#serving Hashem

[unlovablereject]

I haven't been on social media much since the news came out that Israel was brutally attacked in the middle of the night, of a high holiday...

I have been honestly really upset... I feel every Jew even not in Israel is.

Israel is our homeland, the place where Hashem will come down to and being us a just world.

I will be supporting Israel until my last breath.

If the time comes and I do Aliyah, it will be soon to help fight.

I know it will break my wife's heart.

I told my Rabbi I wanted to volunteer in Uganda to help defend and supply the Conservative and Reform Jews there.

I'll also fight for Israel itself if the time comes. If I can, I will join the IDF. I was rejected from my countries military for health reasons, which scares me... Will they let me serve?

I am dependent on medication...

I just want to help... if I die young it will be for something that matters!

[why5x5]

A Simchat Torah we can never forget

On the morning of October 7, 2023, Simchat Torah, the Jewish community faced its most horrific day since the Holocaust, with over 1,200 lives cruelly taken and many more held hostage. This tragedy has bonded us in deep collective sorrow.

As the Jewish world remains united in grief, we are challenged with the difficult question:

How do we move forward from such profound loss?

Can we dance? Should we dance?

October 2024 will mark the first Simchat Torah since the devastating events of October 7, 2023. Traditionally a day of joy, dancing, and celebration, this Simchat Torah will also serve as the first yahrzeit for the 1,200 victims and a time to honor the hostages and soldiers who have passed since that day.

Now the Jewish community faces profound questions: How should we respond? Is it possible to celebrate as we once did?

With tears in our eyes we will dance

The words of King Solomon in Kohelet, that we will read on Sukkot, offer us guidance: “There is a time for everything under the Heavens… a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” Simchat Torah 2024 will be that time.

A Simchat Torah shared throughout the world

Synagogues around the world will open their Aron HaKodesh (Torah Ark) on Simchat Torah night and take out several Torah scrolls. One, or more, will be adorned with a new me’il (Torah cover), designed to mark the first yahrzeit of October 7th. This me’il will be identical to the ones which will be created for 1600 synagogues across the world. This beautifully designed me’il will proclaim that this Torah is dedicated in memory of the 1200 souls and the many soldiers and hostages who have since died, Al Kiddush Hashem.

Every Single Soul is an Entire Torah

Each Torah me'il will feature the name of one of the kedoshim (holy souls/victims) embroidered onto it. Communities around the world will dance with these Torah scrolls – thousands of communities, with hundreds of thousands if not millions of Jews being connected through this project.Each me’il (Torah cover) is embroidered with the flag of Israel along with the Pasuk from Kohelet, “There is a time to mourn, and a time to dance”The Front of the me’il (Torah cover) for both Ashkenazi and Sephardi TorahsThe Back is embroidered with the name of one of the souls of the many soldiers and hostages who have died, Al Kiddush Hashem since the events of October 7th.

United in sorrow. United in celebration.

The Jewish world will be unified, knowing that across the globe, Jews are dancing with Torah scrolls that collectively link us all with the events of October 7th, and inspire us to realize that “Am Yisrael Chai.” Synagogues will encourage their members to come and dance with the newly robed scroll, to remember the fallen, by holding their Torah high, so that they can say: “We will not forget what happened on Simchat Torah last year, but we are determined to dispel the darkness with light.”

This project will symbolize the Jewish People’s resilience, our ability to find hope in the face of tragedy.

Over 1600 communities across the globe will unite for Israel and the Jewish people.

My shul is partcipating in this. Thought I'd spread the word.

[todaysjewishholiday]

Elul Practices

Unlike with the high holy days, the shalosh regalim, or even the period of the Omer, there are no specific ritual mitzvot for the month of Elul. Instead, the entire month is oriented around the most fundamental biblical mitzvah: teshuvah, ie return. Return to our best selves, return to HaShem and the covenant, return to the care for each other that can heal the world.

