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Enhance Your Talmud Learning Skills With a Free App, Free Videos and a Three in One Translation

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In Derech Hashem, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (Ramchal) explains that the most powerful positive spiritual influences are brought into this world through the learning of Torah. The deeper one understands Torah, the more powerful the spiritual influence brought down. One of the primary ways to get a deeper understanding of Torah is the learning of Gemora.

If you would like to enhance your Gemora Learning Skills there are some new tools to help you. The first one is the release of the Way of Torah, which contains new translations of three of the Ramchal’s works on learning, thinking and speaking in one volume:
The Way of Reason
The Book of Logic
The Book of Words

The book was translated and annotated by Rabbi David Sackton and Rabbi Chaim Tscholkowksy and contains many colored charts and an extensive glossary to help you learn these invaluable works. At a 1ist price of $39.00 the sefer is a must have and you can purchase it from Feldheim directly for $35.99 or from Amazon at list price.
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Rabbi Tscholkowsky has just release a free new Android and Apple app aimed at making Talmud study fun. It teaches the 350 main Aramaic terms used in the Talmud and can be played in four languages: English, French, Spanish and Hebrew. Here is the link for the Android App. For the iPhone you can search the App Store for Talmud Quest.

Please leave a favorable comment on the app site. If you know anyone who would be interested in the app please forward them the links below. The app was designed to play on any screen resolution from 800×480 and above. Rabbi Tscholkowsky would enjoy hearing your comments about the app at ravchaim@gmail.com.
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Rabbi Tscholkowsky also has a site called www.learntalmud.org where there are tens and tens of free videos on
Introduction to Talmud
Ways of Reason
Book of Logic
Book of Rhetoric
Ways of Talmud

Thanks to Rabbi David Sackton and Rabbi Chaim Tscholkowksy for these wonderful works to enhance our Talmud learning.

Let’s Learn to Daven

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We can pronounce the words. We might even be able to read pretty fast. And we know we to shake, bow and clop. But do we really know how to daven. Are we coming close to where davening can be taking us.

These are some of the questions that Rabbi Zev Cohen asks in his Preparing to Daven shiur. It’s definitely worth your time. Rabbi Cohen also has a whole series called Let’s Learn to Daven.

There’s another great davening improvement initiative taking place at the Weekly Tefilah Focus. Each 5 minute weekly lesson is available in video, audio or text. This week is the first lesson, starting with Ashrei:

“We all want to get to Olam HaBa and be considered a “ben Olam HaBa” while still in this world. The Gemara in Brachos teaches us that one who says Ashrei three times a day is assured to be a ben Olam HaBa. This clearly cannot mean mere recitation. Chazal are telling us that this reward is reserved for one who thinks deeply about what the p’sukim in Ashrei are teaching us, and as a result, strengthens his emunah in Hashem.”

Yom Ha’atzmaut Links and Some Thoughts on Jewish Unity

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Tonight begins Yom Ha’atzmaut and whether you say Hallel or not, brocha or no brocha, after Shomeneh Esrai or after Aleinu, we can all be thankful that there are so many Jews living and learning today in Eretz Yisrael.

Rabbi Adlerstein had a good post titled Something For Everyone over at Cross-Currents.

Here is a link to some shiurim about the day from YU Torah.

Here’s the link to the OU Web page about the day.

And here are some thoughts on Jewish Unity from Rav Mordechai Scher of Kol BeRamah, a traditional Orthodox synagogue in Santa Fe..

About twenty years ago, while learning at Yeshivat Mercaz Harav, my chevruta and I decided to learn the halachot relating to safrut. We heard that the best shiur available was from Rav Mordechai Friedlander (a Squarer Hasid, if I recall correctly), who taught for Machon Mishmeret Stam. We started attending the shiur, the only religious Zionists (or obvious ones, anyway) in the group.

Rav Friedlander invited me to learn with him during bein hazmanim. I eagerly accepted. During Hol Hamoed Pesah, I went to the beit midrash in Geulah where we planned to learn. A young fellow approached me, pointed to the kipah s’rugah (crocheted kipah) on my head, and told me I was in the wrong place. I responded that I had come to learn Torah in the beit midrash. He insistently repeated that I didn’t belong there. Rav Friedlander entered, and put the young man in his place.

During the period that I learned by him (about a year and a half), he confided to me that until Eitan and I came to his shiur, he didn’t know quite what to think about fellows in Hesder yeshivot or Mercaz Harav. He didn’t really know that our respect for Torah, our skills in learning, our diligence were no different from what he knew in his own community. There were simply some differences in perspectives or p’sak; not in the loyalty to Hashem’s Torah. He did insist that we not talk about the same issues that Steve suggests avoiding, “Rav Mordechai, some topics we’re better off not discussing.”

In Rav Tzvi Yehudah’s beit midrash, a disparaging word was never uttered about a talmid hacham. His opinions could be attacked in the manner that a dispute can occur for the sake of Heaven; but no genuine opinion in learning was ignored by way of de-legitimizing it. It was an eye-opener for me to discover that approach was not universal in yeshivot.

