Friday, December 8, 2023

What do we mean by תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם?

 

the importance of mitzvos

What do we mean by תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם?

DH: What do we mean by תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם?

Rabbi Soloveitchik: It is not that this mitzvah is equal to all the mitzvos, but rather that it brings the person to do all the other mitzvos. The whole purpose of the limud is that it comes to asiah and asiah is the ikur.

The Rav Thinking Aloud, p. 69



Thursday, December 7, 2023

not enclosed within the confines of cult sanctuaries

 "It [halacha] does not differentiate between the man who stands in his house of worship engaged in ritual activities and the mortal who must wage the arduous battle of life. The halachah declares that man stands before G-d, not only in the synagogue, but also in the public domain- in his house, while on a journey, while lying down and rising up....

The halachah is not enclosed within the confines of cult sanctuaries, but penetrates into every nook and cranny of life- the marketplace, the street, the factory, the house, the meeting place, the banquet hall- all constitute the backdrop for religious life."

R' Joseph Soloveitchik


Halakhic Man, pp. 93-94, cited in Rabbi_Beinish__Ginsburg/Behar-_Serve_Hashem_Everywhere

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Rav Elchonon Wasserman

 Rav Henoch Cohen, an early student of the Rav, says in his article in Mentor of Generations that when he was at Torah v'Das he met R Wasserman who said, "I don't know why people talk so unfavorably about Rav Yoshe Ber. I was there in Boston and I never saw somebody eat, sleep, and dream Torah as he did." (p. 3)