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Tools for Growth: Zichron Avraham: Achieving the Necessary Tzniut to Give Charity

The 5th of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Avraham (ben Enosh) HaLevi Bing of Wurzberg (1841), author of Zichron Avraham.

Tags: Parsha, Portion of the Week, Prayer, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Spiritual Growth, The Foundation Stone

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 129 – Concept 362

“But if his means are insufficient for two turtledoves or for two young doves, then he shall bring as his guilt-offering for that which he sinned, a tenth-eiphah of fine flour for a sin-offering; he shall not place oil on it nor shall

Tags: Chassidic, Commandments, commentaries, Kabbalah, Midrash, Mitzvot, Parsha, Portion of the Week, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Responsa, Talmud, Taryag, The Foundation Stone

Shabbat Prayers: Pesukei d’Zimrah: Vayivarech David

“And David blessed God in the presence of the entire congregation.” David represented everything to the Jewish people. Can you imagine his impact when the now unified, stronger, and confident people? If they understood

Tags: Prayer, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Sabbath, Shabbat, The Foundation Stone

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 128 – Concept 354

“He shall bring them to the Kohen, who shall offer first the one that is for a sin offering. He shall nip its head at its nape, but not separate it. (Leviticus 5:8) The Kohen may not decapitate a fowl brought as a sin offering. (Rambam,

Tags: Chassidic, Commandments, commentaries, Kabbalah, Midrash, Mitzvot, Parsha, Portion of the Week, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Responsa, Talmud, Taryag, The Foundation Stone

Shabbat Prayers: Pesukei d’Zimrah: The Final Six

I can't help it: Purim gets me thinking about Pesach. At the Seder we keep half the broken matzoh with the whole to remind us that we can live with completeness in the shadow of the incomplete.

Tags: Prayer, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Sabbath, Shabbat, The Foundation Stone

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 127 – Concept 349

“You shall salt your every meal-offering with salt. You may not discontinue the salt of your Lord’s covenant from upon your meal-offering, on your every offering shall you offer salt.” (Leviticus 2:13) It is forbidden to omit

Tags: Chassidic, Commandments, commentaries, Kabbalah, Midrash, Mitzvot, Parsha, Portion of the Week, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Responsa, Talmud, Taryag, The Foundation Stone

Machaneh Dan: Using Kiddush Properly

The 6th of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Daniel (ben Binyamin Wolf) Prostitz (1759-1846). Rav of Pressburg and colleague of the Chasam Sofer. Appropriately, he was buried near the Chasam Sofer. His chidushim on Maseches

Tags: Prayer, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Sabbath, Shabbat, The Foundation Stone

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 126 – Concept 347

“For you shall not burn up any leavening or fruit honey as a fire offering to the Lord.” (Leviticus 2:11)It is forbidden to burn yeast or honey on the Altar. (Rambam, Hilchot Issurei Mizbeiach – The Laws of The Restrictions

Tags: Chassidic, Commandments, commentaries, Kabbalah, Midrash, Mitzvot, Parsha, Portion of the Week, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Responsa, Talmud, Taryag, The Foundation Stone

Shabbat Prayers: Achieving Kavanah

A Jew was seen davening with exuberant joy and enormous ecstasy in the back of the synagogue. No one knew who he was and people assumed that he must be a visiting tzaddik who understood the depth of meaning and

Tags: Prayer, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Sabbath, Shabbat, The Foundation Stone

Psalms of Moshe: 98:5: Sha’arei Chaim

“Play music to God on a harp, with harp and sound of chanted praise.” There is a debate over which form of praise is considered more elevated: Voice or musical instrument. This verse indicates that voice comes to enhance

Tags: Moses, Moshe, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, The Foundation Stone

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 125 – Concept 478

“So it shall be that when he will sin and become guilty, he shall return the robbed item that he robbed, or the proceeds of his fraud, or the pledge that was left him, or the lost item that he found (Vayikra 5:23)" Return the robbed

Tags: Chassidic, Commandments, commentaries, Kabbalah, Midrash, Mitzvot, Parsha, Portion of the Week, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Responsa, Talmud, Taryag, The Foundation Stone

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 124 – Concept 433

“So it shall be that when he will sin and become guilty, he shall return the robbed item that he robbed, or the proceeds of his fraud, or the pledge that was left with him, or the lost item that he found; or anything about which

Tags: Chassidic, Commandments, commentaries, Kabbalah, Midrash, Mitzvot, Parsha, Portion of the Week, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Responsa, Talmud, Taryag, The Foundation Stone

Mishlei: Chapter 3: Selections From the Malbim

Transcribed and prepared by Slavie Friedman: Verse 1- The young man is urged to commit to memory the whole of the Almighty’s Torah, which includes commandments that are not in practice today as well as narratives

Tags: Book of Wisdom, Chassidut, Kabbalah, Midrash, Mishlei, Proverbs, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Spiritual Insights, The Foundation Stone

The Music of Halacha: Hiding in Halacha

I become very uncomfortable when someone has justification, serious and valid halachic justification, for speaking negatively of someone else, known as Lishon Harah. I can't argue with the justification. There are times

Tags: Husband & Wife, Man, Music of Halacha, Torah

The Music of Halacha: Shabbat: The Creativity of Restriction

Every time I walk into a store to begin my Pesach shopping, I feel a slight twang of nostalgia for the Pesach of my youth. Everything had to be prepared by hand, at home. There were very few Kosher for Passover products

Tags: Music of Halacha, Pesach, Shabbat

The Music of Halacha: Purim: Being Invisible

They are two very different experiences. There are some mornings when I prepare a cup of coffee for my wife, bring it upstairs, and sit with her as she wakes up. I am there to give the coffee to. Other mornings, I will