But Judaism doesn’t leave us without resources to promote mindfulness of this work during Elul.

I. Shofar

Many Jewish communities begin weekday shacharit prayers with a shofar blast. This serves as a spiritual wake-up call, a reminder of the upcoming encounter of the Yamim Noraim. In the Torah the sound of a shofar blast proceeded from the cloud atop Mount Sinai at the making of the covenant between the newly liberated multitude and HaShem. Even before Rosh HaShana became the Jewish new year during the exile in Babylon, the first of Tishri was known as Yom T’ruah (Day of the Shofar Blast) or Zikhron T’ruah (the Memorial Shofar Blast). Because the watchman’s sounding of the shofar would also be used to call the community together in times of calamity or attack, the sounding of the shofar served to shake our forebears out of their routines and focus them in preparation for the Day of Atonement ten days later. The sounding of the shofar on each weekday in Elul brings this wake up call even earlier and invites us to set our lives in order.

II. Tehillim

Psalm 27 is also added to the morning and evening prayers during Elul. This change also reminds us of the spiritual focus of the month, with the poet’s appeal, “Hear, HaShem, when I cry aloud; show mercy to me and answer me. My heart tells me to seek your face. HaShem, I seek you.”

III. Selichot

Selichot (from the Hebrew word selichah meaning forgiveness) are special piyyutim written throughout the generations of Jewish history to aid in the spiritual work of teshuvah. In Sephardi communities, the custom is to hold a Selichot service every day beginning on the second of Elul, while in Ashkenazi communities Selichot services generally begin roughly a week before Rosh HaShana, with only four services. Whatever your minhag or personal practice, the selichot prayers can help direct the soul towards the repair that Elul invites us to seek.

IV. Other Practices

In the past half century, the Reform, Reconstructionist and Renewal movements have seen a flowering of new practices to guide teshuvah during Elul. Search the web and you’ll find Elul workbooks and meditations galore. Many Jewish communities across the spectrum also see Elul as a time for interpersonal reconciliation as well as soul-work and emphasize reaching out who we have harmed or offended in the past year to attempt to mend what we can. The work of tzedekah— our obligation to provide assistance to those in poverty from what resources we have— is also a crucial aspect of teshuvah that is explored in many Elul traditions.

Teshuvah is deeply personal, and it’s good to remember that no specific practice is obligatory. These are not mitzvot, they are tools we can draw on as we seek to fulfill the ultimate mitzvah of return to ourselves, our righteous vows, and our G-d.

While this work is deeply personal, I encourage you to counteract the overly individualist and isolating spirit of our times and remember that the heart of teshuvah is in relationship, and in recognizing the webs of reciprocity and community and obligation we’re woven into. Recognizing our collective connectedness is at the heart of the healing that we’re offered through the path of teshuvah, and we cannot repair ourselves in isolation. May your labors this month prove fruitful, whatever type of teshuvah you may choose to seek.

[magnetothemagnificent]

I published a prayer!!!

This is a prayer for trans Jews to recite at momentous moments of their transition; such as starting their first dose of hormones, or before a surgery, or before a name change; or whenever they feel like asking Hashem for extra strength and protection.

I hope this prayer serves you all well :)

[rabbiaharon]

I’m not very familiar with Torah so forgive me if this is a dumb question, but in the law it says not to punish a child for the sins of his father and yet during the exodus G-d killed the first born Egyptian children for the sins of their fathers against the Jewish people. even though the law came after the exodus isn’t that a moral inconsistency on G-d’s part? I’ve asked this question many times online and haven’t received an answer, and I’m not jewish so I don’t have anyone to ask irl

I apologize for how long this took, I didn’t mean to deny you your answer, but I’ve had a tenuous relationship at best with Tumblr these days due to rising antisemitism, and I did take a nearly 6 year hiatus. It’s not a dumb question at all, but a question fundamental to jewish theology, and one with ample examples across all of mikrah and mishnah. In fact, the Talmud asks almost this exact question in Tractate Berachos (7a), comparing two verses: the first one “he visits the sins of the fathers on their children, on the third generation, and on the fourth” (פּוקד עון אַבות על הבנים על שלשים ועל רבעים - Shemos 34:7), and the second one “children shall not die by the sins of their fathers, by one’s own sin they will die” (בנים לא ימותו על אבות - Devarim 24:16).

