Prism of Torah

1

True Peace • Parshas Korach • Ep. 134

Jun 26, 2020

11:39

Why would Pinchas and the Kohanim, who acted with force, be given the reward of peace? Pirkei Avos holds up the dispute of Shammai and Hillel as an argument for the sake of heaven, and Korach's as the opposite. What exactly is the difference? And why couldn't David HaMelech build the Beis HaMikdash? Peace sounds like keeping an argument quiet, yet the Torah keeps tying it to people who spoke up. Then come three things the Gemara says mean peace when seen in a dream, and a mashal of a father, a torn newspaper and a seven-year-old who finishes far too quickly.

2

Perception is reality • Parshas Shelach • Ep. 133

Jun 19, 2020

8:59

Why does the pasuk of Tzitzis put the heart before the eyes, when Rashi says the eye sees first, then the heart wants, then the body sins? The backwards order says something about how the Meraglim saw the land, and about how any of us sees. A teacher walks into class late, and a girl in the front points at her watch. The teacher is furious and throws her out in front of everyone. The next day, the girl's mother comes in with an explanation that changes the whole scene. What the teacher saw was real to her, but was it what happened?

3

Consistency wins the race • Parshas Behaaloscha • Ep. 132

Jun 12, 2020

10:13

Everyone has an area where the energy never runs out, and another where it suddenly disappears. Two upside-down letters Nun frame the pasuk of "Vayehi binsoa haaron" in Behaaloscha, and the Gemara in Shabbos says they separate three episodes where Bnei Yisrael sinned, so it wouldn't look like a pattern. Then why is the break placed after the first one, and not just before the third? And why a Nun, of all letters? In between comes Eliyahu HaNavi meeting a fisherman who says he's simply not smart enough to learn, and the gap in our own energy starts to say something.

4

The importance of Shalom • Parshas Nasso • Ep. 131

Jun 5, 2020

9:12

The Sifri records an argument over the last words of Birkas Kohanim, "and Hashem shall grant you peace." One Tanna says it means Shalom Bayis, peace in the home. Another says it means peace for the whole nation. Why would a blessing be read at two such different ends of the spectrum? And why does Parshas Naso, in the middle of counting tribes, suddenly stop for the very private matter of Sotah? The Mikdash Mordechai ties both questions to a phrase the Torah keeps repeating. Last comes a funeral where every kind of Jew showed up, and one quiet moment at a grave.

5

Seizing the Unique Annual Opportunity • Shavuos • Ep. 130

May 27, 2020

16:00

The Luchos were six tefachim long, and the Malbim brings a Midrash that Hashem held the top two, Moshe held the bottom two, and no one held the middle two. Why leave a gap, and why did Moshe have to pull those middle tefachim toward himself with force? Before Shavuos, Rabbi Asaf Prisman connects this to the Gemara that calls Shavuos the Rosh Hashanah for fruits. What is being decided for us that day, and how do we build real thirst for Torah when we have endless pleasures to choose from? It starts with how you eat.

6

The master key for Avodas Hashem • Parshas Bamidbar • Ep. 129

May 21, 2020

12:36

The Midrash Rabbah says the Torah was given through fire, water and the desert, yet the pasuk in Parshas Bamidbar mentions only the desert. Why list all three, and how do we learn about the other two from one word? The Ramchal's warning about how the yetzer hara can twist good into bad explains what the desert adds that fire and water cannot. A man whose company just went bankrupt walks into the most important interview of his life during Sefiras HaOmer, unshaven, with one halacha he could bend just this once.

7

The million dollar question • Parshas Behar • Ep. 128

May 14, 2020

14:08

After 120 years, the first thing a person is asked, says the Gemara in Shabbos, is whether he dealt faithfully in business. The word is emunah, not honesty or fairness. Why is money the opening question, and why that word?The same idea sits behind a small puzzle in Parshas Behar. The laws of interest and honest dealing appear next to Shemitah and Yovel, not with the other monetary laws in Mishpatim. The Sefer HaChinuch on Shemitah holds the thread. A man worried about making a living, and a blessing from Rabbi Meir Abuchatzeira, ends in a place he never expected.