Tags: Jewish Laws, path, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Spiritual, The Foundation Stone, The Music of Halacha

Biblical Personalities: Moshe’s Unlimited Being

His father called him Heber, because of his sake [Amram] reunited with his divorced wife. His mother called him Jekuthiel, because she gathered him to her bosom after God restored him to her. His sister called him Jered,

Tags: Moses, Moshe, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, The Foundation Stone, Zayin Adar

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 123 – Concept 432

“If a person will sin and will commit one of all the commandments of God that may not be done, but is unaware and became guilty, and bears his iniquity. He shall bring an unblemished ram from the flock of the proper value for

Tags: Chassidic, Commandments, commentaries, Kabbalah, Midrash, Mitzvot, Parsha, Portion of the Week, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Responsa, Talmud, Taryag, The Foundation Stone

Midrash Esther Chapter Three IV: Where is God’s Celebration?

Rabbi Yitzchak began his lecture on this section of the Book of Esther with the following verse, “Yet you have not called upon Me, O Jacob, neither have you wearied yourself about Me, O Israel (Isaiah 43:22).”

Tags: Book of Esther, Esther, Holidays, Megilat Esther, Midrash, Purim, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, The Foundation Stone

Psalms of Moshe: 97:11: Rav Matisyahu Solomon – Matnat Chaim

“Light is sown for the righteous, and for the upright of heart, gladness.” The “Light,” refers to the light we create with our Mitzvot. Even in those moments when our hearts are stirred to Teshuva and we achieve the status of,

Tags: Moses, Moshe, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, The Foundation Stone, Zayin Adar

Taking it With Us: U’Va L’Tzion: With a Whole Heart

“May He open our heart through His Torah and imbue our heart with love and awe of Him that we may do His will and serve Him wholeheartedly, so that we do not struggle in vain nor produce for futility.”

Tags: Aleinu, Daveing, iPray, Prayer, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Siddur, Tefillah, The Foundation Stone

Prayer: Sha’arei Tefillah: Careful Pronunciation

The 3rd of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Binyamin Zev Lev, Rav of Verboi and author of Shaarei Tefilah (1851). The frontpiece of the first edition of his sefer offers the following story:

Tags: Parsha, Portion of the Week, Prayer, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Spiritual Growth, The Foundation Stone

Zachor: Toledot Noach: Leaving the Cloud

The 3rd of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of Rav Noach of Krakow, author of Toldos Noach on Midrash (1638). Moshe commanded Yehoshua to choose men who had “Fear of Heaven,” as the soldiers who would battle Amalek.

Tags: Parsha, Portion of the Week, Prayer, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, Spiritual Growth, The Foundation Stone

Moshe 4: Temporary Failure

“Moses will rejoice with the gift that was his portion, for a faithful servant You called him.” (Shabbat Morning Amidah. Artscroll translates the paragraph in the past tense: “Moses rejoiced”.”)

Tags: Moses, Moshe, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, The Foundation Stone, Zayin Adar

Moshe 5: Prophet and Priest

“When the Israelites heard nearly one hundred imprecations besides the forty nine in Vayikra, their faces blanched, and they said, ‘Who can survive this?’ Moshe began to soothe them, ‘You stand this day. You have greatly angered the Omnipresent, yet He has not destroyed you. You have endured

Tags: Moses, Moshe, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, The Foundation Stone, Zayin Adar

Moshe 6: Every Generation

“No generation is without someone like Moses.” (Bereishit Rabbah 56:7)

Although it has been thousands of years since Moshe taught us live, the Midrash reminds us, that when we learn we can connect directly with Moshe. He “lives” in every generation.

Tags: Moses, Moshe, Rabbi Simcha Weinberg, The Foundation Stone, Zayin Adar

Haftarah Vayikra: God’s Call

Isaiah 43:21 – 44:23: Isaiah knows what will happen to his people. He can see that they are sliding deeper into their confused ways, closer to destruction and exile. The prophet wants to imbue them

Tags: Haftarah, Isaiah, Vayikra

Categories

Tools for Growth: Zichron Avraham: Achieving the Necessary Tzniut to Give Charity

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 129 – Concept 362

Shabbat Prayers: Pesukei d’Zimrah: Vayivarech David

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 128 – Concept 354

Shabbat Prayers: Pesukei d’Zimrah: The Final Six

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 127 – Concept 349

Machaneh Dan: Using Kiddush Properly

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 126 – Concept 347

Shabbat Prayers: Achieving Kavanah

Psalms of Moshe: 98:5: Sha’arei Chaim

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 125 – Concept 478

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 124 – Concept 433

Mishlei: Chapter 3: Selections From the Malbim

The Music of Halacha: Hiding in Halacha

The Music of Halacha: Shabbat: The Creativity of Restriction

The Music of Halacha: Purim: Being Invisible

Biblical Personalities: Moshe’s Unlimited Being

Parsha Mitzvot: Vayikra: Mitzvah 123 – Concept 432

Midrash Esther Chapter Three IV: Where is God’s Celebration?

Psalms of Moshe: 97:11: Rav Matisyahu Solomon – Matnat Chaim

Taking it With Us: U’Va L’Tzion: With a Whole Heart

Prayer: Sha’arei Tefillah: Careful Pronunciation

Zachor: Toledot Noach: Leaving the Cloud

Moshe 4: Temporary Failure

Moshe 5: Prophet and Priest

Moshe 6: Every Generation

Haftarah Vayikra: God’s Call

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