The Talmud observes that these two pesukim appear to contradict each other, and then resolves the contradiction: The former posuk, which states that a person will be punished for the sin of their ancestors up to the 4th generation is if they retain and continue the ways of their forefathers, in other words, doing the same set of sins. The novelty being that they are only held responsible until the 4th generation, rather than forever as long as they maintain the same evils. What’s cool about this, from a comparative theology perspective, is that a proper reading of this posuk entirely eliminates the Xtian idea of Original Sin, being that even if we were following in the ways of Adam and Chava in their decision to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, we are more than 4 generations away from that sin, so we can certainly not be held responsible for it.

The second posuk, which explains that a person is only responsible for their own sin, refers to a situation where the child has not followed the wicked ways of their fathers.

There is an additional aspect to this comparison as well, which is that the first posuk refers to punishment meted out by Hashem, such as in the situation of the Egyptians, whereas the second posuk refers to the punishment meted out by the Rabbinical Courts below.

To address the situation you brought up in your initial question, why were the firstborn killed for the sin of their fathers? They weren’t, per say. Not exclusively. They played a role in their fathers’ sins. They took part in throwing jewish babies into the river. They were the priests of Egyptian idolatry and the greatest opponents towards letting the jews serve G-d, particularly because our method of service often involved the sacrifice of the things they worshipped. In fact, they didn’t “change their minds” about letting the jews go until they saw the jews tying sheep to their bedposts for the Pesach sacrifice, and when they [the first born] asked, the jews said “G-d is going to kill the firstborn and then we’ll be leaving anyway”. In other words, their change of heart wasn’t out of a desire to actually repent, but entirely born out of self-interest.

In addition, one without context can assume, based on this circumstance, that G-d metes out indiscriminate collective punishment, since every single one of the firstborn of Egypt were killed, except Pharaoh himself, and that the entirety of Egypt suffered as a result of all of this. This is also inaccurate, as G-d ensured that all the citizen Mitzrim had an opportunity to take part in the sin, by causing Pharaoh to withhold the straw they needed to make mortar and bricks. Two centuries earlier, in exchange for selling them food during the years of famine, Yosef acquired all the physical land in Egypt on behalf of Pharaoh… In other words, all of Egypt was living on royal land, and when Pharaoh stopped giving the jews pre-cut straw, the assumption was that they would go into the fields of Egyptiants - fields that belonged to the government - and cut the straw needed to complete their requisite service to the king. Instead, civilians who were previously uninvolved would savagely beat jews that came to collect the straw, which gave them a role in the sin which eventually destroyed Egypt. Thus, even if you apply the same rules to the heavenly court and the earthly court, no moral inconsistency is present.

This ties in to the big issue that all the goyim on this website who harbor the mental illness formerly known as judenhass have made their rallying cry to attack innocent jews from all over the world - Gaza. As a teacher, I have very deep sympathy for children in Gaza, as a general rule, who did not sign up to be used as human shields for a terrorist organization. Their parents? As a teacher, even if they were innocent of direct involvement with Hamas, but have not tried to leave Gaza and emigrate to another, safer country, I hate them with a consummate hatred. Why? Because they have endangered their own children, and as a teacher, I cannot abide that. From a torah perspective? Every child who wants to terrorize Jews because it makes their parents proud, wants to kill jews to buy their parents’ favor, and doesn’t once question whether killing innocent people is the correct course of action, will almost undoubtedly share their parents’ fate, as they have a deep desire to share in their sin.