8

Ability to Decipher Hashem's Will • Parshas Balak • Ep. 335

Jul 1, 2024

8:36

Bilam seems to obey Hashem at every step in Parshas Balak. He refuses the first messengers and goes only when told he may. So why do Chazal and Rashi read every word of his in the harshest light, and call him Bilam HaRasha? The answer starts with a contrast with Avraham and with a small detail in how Hashem phrased two different commands, one to each of them. A father who finally says "fine, go" to a pleading son is a picture of how a person hears what he wants to hear, and what that costs.

9

Hashem's ATM • Parshas Ki Seitzei • Ep. 334

Jul 1, 2024

6:29

A bill is due tomorrow and the money isn't there: that is when saying Hashem runs the world gets tested. A man abroad gets a call before Rosh Hashanah: his mother in Israel needs a medicine that costs $8,000, and the pharmacy needs the money by the next day. He has nothing in the bank and tells his sister not to worry. A true story, told to Rabbi Asaf Prisman by the man himself, about how the next two days unfold and what it taught him in the weeks of Elul.

10

Fabric of Faith • Parshas Ki Sisa • Ep. 325

May 7, 2024

3:27

A king has a magnificent garment made by a Jewish tailor, and the jealous people around him whisper that the tailor kept some of the cloth. To prove his honesty, the tailor does something that shocks the king. A Gemara in Menachos has the angels asking a very hard question when they see Rabbi Akiva's death: "This is Torah, and this is its reward?" Hashem's reply leaves them silent. The mashal is short, and it speaks to every time we cannot see how something could be for the best.

11

What Separates the Men & Boys • Parshas Ki Sisa • Ep. 324

May 7, 2024

10:48

A horse, a soldier in heavy armor, and a test the Russian army used to pick its recruits. What was it really measuring? The same question hides in one word Aharon says when the people press him for the Golden Calf: "tomorrow." A Midrash finds that word in three other places that all touch Amalek, and says Amalek falls only "tomorrow." Why that word, and what does it say about the days when evil seems to be winning? The idea reaches a very personal place in every one of us.

12

Uprooting Negative Middos • Parshas Vayechi • Ep. 311

Feb 12, 2024

11:19

Reuven did teshuva, so why did he still lose the kehuna and the kingship? And why does Yaakov's rebuke of Reuven and of Shimon and Levi point to a character flaw, "unstable as water" and "in their anger," and not to the act itself? Rabbi Asaf Prisman brings a difficult piece from Rav Eliyahu Lopian's Lev Eliyahu on Parshas Vayechi. Why do some sins weigh more than others? One case of two counterfeiters, caught on the same day and sentenced very differently, makes the point. It also asks what we are working on when we do teshuva.

13

Working on One's Middos • Parshas Vayechi • Ep. 310

Feb 12, 2024

5:49

A father comes home to find his house turned upside down and a large sum of money, meant for his book, missing from its hiding place. His wife left a note, and he has every reason to be furious. What he does next, with his children and in front of the neighbors, leads to a surprise nobody saw coming. It is a true story about anger, about the quick search for whose fault it is, and about who is really behind what happens to us.

14

Preparing for Elul Insights from Parashat Re'eh • Parshas Reeh • Ep. 290

Oct 10, 2023

10:03

On a Friday afternoon, an older woman is bent over a large garbage bin, and a passerby stops to ask what she is looking for. What followed explains why one man believes everything has gone right for him, including his children. The same thread runs through Ir HaNidachas in Parshas Reeh. After the city is destroyed, the pasuk promises that Hashem will give you mercy. Why is mercy the reward for a harsh mitzvah, and how does that connect to being judged? The Or HaChaim's answer gives a very practical way to prepare for Elul.

