Pirkei Avos

A Depressing World

Pirkei Avos A Depressing World Chapter 4, Mishna 29(b) By Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld “He (Rabbi Elazar HaKappar) used to say: The born will die, the dead will come to life, and the living will be judged — [so that] they know, make known, and become aware that He is G-d, He is the…

Halacha Yomit

How One Should Conduct Himself in the Morning The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot (Chapter 5) states: “Yehuda ben Tema says: Be bold like a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and mighty as a lion to perform the will of your father in Heaven.” Let us now explain this Mishnah. The Tanna…

A Controlled World

Pirkei Avos A Controlled World Chapter 4, Mishna 29(a) By Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld “He (Rabbi Elazar HaKappar) used to say: The born will die, the dead will come to life, and the living will be judged — [so that] they know, make known, and become aware that He is G-d, He is the Fashioner, He…

Maimonides on Life

Maimonides on Life Laws of De’os – Chapter 2, Law 5 Chapter 2, Law 5 The Torah Speaks for Itself Law 5 “A fence for wisdom is silence (Pirkei Avos 3:17 (http://www.torah.org/learning/pirkei-avos/chapter3-17d.html)). Therefore, one should not hurry to respond and not speak excessively. One should teach his students with composure and calmness, without screaming and…

Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Siman 1

1 “I have set the Lord always before me.” This is a cardinal principle in the Torah and (a fundamental rule) of life among the pious who go before G-d. Because it is not how a person sits, moves and works when he is alone at home but how he sits, moves and works when…

Pirkei Avos Staying in the World Chapter 4, Mishna 28 By Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld “Rabbi Elazar HaKappar said: Jealousy, lust and the [pursuit of] honor remove a person from the world.” This mishna bears a strong resemblance to a much earlier one — Chapter 2, Mishna 16 . We learned there: “Rabbi Yehoshua said: An evil…

Rabbi Shammai

Rabbi Shammai was an engineer, known for the strictness of his views. The Talmud tells that a gentile came to Shammai saying that he would convert to Judaism if Shammai could teach him the whole Torah in the time that he could stand on one foot. Shammai drove him away with a builder’s measuring stick!…

Laws of De’os – Chapter 2, Law 4(b)

Maimonides on Life Laws of De’os – Chapter 2, Law 4(b) Silence and the Road to Self-Discovery “A person should always accustom himself to keeping silent (lit., ‘should increase his silence’). He should speak only of matters of wisdom or matters pertaining to his living needs. It was said regarding [the Talmudic scholar] Rav,…

Pirkei Avos

Pirkei Avos Young Minds, Old Minds Chapter 4, Mishna 25 By Rabbi Dovid Rosenfeld “Elisha ben (son of) Avuya said: One who studies Torah as a child, to what is he compared? To ink written on fresh paper. And one who studies Torah as an old man, to what is he compared? To…