Still, regardless of their “status”, our main focus should be on our own actions. We should strive to discern the innocent from the guilty. Even if we cannot always make that distinction we still have to act for the sake of Heaven. We must strive to work on our own behavior, so that when Rosh Hashanah comes, Hashem will see our efforts and give us his help, as revealed good, as we pass into a new year, may it be a year of redemption.

[eesirachs]

Hi Sam! I think my favorite declaration about God is said by Rahab in Joshua 2:11 “& as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, & there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in the heavens above & on the earth beneath.” 

I love those differentiations of all the different peoples belief & that they are all combined into her own statement. So similarly personal like Ruth’s more known declaration in but so not in the those bounds of individual approach to the substance of God. I was wondering if you knew anything about it or what the original text has to tell me as I am not nearly as well versed in Hebrew as you are. All good if not, I just love the old testament & your thoughts, if you have any share. 🤍 

all of rahab serves as a particular site of meaning as the israelites enter canaan—but her body is especially meaningful. not because of any libidinal economy, not because she is a זָנָה (a fraught word, a prostitute), but because she lets her flesh host all of that spirit that evacuates the other bodies of jericho.

the hebrew bible’s faith system isn’t monotheism or polytheism, but something more like henotheism. it maintains hashem’s power over and against other gods, gods that were as real as he. rahab’s embodied faith tells us this: here, in josh 2:11, she says ה֤וּא אֱלֹהִים֙ בַּשָּׁמַ֣יִם—yhwh, your god, is the god—of the heavens and of the earth. you’re right that she uses difference as a rubric of hashem’s power. hashem is not the only god: that’s why she has to name him as ‘your god,’ to clarify that she means him and not another. and yet he’s the only god that matters, the only one who occupies topography, he moves into bodies, moves into her body. the hebrew is at such great pains to express all of this. here, in and for rahab, faith is unruly and messy. it’s not uniform, it takes a language that stutters to make sense of itself. it fits ill on some bodies. maybe this is why those on the margins, those already slinking into difference, pick up on it easiest. rahab knows that there are other gods, other domains of the divine, other bodies more resistant than hers. yet she knows, more than that, that this god, and his spaces, and her body—these are the real sites of faith. that’s why she walks away from jericho when many, many others don’t

[torais-life]

"How do we serve Hashem?: With the body and with the soul"

-Rab. Abud Zonana

[vasilissadragomir]

for the fake fic ask game:

a THG fic with: accidental marriage, political intrigue and mutual pining!

OOF this is so hard i’ve been thinking about this one for a WHILE but i think i got it!! in honor of Passover…a Jewish!Everlark (shtetl!District 12, really) AU set during Catching Fire.

The twin burns on their hands aren’t the only things binding Katniss and Peeta together that fateful night before the Passover Seder. When they tear the loaf to drop in the Mellark fireplace together, cleansing the house of chametz before the holiday, they’re transported to another time with another burnt loaf…until they look down to find a toasted piece of bread in each of their hands. And, worse yet, Mrs. Mellark saw the whole thing. Couldn’t they at least have waited to do the toasting under a chuppah? Oy, what a shanda!

As Katniss and Peeta are marched down to the Justice Building by Mrs. Mellark and the town rabbi, Katniss fears the repercussions from President Snow, whose perfect, goyische Capitol wedding was just ruined by the accidental fulfillment of the District 12 tradition.

A month after Peeta stepped on the glass in the Justice Building, making their marriage legal in the eyes of both the state and HaShem, they learn the consequences of their actions when President Snow announces the Quell. With nothing left to lose, Katniss and Peeta start to think that maybe the meshugas they caused could be what saves them in the arena. After all, being star-crossed lovers worked pretty well last time.