15

Shiur: Bishul • Kollel Shiur • Ep. 256

Feb 16, 2023

40:09

Sweep away the coals or cover them with ash, and the Mishnah permits leaving a pot on the stove, yet the stove is still hot. So what does sweeping or covering the fire actually accomplish for the laws of cooking on Shabbos? Rashi seems to care about what you do to the fire, more than how hot it stays, and the Rambam is brought in to test that. Recorded at the kollel, it checks each opinion against the case in front of it, with the questions left open for the room to argue.

16

Avoiding Stumbling Blocks Lifnei Iver Lo Siten Michshol • Lomdus • Ep. 254

Feb 13, 2023

17:25

Both laws come from one pasuk: do not put a stumbling block before the blind. Yet the Chinuch says that bad advice is forbidden only toward a fellow Jew, while handing a non-Jew a limb from a living animal is forbidden too. The Minchas Chinuch asks how one pasuk can have two different boundaries. From there come three investigations: when exactly you transgress, whether Lifnei Iver is its own prohibition or part of each one, and what happens if the other person's sin is only rabbinic. One definition of what the giver of the stumbling block really is sorts them out.

17

Disliking Gifts Soneh Matanos Yichyeh • Lomdus • Ep. 253

Feb 12, 2023

15:27

"One who hates gifts will live," says Mishlei. But what if the person giving a gift is the one who benefits? A Gemara in Kiddushin says that when an important person accepts a present, the giver receives enjoyment worth real money. Does that change whether accepting it counts as taking a gift at all? A dispute in Bava Basra, between partners splitting a field that is too small to divide, seems to point toward an answer. Rabbi Asaf Prisman lays out his own question, tests it against that case, and leaves one part of it open.

18

Tuning In to Shomea Keone • Lomdus • Ep. 252

Feb 10, 2023

16:11

Every Friday night, a host says Kiddush and everyone at the table fulfills the mitzvah just by listening. But what exactly is being credited to the listener: every word the host said, or only the result of his speaking? That question explains three disputes that look unrelated: Birkas Kohanim said out loud, saying "Haman's sons" in one breath on Purim, and answering Kedusha silently during the Amidah. It also explains why Rabbi Akiva Eger and the Rosh disagree about the Amen after Birkas HaGomel. Anyone who likes to see the logic behind the halachos will enjoy following it.

19

Zrizin Makdimim Pioneering Progress and Proactivity • Lomdus • Ep. 251

Feb 9, 2023

9:20

Even when Kiddush Levana could be said on a Tuesday, the Terumas HaDeshen says to wait for Motzei Shabbos. But isn't there a rule that those who are zariz do mitzvos as soon as they can? A related case: a man in jail is allowed out for one day a year, and he asks which day to take. The Chacham Tzvi sets two cases side by side and draws a line between them, then faces a hard question from Hallel on Rosh Hashanah. A lomdus look at when a hiddur outweighs rushing, and what counts as part of the mitzvah itself.

20

Wheat, Miracles, and Meaning • Parshas Emor • Ep. 209

May 5, 2022

12:26

Why is the Omer offering named after a measurement, when the Mincha offering has the exact same volume and no one calls it that? The Torah also starts the count to Shavuos from this one offering, and only after it may new grain be eaten. Why name a korban after its volume, and what ties it to the count? Rabbi Yosef Salant connects the word "omer" to another place where the Torah uses it. It speaks directly to anyone working long hours for a living. A small card handed to Rabbi Asaf Prisman by a stranger on a flight carries the point.

21

Surfing the Waves of Emuna During Pesach • Pesach • Ep. 208

Apr 13, 2022

16:00

Five years of digging, a tunnel five kilometers long, and a prison break that finally works. One man stays behind, and the question that follows him is the one we all face. Before the Seder, the Torah's wording raises its own puzzles. Why does the Ramban stress that Pesach, like Shabbos, must be guarded? Why does the Torah even call Pesach "Shabbos" in the count of the Omer? And why the extra care for every mitzvah of the night? The Chofetz Chaim's idea about Shabbos connects them, and says what to prepare for the Seder.

