Heart and Soul

I gave a shiur today on what the word 'heart' means in the Torah, Rishonim and Acharonim. This is not a medical shiur (obviously) but a discussion of the changing meanings of the metaphor of heart.

The ancient Greeks also disagreed as to the meaning of the heart, and even in the earliest uses in the English language we find at least two different (opposite) uses.

This is a very important shiur because it defines how we should be serving G-d. Does He want our emotions and feelings, or our minds and intellects?

We say 'Rachmana Liba Bai' (G-d wants our heart), but without knowing what 'heart' means we cannot serve G-d properly.

At the very least it will give you a better understanding of p'shat in the Talmud and in K'rias Shema when you say 'b'chol levavecha'

The audio is here:
Heart and Soul mp3 audio download

and the pdf of the sources is here:
Heart and Soul pdf download

Hilchot Berachot

For the past three summers I have given shiurim at Midreshet Rachel v'Chaya on the subject of Berachot.

During the rest of the year I teach Hilchot Shabbat (which is fairly straight forward) and Hilchot Kashrut (which is much more difficult). But always the most difficult subject is Berachot.

There are many reasons why it is the most difficult subject -

* Everyone has to say brachot - even children, so sometimes people never progress past a children's understanding of the laws

* Modern food is not as simple as food in the time of the Talmud or Shulchan Aruch. It is not always easy to know what the main ingredients are - let alone which is the main and which is secondary

* Eating habits have changed. People don't base their meals around bread necessarily nowadays (and certainly don't eat everything with bread)

* Unlike some other areas of halacha, you can't assume that someone religious knows the laws of brachot, so you can't just copy what everyone else does

* Some laws depend on kavana. Two people could eat the same food at the same time yet make different brachot

* Many foods have no clear psak halacha as to what bracha to say (e.g. rice, rice cakes, certain breakfast cereals etc.)

* In addition one must have kavana when saying brachot - often we forget to have kavana while reciting brachot!

So, even though brachot is perhaps one of the most important areas of halacha, it is not usually learned in depth and has been relegated to rote.

And I have to teach all of this to the beginner level in 9 or 10 classes! An impossible task!

Here are my source sheets. Some people have found them very helpful. Don't use them for p'sak halacha - always ask your local Orthodox Rabbi (or e-mail me if you can't find an LOR). And please tell me of any mistakes you find (there are probably many).

OK, here are the sheets:

Hilchot Berachot

Hagadah of Pesach

I gave a shiur a couple of days ago at Midreshet Rachel about the Mitzvah of 'sipur yetziat mitzraim'. This is the mitzah of speaking about the exodus from Egypt on the night(s) of seder. I discussed the differences between this mitzvah and the twice daily mitzvah of remembering the exodus. We go through the Hagada and discuss the format and structure of the seder. It is interesting that the mishna tells us that we must begin with disgrace and end with praise, there is an argument between Rav and Shmuel as to what this means, and we do both. In other words we have two sets of 4 questions - Mah Nishtana and later the 4 sons. We have 2 separate answers - We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and Our ancestors worshipped idols, and we have two sets of praise to conclude.
Many people don't realise that the second (and long, boring) part of the Hagada (before the meal) is all based on a couple of p'sukim (verses). The Mishna tells us to 'darshan' them (and I'm still not sure how to translate that word but I'm open to offers) so we go on a long excursion through drashot on p'sukim. I think knowing that format helps to make sense of what is actually going on at the seder. But for that you will have to listen to the recording.
The shiur is just under an hour. Enjoy.


For a Streamed Link Click Here
To Download Click Here

Remember 6 - Mount Sinai

This is the final shiur in the series on the Six Remembrances that I gave at Midreshet Rachel (I know that there are only 4 shiurim and there are 6 remembrances, but I only had a four week slot). It deals with the mitzvah to remember the Giving of the Torah and the Sinai experience.
The shiur discusses the famous Gemara in Menachot where Moshe Rabbeinu goes to see Rabbi Akiva giving shiur, and the contrast with the other gemarot which show that Moshe received all of the Torah on Mount Sinai, including the laws that the Rabbis would create in the future.
Here are the links:
For streaming click here
To download click here

By coincidence (or not really coincidence) these Six Remembrances are the topics that I am researching and writing about for www.torahlab.org. Have a look at their website for their current products, and hopefully in the next couple of months we will be adding several new series of shiurim. Your feedback is greatly appreciated on these shiurim.

Enjoy

Shabbat Shalom

Golden Calf

This is the shiur I gave yesterday at Midreshet Rachel. It is the second of my series on the six things that we must remember daily (although in the siddur it is actually the fourth one, but I explained in the shiur that the second and third fit in very well with the next two weeks' parshiot so I will do them then).
It deals with the sin of the Golden Calf - what was the issue that the Israelites were trying to fix with the Calf, why a calf and not any other kind of animal/object and how all of this connects with Yosef.
If you enjoy this shiur please go to jblog and rate it (the link is on the side of the page). Also have a look at the three postings on parshat hashavua that i have put up at www.parshathashavua.blogspot.com

To hear the shiur in streaming audio click here
To download this file click here

Wishing everyone a great Shabbat and Happy Tu B'Shvat.
Rabbi Sedley