In the battle for their culture, their rights, their traditions, and their lives, they can’t help but wonder…is it beshert?

glossary for the goyim:

shtetl - small Jewish towns in Eastern Europe (generally pre WWII for obvious reasons)

Passover - holiday where we don’t eat leavened bread and we often burn it to ensure our houses are entirely bread-free before the holiday

Seder - super long ritual dinner we do on the first night or two of passover

chametz - leavened bread

chuppah - a big ritual tarp we get married under

shanda - scandal

rabbi - Jewish spiritual leader (comparable to a minister or imam)

goyische - goy-like (“goy” means non-Jew; serves a similar role to gringo/a in Spanish-speaking regions)

breaking the glass - wedding tradition where the groom steps on a piece of glass which usually ends the ceremony

HaShem - literally translates to “the name” but is just God (we’re not allowed to say God’s name)

meshugas - ridiculousness, chaos

beshert - basically destiny (“it would’ve happened anyway…”)

[hindahoney]

Do you have any tips for eating kosher food when it's not easily available to you? It's slightly easier cause I don't eat meat but its very hard and I'd like help

To anyone who wants to eat kosher, my most important advice is to start slow. It's a process. If you cut out everything at once you will get overwhelmed and quit.

My first advice is to only eat things with a hechsher on it. Because you don't eat meat, it's already significantly easier for you. The problem is finding dairy with a hechsher, especially cheese. A lot of cheeses are made with rennet, which is a part of the animal we are forbidden to eat. This is why a lot of cheese chips and snacks aren't kosher, even if they seem like they should be (doritos were SO hard to let go of for me, and I'll never forgive Sunchips for removing their hechsher). A lot of foods also have non kosher dyes that were made with insect shells, the same with sodas. Additionally, checking produce for any bugs is always a good idea!!! Even produce in grocery chains are likely to contain little bugs. I promise once you start checking, you'll see them. So many products are full of chemicals that were created with non-kosher ingredients or in non-kosher facilities, so the best way to ensure you're not accidentally consuming them is to just eat hechsher products.

For people who do eat meat, however, you can still eat most fish because it's considered pareve. Chicken used to be in this category, though this was changed over time by rabbis who noticed that people began thinking of chicken as meat. The argument proposed is that the Torah says "Thou shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk," and since chickens don't produce milk, this prohibition does not apply. Rabbis would say that the spirit of the law means it does. It is up to you whether you want to agree with the rabbis about this. For me, when I first started keeping kosher, I would allow myself to eat chicken, before I slowly removed it from my diet to abide by the rabbinical ruling. I also think the spirit of the law should apply to eating eggs and chicken (though eggs are pareve) together, if we are prohibiting eating an animal with its potential child. But I'm not aware of any rabbis who have said this (but jews talk about everything so they're probably out there.)

Eating meat or cheese plant-based hechshered substitutes are also acceptable, depending on your movement. For me personally, I will eat hechshered meat substitutes, and this satiates my cravings for meat until I can get kosher meat. Gardein is a good brand, and so is Morning Star, and I'm sure other countries have their own brands. The argument against eating meat substitutes was that the appearance of an observant jew eating what looks to be a cheeseburger could cause other observant Jews to believe the laws around kashrut have changed, leading them to break kosher. This law made more sense back then, but now I'm not so convinced, but that's up to you to decide. Eventually, I see myself no longer eating meat substitutes once I live in an area with a kosher market, but for now this has to do.

Work your way up to waiting between meat and milk. The time varies, I've heard anything from one to eight hours.

Make sure to crack your eggs in a separate clear container to check for blood. It's not common, but it happens.

Eating vegan or vegetarian while you're out is a decent compromise in the beginning until you feel ready to let go of restaurants.

Lastly, have a little non-kosher food send off. Before you start your journey, eat your favorite non kosher food and then say goodbye to it forever, at least until you can find a way to make it kosher. Eating kosher is hard. But it's a reminder of the covenant between yourself and HaShem. When you eat kosher foods, the belief is that whatever animal was used in the making has now served a higher purpose.

If anyone else has tips on how to start keeping kosher, or ways that help you, feel free to share!