22

Emunah & Bitachon • Purim • Ep. 207

Mar 4, 2022

13:15

Esther's era is called "the end of all the miracles" by the Gemara, yet Jews have seen open miracles since then. What does that mean? Why was it only after Purim that Klal Yisrael accepted the Torah willingly, and why is the holiday named for a lottery, "Pur"? Rabbi Levenstein's approach ties together all these puzzles, including the Gemara's hint to Esther in "haster astir" and why Amalek is singled out. A mashal about villagers sent to investigate the first train asks how easily we miss what is really driving events.

23

All From Hashem • Parshas Vayakhel • Ep. 206

Feb 24, 2022

11:26

Anyone who has hesitated before giving knows the voice that says the money was hard to earn. Moshe gathers Bnei Yisrael to give to the Mishkan, and before he asks for anything he repeats the mitzvah of Shabbos, adding that for six days "work will be done," in the passive. Why Shabbos first, and why that wording? Rav Shlomo Ganzfried reads it as a message about where our income really comes from. A factory owner in Russia brushes off the Chofetz Chaim, and finds out what was at stake.

24

Honesty is the Best Policy • Parshas Ki Sisa • Ep. 205

Feb 17, 2022

10:29

Moshe already knew about the Golden Calf while he was still on the mountain, so why carry the Luchos all the way down before breaking them? What did he see as he came closer that changed everything? The Sforno points to one detail in the pasuk about what the people were feeling, and it says something about how we perform mitzvos and how we do the things we know we shouldn't. A second answer, built on a Gemara about a sin done more than once, cuts even closer.

25

True Mesiras Nefesh • Parshas Terumah • Ep. 204

Feb 10, 2022

16:31

Aharon had a part in the Chet HaEgel, and in Parshas Terumah the Midrash Tanchuma connects his appointment as Kohen Gadol to that very sin, so that he would know Hashem had forgiven him. But the Gemara says a sin never brings a reward. How can that be? A Midrash Rabbah on what Aharon feared for Klal Yisrael shows what the act revealed about him. It points to a trait that every person is born without and has to build. A story of two boys in Poland and a pair of shoes puts it at a child's size.

26

Renovations for the Shechinah • Parshas Terumah • Ep. 203

Feb 3, 2022

12:46

Shemos Rabbah reads one word in Parshas Terumah in a way that seems backwards. Bnei Yisrael are asked to give, yet the pasuk says "v'yikchu li", they shall take. And Hashem needs nothing from us anyway, so what is being given, and what is being taken? A king who marries off his only daughter and makes one small request of her new husband is a picture of what Hashem asked of us after Matan Torah. The Alshich adds a question about why the pasuk says "b'socham", among them, and what it asks of each person.

27

A Blessing in Disguise • Parshas Mishpatim • Ep. 202

Jan 28, 2022

10:31

Whatever arrives in our lives, a good break or a hard test, how do we know which one it really is? In Parshas Mishpatim the pasuk says "v'avadtem" in the plural, then turns to the singular for the blessing of bread, water, and health. Why the switch? The Baal HaTurim gives the pshat, and the Ramban sets a condition on serving Hashem for the right reason. A remez adds one more layer. A cleaner and a rainy night at a shul make that clarity real.

28

The Secret Recipe For Unity • Parshas Yisro • Ep. 201

Jan 20, 2022

11:59

Bnei Yisrael camp twice in a single pasuk before Har Sinai, once in the plural and once in the singular, and Rashi says the singular means "as one person with one heart". Why the repetition, and why does Yisrael only appear the second time? The Kli Yakar finds a change that happened between the desert and the mountain, hidden even in the name Refidim. It takes a look at the smallest mountain, and what a person must give up before real harmony is possible. A story of two boys booked for the same bar mitzvah leyning brings it into a very ordinary setting.

