speak to me about it. Thank you for speaking up for what is right, even though nobody else wants to hear what you have to say.
May we all learn from his care and concern, and use extra caution on the roads. May this year be the last year that soldiers die in battle defending Israel. And may it be the end of road fatalities. Let us all care about ourselves and each other.
May all the families of those who died in Israel’s wars and all those who died on the roads be comforted amongst the other mourners for Zion and Jerusalem.
We are in between Yom HaShoah and Yom HaZikaron (actually today should be Yom HaZikaron according to the calendar, but it was pushed off by one day to avoid chilul Shabbat – these Israelis think of everything! I’ll be in America or Britain they would have also made it tomorrow, but they would have called it a public holiday and had a 3 day weekend). These are both days on which we commemorate tragedies, both personal and national. The juxtaposition between the two days is almost certainly not accidental, but was designed by the ‘powers that be’ to contrast pre-State of Israel when the Jews were defenseless and murdered by the million and the State of Israeli whose army defends Jews. I’m not sure I agree with linking the holocaust and the State of Israel – it almost seems like a justification of the holocaust, or a form of ‘told you so’ from the Zionist enterprise.
But it does give me the opportunity to think about Israel, and those who have died in its defense. According to the Jerusalem Post 22,305 men and women have died defending Israel since 1860. In the past year 233 soldiers died. That is a huge number, and to think of all those families having to cope with the tragedy and continue with their lives is more than I can deal with. They all died al Kiddush Hashem, and we can only pray for them that their souls should be bound in the souls of eternal life.
According to the Jerusalem Post, last week Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi laid a flag on the grave of the last soldier to have died in the line of duty. - St.-Sgt. Matan Baskind. The sad thing is that I searched the web and couldn’t find any information about him, or even any report of his death.
I don’t wish to take anything away from the mourning of Yom Hazikaron, but I am so bothered by the next few words of the article. The even sadder thing is that the Jerusalem Post tells us that he was killed in a car accident two weeks ago! Israel has one of the highest rates of road fatalities of any country.
In 2006 there were 446 fatalities on the roads. That is almost twice as many as the number of soldiers who fell in battle in that year! And that was the lowest number for 40 years! That is truly something to mourn about. I don’t know how long it will be before we need a national memorial day for those who fell on the roads of Israel.
Of course everyone blames everything, it is nobodies fault, and nothing can be done to prevent it etc. I am not coming to write about lessons in road safety, or to criticise. In fact what I really wanted to say was a big ‘thank you’ to someone who I don’t know, and only spoke to once for a few minutes.
In general I try very hard to never cross the road against the traffic lights. I wait for the green man even when the road is deserted (who knows whether there may be a child watching who will think it is OK to cross against the lights – apart from the fact that it is illegal). Even though it bothers me every time that the lights are biased against pedestrians. At some intersections it takes two complete cycles of light changes to get across the road (you get to half way and have to wait again to get the rest of the way across).
So last week I was crossing the road, and there were two sets of lights (one for each half of the road). They both turned green, so I crossed. As I reached half way the light for that side of the road turned red. Since the cars were still stopped, and I had only missed it by a fraction of a second I continued across the road (if you weren’t paying close attention you would think I started crossing while it was still green).
When I reached the other side an elderly gentleman started berating me for crossing against the lights! And like a fool, instead of thanking him for caring, and for doing his bit to curb the death toll, I started explaining that it was really OK, and the light was basically green, and the cars were stopped, and it wasn’t dangerous (all true, but irrelevant). I wanted to take the chance now, since I’m not sure I’ll even see this man again, to thank him. Thank you for caring about my life and the lives of all the others on the road. Thank you for bothering to speak to me about it. Thank you for speaking up for what is right, even though nobody else wants to hear what you have to say.
May we all learn from his care and concern, and use extra caution on the roads. May this year be the last year that soldiers die in battle defending Israel. And may it be the end of road fatalities. Let us all care about ourselves and each other.
May all the families of those who died in Israel’s wars and all those who died on the roads be comforted amongst the other mourners for Zion and Jerusalem.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Amazing Pesach facts
I was trying to work out what Pesach would have been like in Egypt in that first year. I haven't even got to any of the technical details yet, but just working out how many people there would have been in each house astounded me. Remember that the korban Pesach had to be eaten entirely before midnight (this would apply not only in Egypt, but in every other year until the destruction of the Temple as well, and hopefully very soon in the future when Mashiach comes - although I am a vegetarian and the sheep are bigger nowadays!). A sheep is quite a big animal, even a one year old. Goats are slightly smaller, but still have a lot of meat on them.
Have a look at my torahlab blog for the numbers, but you had better buy a bigger table and expandable walls for when Mashiach comes!
Here is the link (click on the entry titled 'sheep again').
http://torahlab.org/thestorysofar.php
Please send me your thoughts or comments. As a vegetarian I may have got the entire thing entirely wrong - please correct my mistakes.
Thank you. Here's praying for Mashiach.
Rabbi Sedley
Have a look at my torahlab blog for the numbers, but you had better buy a bigger table and expandable walls for when Mashiach comes!
Here is the link (click on the entry titled 'sheep again').
http://torahlab.org/thestorysofar.php
Please send me your thoughts or comments. As a vegetarian I may have got the entire thing entirely wrong - please correct my mistakes.
Thank you. Here's praying for Mashiach.
Rabbi Sedley
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)