[aguineapigcouldntdothis]

Hashem made it very very clear that I should not be drinking unless its wine that has literally be served by someone else that i know well and I am unable to take any home with me. thought I'd be ok with slowly reintroducing a teensy bit of alcohol into my life but I got that shit spiritually slapped out of my hands. I have been limited in my substance consumption by g-d Himself

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

The 10 Commandments

1 And Moshe called kol Yisroel, and said unto them, Shema, Yisroel, to the chukkim and mishpatim which I speak in your ears today, that ye may learn them, and be shomer to do them.

2 Hashem Eloheinu made a Brit with us in Chorev.

3 Hashem made not this Brit with Avoteinu, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive today.

4 Hashem talked with you panim b’panim in the har out of the midst of the eish,

5 (I stood between Hashem and you at that time, to show you the Devar Hashem; for ye were afraid by reason of the eish, and went not up into the har) saying:

6 I am Hashem Eloheicha, Which brought thee out of Eretz Mitzrayim, from the bais avadim.

7 Thou shalt have no elohim acharim before Me.

8 Thou shalt not make thee any pesel, or any temunah of anything that is in Shomayim above, or that is in Ha’Aretz beneath, or that is in the mayim beneath ha’aretz;

9 Lo tishtachaveh (thou shalt not bow down thyself) unto them, nor serve them; for I Hashem Eloheicha am an El Kannah, visiting the iniquity of the avot upon the banim unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me,

10 And showing chesed unto thousands of them that love Me and are shomer over My mitzvot.

11 Thou shalt not take the Shem of Hashem Eloheicha in vain; for Hashem will not hold him guiltless that taketh Shmo in vain.

12 Keep shomer Shabbos to set Shabbos apart as kodesh as Hashem Eloheicha commanded thee.

13 Sheshet yamim thou shalt labor, and do all thy work:

14 But the Yom HaShevi’i is the Shabbos of Hashem Eloheicha: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy ben, nor thy bat, nor thy eved, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine donkey, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy ger that is within thy she’arim; that thy eved and thy amah may rest as well as thou.

15 And remember that thou wast an eved in Eretz Mitzrayim, and that Hashem Eloheicha brought thee out thence through a yad chazakah and by an outstretched zero’a; therefore Hashem Eloheicha commanded thee to be shomer Shabbos on Yom HaShabbat.

16 Honor thy av and thy em, as Hashem Eloheicha hath commanded thee; that thy yamim may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in ha’adamah which Hashem Eloheicha giveth thee.

17 Lo tirtzah (thou shalt not murder).

18 V’lo tinaf (neither shalt thou commit adultery).

19 V’lo tignov (neither shalt thou steal).

20 V’lo ta’aneh v’reacha ed shav (neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor).

21 V’lo tachmod (neither shalt thou covet, desiring) thy neighbor’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor’s bais, his sadeh, or his eved, or his amah, his ox, or his donkey, or any thing that is thy neighbor’s.

22 These devarim Hashem spoke unto all your Kahal in the mountain out of the midst of the eish, of the anan, and of the thick darkness, with a kol gadol; and He added no more. And He wrote them in two luchot of even (stone), and delivered them unto me. — Deuteronomy 5:1-22 | Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB) Orthodox Jewish Bible Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. Cross References: Genesis 15:13; Exodus 18:20; Exodus 19:1; Exodus 19:18; Exodus 20:2-3; Exodus 20:5; Exodus 20:21; Exodus 23:1; Exodus 34:17; Leviticus 19:11; Numbers 14:18; Matthew 5:21; Matthew 5:33; Matthew 15:4; Mark 2:27; Luke 13:14; Luke 18:20; Luke 23:56; Romans 7:7; Hebrews 8:9; Hebrews 12:18

Read full chapter

What are the Ten Commandments? What is the Decalogue?