29

The Purpose of Prayer • Parshas Beshalach • Ep. 200

Jan 13, 2022

14:02

Across the street from a yeshiva stands a billboard that doesn't belong there, and one man decides to pay a lot of money to make it go away. What he puts up in its place puzzles every driver. It fits Bnei Yisrael at Refidim. Why would Hashem lead a people dying of thirst into such a test? And why does Moshe, who always davens, not daven for them? The Or HaChaim finds a cornerstone idea about what tefillah is for, beyond getting what we ask.

30

Our Responsibility as Hashem's Ambassadors • Parshas Bo • Ep. 199

Jan 6, 2022

7:06

Moshe Rabbeinu warned that Makas Bechoros would come at "about" midnight, though Hashem struck at exactly midnight. The Gemara in Berachos says he was worried the Egyptian astrologers would miscalculate. But why would Moshe care what they thought, when within minutes they would see the plague arrive just as he said? The answer sets a standard for anyone who looks like a representative of Hashem. A newspaper article waiting to go to print, with a correction promised for tomorrow, makes the standard very concrete.

31

The Essence of a Yid • Parshas Vaera • Ep. 198

Dec 31, 2021

12:13

Is the worst thing you ever did really who you are? In Parshas Vaera, the Beis HaLevi starts from a hard question: how can Hashem harden Paroh's heart and then punish him, when we have free will? His answer leads somewhere surprising about a Jew's own heart. The Gemara in Menachos has a voice from heaven compare Klal Yisrael to an olive, and Rabbi Asaf Prisman unpacks what that comparison means for anyone who has fallen, and for how we look at others after they do.

32

Emunah & Bitachon • Parshas Shemos • Ep. 197

Dec 23, 2021

11:53

Paroh dies in Parshas Shemos, and only then does the pasuk say Bnei Yisrael groaned and cried out, and Hashem heard them. They had suffered for years already. What was it about this particular moment that broke them open? The Ramban gives half the answer, and it touches who we run to when things go wrong. A man given weeks to live by a leading doctor answers him in a way that leaves the doctor stunned.

33

Yosef's plan • Parshas Vayigash • Ep. 196

Dec 9, 2021

10:08

Twice before, Yosef felt overwhelmed in front of his brothers, turned away, wept in another room, washed his face, and came back. In Parshas Vayigash he cannot hold back and clears the room. What changed? And if the Ramban says his dreams had already come true in Miketz, why did he wait until this scene to reveal himself? Rabbi Asaf Prisman reads the extra food, the extra money and the silver cup in Binyamin's bag as one plan, built on a halacha of the Rambam. It also says something about how to recognize a second chance when it arrives.

34

Redundancy, never • Parshas Miketz • Ep. 195

Dec 3, 2021

11:21

In a painting contest, one artist draws a basket of fruit so lifelike that birds fly down to eat it, and the judge still finds a flaw. The Maggid of Dubno uses that mashal for a dream in Parshas Miketz. How did Yosef know from birds eating out of a basket that the Sar HaOfim was doomed? And how did he dare tell Paroh to appoint someone else to run the storage, when he was only asked to interpret? Every detail of the dreams carried meaning, and the same goes for the unexplained turns in our own lives.

35

Powerful hidden message of Channukah • Chanukah • Ep. 194

Nov 25, 2021

14:08

Chanukah is named for the day the Jews rested from the war, the twenty-fifth of Kislev, not for the victory itself. The Siftei Chaim finds that very strange: a nation that wins a miraculous war would name the holiday after the win, or after Hashem who gave it. Why name it for resting? The answer says what the war was really about, and it connects to the Mesilas Yesharim's picture of life as a hallway. At a Yom Kippur Neilah in a Russian village, one man makes a request that is hard to forget.

36

Be aware your actions have an impact • Parshas Vayishlach • Ep. 193

Nov 19, 2021

13:41

Yaakov was afraid he would be killed by Esav, and Rashi adds that he was also distressed, afraid he might have to kill. Rav Moshe Feinstein asks what was wrong with that, since fighting evil is exactly the task. His answer is a warning for anyone who is sure he is in the right, and it reaches Shimon and Levi in Shechem. A comparison between a housewife and a cat sorts out two kinds of zealots.

