Musings from Students of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem
Posted on April 8, 2013 by Jeff Amshalem
From my blog: Excerpts from R. Ze’ev Wolf of Zhitomir’s teachings on Counting the Omer, from Or haMeir. וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת Count for yourselves, from the morrow of the rest day from the day you bring the omer as a wave offering, seven weeks. Leviticus 23:16 The essence of Continue Reading »
Posted on January 20, 2013 by Jeff Amshalem
An abridged version of a teaching from R. Kalonymus Kalpan Halevi Epstein, the Maor vaShamesh. וַתִּקַּח מִרְיָם הַנְּבִיאָה אֲחוֹת אַהֲרֹן אֶת הַתֹּף בְּיָדָהּ וַתֵּצֶאןָ כָל הַנָּשִׁים אַחֲרֶיהָ בְּתֻפִּים וּבִמְחֹלֹת: וַתַּעַן לָהֶם מִרְיָם שִׁירוּ לַי־הֹוָ־ה כִּי גָאֹה גָּאָה סוּס וְרֹכְבוֹ רָמָה בַיָּם Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, Continue Reading »
Posted on November 16, 2012 by Jeff Amshalem
This week the Talmud Hey and Kollel classes had the real honor to learn Zohar with possibly the world’s leading Zohar scholar, Dr. Daniel Matt. Dr. Matt has spent the last fifteen years working full time on a translation of the Zohar. In a couple years he hopes to be done. It’s hard to exaggerate Continue Reading »
Posted on October 25, 2012 by Jeff Amshalem
The Hasidic master R. Menahem Nahum of Chernobyl, also known by the title of his book Meor Einayim, has this to say on our parsha, Lech lecha: Rashi comments that God tells Avram that the command to go forth is “for your own good.” This is difficult to understand, since God calls Avram “my lover” because he served Continue Reading »