[todaysjewishholiday]

28 Menachem Av 5784 (31 August- 1 September 2024)

In midrashic tradition, Moshe spent 40 days on Mount Sinai speaking to HaShem not once but three times. His first return to the Israelite camp was on the 17th of Tammuz, his second return, with the second set of tablets to replace the set that shattered when he’d thrown to the ground in rage and shock upon seeing the golden calf, was on the 28th of Av. Then he went up the mountain a third time from the first of Elul to request divine forgiveness for the breaches of covenant the people had committed since the revelation on Sinai a few months prior. That third journey up Mount Sinai served as a metaphor for the individual and communal processes of teshuvah that Jewish tradition encourages through Elul and the Yamim Noraim, culminating in the Yom Kippur service.

The broken and whole tablets are also a powerful symbol of the repair that’s possible through sincere teshuvah. Both the first shattered tablets and the second set given as a replacement were kept in the Aron haBarrit as a sign of Hashem’s promises to the people.

[ticktockaura]

Hezbollah confirms death of top official Hashem Safieddine

Hezbollah has confirmed the death of Hashem Safieddine, one of the candidates possibly slated to take charge of the group following the assassination of leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The Israel Defense Forces said earlier that Safieddine was killed when the Israeli Air Force attacked the underground intelligence headquarters of Hezbollah in Beirut’s southern suburbs about three weeks ago.

Hezbollah said in a statement Wednesday that Safieddine was killed in an Israeli airstrike, without specifying the date.

“His Eminence Sayyed Hashem Safieddine has devoted most of his life to serving Hezbollah, the Islamic Resistance and its society,” the Lebanese militant group’s statement said.

The group has yet to name a successor to Nasrallah.

[laineystein]

This week’s parashah is about what Hashem commands of us to build the temple. These are orders from Hashem to Moses, meant to be given to the Jewish people as redemption for the (soon to be) golden calf snafu. Listen. I am here on this earth to serve Hashem - to work with my fellow Jews to rebuild the temple and to create that same altar within myself. But y’all are not Hashem. I’m not here to win your favor or seek your redemption. I’m not Hashem either; I’m human. And currently I am very very tired of all of the online discourse. I’d hope we could all be kind but every day this space becomes more and more negative. This is a dumb blog. I have a real life that is far more important to me. If ya’ll want to work together and rebuild this temple, great. If not, great. I’m too exhausted to spend energy on negativity online where it truly doesn’t matter.

[rabbiaharon]

בריך רחמנא דסעיין לי מריש ועד סוף

Shalom Aleichem! One of the deepest aspects of Elul, Selichos, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and indeed the entirety of Tishrei is the reality of true Jewish unity, one which happens regardless of whether or not we are shomer shabbos, shomer kashrus, and shomer taharas hamishpocha… whether or not we are spiritually healthy, clean, and pure, or soiled, dirty, or, chas v’shalom, sick - and how much moreso those who are skirting the line between life and death every day of their lives. In Selichos we find many psukim which are normally written in singular (יהיו לרצון אמרי פי) and express them in plural (יהיו לרצון אמרי פינו) to indicate our unity with each other as we stand before Hashem.

This is expressed especially through the most sensitive times of Tishrei, on Rosh Hashana (where we beseech Hashem to accept OUR prayers in musaf), and on Yom Kippur (where we begin the entire davening by night with the words “with the permission of the heavenly court and the earthly court, we are henceforth allowed to pray alongside the transgressors”). It stands to reason that when it comes to anyone who is Jewish - either halachically Jewish by birth, or one who went through a proper orthodox conversion - it is more important than any other time of the year to judge them favorably and assume the best in them. Part of this may be assuming that a Jew who does not keep Torah simply was never taught how to fulfill aspects of the Torah, or that they never had the opportunity to learn (that they’re a tinuk shenishbe), and part of that may be assuming that they’ve gone through some trauma in their lives, or personal challenges that they are having difficulty overcoming, and that if we were in their situation, we may not do differently than they are.