37

Act of Rochel (Dvar Torah) • Parshas Vayetzei • Ep. 192

Nov 12, 2021

8:34

Leah married Yaakov only because Rachel secretly passed her the simanim, yet when Reuven brings back dudaim, Leah snaps at Rachel for taking her husband and now wanting more. How could she speak that way to the sister who gave up so much for her? Rashi and the Gemara in Megillah describe Rachel's silence on the wedding night, and the Midrash says it earned her tefillah an answer that even the Avos did not get. A fresh idea about what the simanim actually were makes the scene sound different.

38

When Silence Speaks Volumes • Parshas Vayetzei • Ep. 191

Nov 11, 2021

7:10

When someone spreads a lie about you, the instinct is to clear your name at once. A young talmid chacham in a kollel, supported by a wealthy patron, finds himself publicly accused by the cleaning lady, in a plot set up by someone jealous of his learning. He leaves in shame. Months later she comes back to him with a request, and he has to choose between his reputation and something he weighs for days. Beside it sits Rachel's quiet act for Leah in Parshas Vayetzei, and what Rashi says Hashem remembered.

39

Prayer from the depths of your heart • Parshas Vayetzei • Ep. 190

Nov 10, 2021

13:15

Why would Yaakov, who longed for Rachel to have children, answer her cry with what sounds like anger? Rachel begs for children in Parshas Vayetzei, and his reply is sharp. The Malbim asks what changed for Chanah in the year her tefillah was finally answered, and the Ramban helps with Yaakov's words. A girl runs to the doctor next door because her mother can barely breathe, and he stops to ask how his jacket looks. It points to what real prayer needs, and when we are most likely to find it.

40

Optimizing the Cards • Parshas Toldos • Ep. 189

Nov 4, 2021

11:57

Everyone is handed certain traits: a temper, a drive, a gentle streak, a pull toward people or toward quiet. How much of that is already fixed? Rashi says Yaakov and Esav struggled to come out of Rivka's womb at the doors of the Beis Midrash and of idol worship, as if each was already set. Yet the Rambam in Hilchos Deos says nature is fixed in one chapter and fully our choice in another. That tension also explains why Yitzchak wanted to bless Esav, and what we owe our own children.

41

Living Life B'emunah • Parshas Chayei Sarah • Ep. 188

Oct 29, 2021

8:52

Sarah is known for her kindness, so why does Rashi, on the repeated word "shanim", stress her beauty? And if she was like a seven-year-old in beauty, why seven, when beauty peaks at twenty? Rabbi Asaf Prisman brings the Gemara in Megillah, which gives two reasons for her second name, Yiskah, that seem to pull in opposite directions. Put side by side, they say something about how Sarah lived through a hundred years of rollercoaster days, and what steadiness looks like when life keeps changing.

42

Life is not black or white • Parshas Chayei Sarah • Ep. 187

Oct 28, 2021

5:42

The Or HaChaim notices something odd about how the Torah introduces Lavan: "U'shmo Lavan", his name is Lavan, a phrasing the Torah usually keeps for righteous people. Why would a rasha get it? And if Lavan ran to Rivka because he saw the jewelry, why does the pasuk say he ran first and saw the jewelry after? It is a lesson about how we label people, ourselves included. A short exchange with a famed tzaddik, asked about the Lamed Vav, makes the point in one word.

43

There is nothing like a Mothers intuition • Parshas Vayera • Ep. 186

Oct 21, 2021

13:52

Avraham found it painful to send Yishmael away, yet once he did, he gave him only bread and water. Sarah saw something in Yishmael that Avraham missed, and the angels later argue that Hashem should not save him at all, while Hashem answers that he is judged "where he is". How does a person with such sins behind him count as innocent? Rabbi Asaf Prisman turns to what a mother can sense that no one else can, and then tells of a cake, a company event, and a boy at an airport years later.