This is expressed to the extreme in one of my favorite halachos (that I’ve come across so far), in Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 139:1). This section of Shulchan Aruch is the beginning of the laws concerning idolatry, and the extent of the prohibition thereof, and it begins by discussing the difference between idolatry that belongs to a Jew, and that which belongs to a non-Jew:

 Idolatry that belongs to a non-Jew is presumed prohibited to benefit or use from the point that it comes into their hands (or from the point that they make it, even though they have yet to bow down to it), but if they break it into pieces (and it’s no longer fit to worship), a Jew can benefit from the pieces. 

By contrast, idolatry that belongs to a Jew does not become prohibited to benefit from until they bow down to it (or commit any other act of idolatry that constitutes serving the idol), but once it has become prohibited, the materials will never become permitted to benefit from for a Jew - even if it has been broken - and must be disposed of in a permanent manner (such as dropping them off a boat in the middle of the sea, or burning them, and scattering the ashes in a place where they won’t benefit anyone).

 

The beautiful limud zchuss is in two essential parts as follows:

1) The Turei Zahav mentions that while in most cases, a Yehudi Mumar (a rebelling Jew, who violates certain prohibitions in public out of spite against G-d) is considered to be a non-Jew and cannot be relied upon for the Laws of Kashrus, Shabbos, or the like, and they cannot be called up to the Torah in shul, or counted for the minyan, in the case of the laws of idolatry, they are considered a Jew both for a leniency (their idolatry doesn’t become prohibited until it’s served) and for a stringency (their idolatry will never become permitted, even if they break it). The Turi Zahav concludes his thought; “Even though he is a sinner, he’s still a Jew.” 

2) The Remah adds on to the ruling of the Shulchan Aruch that if a Jew sets up an idol for the sake of idolatry, and a non-Jew bows down to it, it becomes prohibited to benefit from (even though a person generally cannot cause something that does not belong to them to become prohibited, since the Jew set up the idol for the purpose of idolatry, we have an exception to the rule). The Sifsei Kohen, commenting on the Remah’s ruling, says: “However, if the same non-Jew picks another idol from the house of the same Jew, stands it up, and bows down to it, it does not become prohibited, because perhaps the Jew only designated the idol he set up for idolatry for that purpose, but anything else in his house, he does not wish to use for that purpose.”

Regardless of the fact that this Jew is actively an idolator, committing full-on acts of idolatry, we still judge him favorably, assuming that anything else in his house, even if it looks and smells like idolatry, is nothing more than a decoration or a keepsake and remains permitted to benefit from. Despite his chazakah of being wicked, we still deem him to be righteous with regards to any action he has not clearly already done, and we do not assume that he will continue to sin in the future. In the merit of our limud zchuss on every Jew we meet, we should merit to be judged favorably by Hashem and be written down for blessing in the coming year, and merit the ultimate blessing, of our speedy and complete redemption!

—Rabbi Aharon Coff

[wenevergotusedtoegypt]

I have a friend who I love dearly, but we have very different views about food. Her family doesn’t eat sugar, for example, whereas I believe sweet treats are totally fine in moderation and that restricting them will most likely lead to binging behavior down the road (which I have in fact witnessed with her kids anytime they manage to get their hands on anything the least bit sweet).

But something she’s doing that drives me absolutely BONKERS lately when I hang out with her on Shabbos is admonishing her kids that they need to eat “real food” when they’re eating challah. Challah is real food? I mean, ALL food is real food, but of all things, challah?! There’s a reason why it’s not a halachic meal without bread, and why a bracha on bread covers all the other food at the meal. It is pretty much the definition of real food, Jewishly-speaking.

What she means is, it’s good to also eat other foods to make sure you’re getting all the nutrients your body needs, some of which challah has and some of which it doesn’t. But what comes across is, “even though Hashem says I have to serve this to you and I am serving it to you, it’s bad and wrong to eat it and you shouldn’t actually do so, except you have to because Hashem, but it’s bad, and you should really eat something better.”