44

Growing through life's challenges • Parshas Lech Lecha • Ep. 185

Oct 14, 2021

14:36

What does Hashem add by saying "Lech lecha", go for yourself, when the very next pasuk already promises Avraham a great nation? And if leaving his father's home was for his own good, what made it such a hard test? Rashi's reading opens a question about Avraham and Lot, who both loved doing chesed, yet ended up in very different places. It comes down to a quiet check we can run on our own kindness. A short story about a driver, a forest, and an unexpected passenger asks what a Jew carries with him.

45

Chessed, our lifeline • Parshas Noach • Ep. 184

Oct 7, 2021

17:10

At the airport, as Rav Moshe Feinstein's aron was being brought to Eretz Yisrael, one woman was crying harder than anyone, and a relative went over to ask who she was. Her answer says something about what Parshas Noach is really asking. Of all the sins of the Dor HaMabul, idolatry included, why does the Gemara in Sanhedrin say it was stealing that sealed their fate? And what did Hashem remember about Noach inside the teivah that finally calmed the waters? Chessed turns out to be a lifeline in a very literal sense.

46

Elevating The Physical • Sukkos • Ep. 183

Sep 21, 2021

14:29

Each of the three festivals is linked by the seforim to one of the Avos: Pesach to Avraham, Shavuos to Yitzchak, and Sukkos to Yaakov, because the Torah says he made sukkos for his animals. Why Yaakov? The Gemara in Avodah Zarah describes the nations crowding forward in the future to claim reward for the bridges and marketplaces they built, and Hashem calls them fools. Eating and sleeping in a sukkah turns into a mitzvah, and that opens a question for every hour we spend at work, at home, and asleep.

47

Making the Most of Our Hours • Sukkos • Ep. 182

Sep 20, 2021

10:16

Rain falls on the sukkah at night, and every instinct says to go back inside. That moment holds a question. Why does the Gemara give the mitzvah of sukkah its own kedushah, like a korban, when the Arba Minim, shaken in the same Chag, get no such thing? And why does the Midrash call anyone who sits in a sukkah a partner in creating the world? The Meshech Chochma divides mitzvos into two kinds, and the idea reaches Har HaMoriah and Har Sinai. A quiet reflection from a funeral asks how we spend our years.

48

The Path to Teshuva Excellence • Yom Kippur • Ep. 181

Sep 14, 2021

8:22

Complete teshuva, says the Rambam, exists only when the very same sin is placed in front of you again, in the same place and with the same temptation, and you walk away. Is that really the only way? And in the Rambam's account of Rosh Hashanah, a person with sixty percent mitzvos is called a tzaddik. What happens to the other forty? A strange exchange between a man with a long beard and a swimmer in a lake sets up a way of doing Yom Kippur that goes deeper than saying sorry.

49

Nourishing the Heart and Soul • Rosh Hashana • Ep. 180

Sep 2, 2021

15:31

Knowing that Rosh Hashanah is critical is the easy part. Feeling it is harder. So Rabbi Asaf Prisman sets aside his usual questions and answers and shares stories instead. A talmid of the Vilna Gaon is crossing the sea toward Eretz Yisrael a week before Rosh Hashanah when a storm hits, and he asks the passengers for something nobody expects. What did people like that feel that we struggle to feel? And why does Hashem judge us by who we are on that very day, and not by who we were last year?

50

Hire judges for Elul • Parshas Shoftim • Ep. 179

Aug 12, 2021

13:02

Parshas Shoftim tells us to appoint judges and officers "lecha," for you, "bechol shearecha," at all your gates, and Rav Moshe Feinstein points out that the word "lecha" adds nothing to the sentence. So why is it there? The Shelah HaKadosh hears a call to Elul: each person has gates of his own, and needs his own judge and his own officer standing at them. Who plays each role, and what keeps the officer from falling asleep? A father's worried letter to the Steipler about his four-year-old hints at the daily habit that matters most.

Prism of Torah

Prism of Torah

More by Eli Podcast Productions