Hashem should help us to unite in His Torah. Without that, we cannot unite the rest of Am Yisrael.

Originally published 5/3/2006

The Weekly Tefilah Focus Can Transform Your Tefilah in 5 Minutes Per Week

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♦ Do you wish your Davening left you uplifted, inspired, and feeling closer to Hashem?

♦ Invest less than 5 minutes per WEEK to optimize the time you are already investing in Tefilah.

♦ Each week, read, listen, or view concisely but powerfully presented material on short segments of Tefilah.

♦ Internalize through daily review when you say that week’s segment in your Tefilos.

♦ Bezras Hashem, be amazed at the improvement in your Tefilos over time.

♦ PARTICIPATE in the Weekly Tefilah Focus program by visiting www.weeklytefilahfocus.com or call 844-TEFILAH (833-4524).

♦ Sign up for a weekly e-mail, containing text, audio & video, by sending an email to weeklytefilahfocus@gmail.com with subscribe in the subject line.

Life is Too Short – So Why Waste Precious Time

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It’s week 2 for Pirkei Avos and in Mishnah 20, Rabbi Tarfon said, “the day is short, the work is great, the workers are lazy, the reward is great, and the Master of the house presses.”

The Maharal explains that this Mishna refers to learning Torah and since life is too short we cannot afford to waste time given the magnitude of Torah, our limited ability and Hashem’s expectations. The Mishnah does not demand the impossible since a human cannot be expected to be an angel, devoid of physical limitation. However, we are expected to emulate spiritual beings in terms of energy and dedication. The Maharal points out that to waste the limited resources that we do have is a sin. Rather we must be diligent and focused in our studies as if we intend to finish the Torah.

Most of us are far from this level and we have to grow step by step, so a reasonable commitment to learn 5-10 minutes more a day or perhaps spend some time on Pirkei Avos this week. As the Mishnah points out, the reward is great, so it’s well worth the effort.

Here is the rest of the Pirkei Avos for Chapter 2:

1. “Rabbi said, What is the proper path that one should choose for himself? Whatever is glorious / praiseworthy for himself, and honors him before others. Be careful with a minor mitzvah (commandment) like a severe one, for you do not know the reward for the mitzvos. Consider the loss incurred for performing a mitzvah compared to its reward, and the pleasure received for sinning compared to the punishment. Consider three things and you will not come to sin. Know what is above you – an eye that sees, an ear that hears, and all your deeds are written in a book.”

2. “Rabban Gamliel the son of Rabbi Yehuda the Prince said, Torah study is good with a worldly occupation, because the exertion put into both of them makes one forget sin. All Torah without work will in the end result in waste and will cause sinfulness. All who work for the community should work for the sake of Heaven, for the merit of the community’s forefathers will help them, and their righteousness endures forever. And as for you, God will reward you greatly as if you accomplished it on your own.”

3. “Be careful with authorities, for they do not befriend a person except for their own sake. They appear as friends when they benefit from it, but they do not stand by a person in his time of need.”

4. “He used to say, make His will your will, so that He will make your will His will. Annul your will before His will, so that He will annul the will of others before your will.”
Read more Life is Too Short – So Why Waste Precious Time ›

Baruch Dayan Emes: Reb Meir Schuster ZT”L

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Rabbi Dovid Schwartz in Hamodia:

Yesterday, on 17 Adar I, a neshamah that exerted its last ounce of strength while here in this transitory world bringing tens of thousands of neshamos to their soul-roots was, itself, returned to the t’zror hachaim with the petirah of Rabbi Meir Schuster, zt”l, after a long illness.

Reb Meir was the proverbial “legend in his own time,” as he carved a mythical niche for his name in the annals of the kiruv movement as an incredibly effective recruiter for a wide array of kiruv programs, baal teshuvah yeshivos and womens’ seminaries. And while he sought out new soldiers for the milchemes Hashem in a variety
of eclectic venues including Yerushlayim’s Central Bus Station; he was most identified with the Kosel Hamaaravi where he literally “picked them off the Wall.”

Rabbi Yair Hoffman at Cross Currents

It is a sad day for the Torah world because of the loss of this great, great man. Rav Meir Schuster zatzal passed away today after a debilitating illness. This man was singlehandedly responsible for bringing more people closer to Avinu sh’bashamayim than entire outreach organizations. Without exaggeration, many tens of thousands of people came to Torah observance because of the actions of this man.

The greatest insight into this man was perhaps a shailah that was presented to Rav Elyashiv zatzal, when Reb Meir had lost his father. According to the Torah, the period of mourning lasts for three days. Chazal extended this period to seven days. Rabbinic extensions of halachos are universally observed in Judaism. Chazal tell us (based on Koheles 10:8) regarding Rabbinic enactments – “Kol HaPoretz Geder yeshacheno nachash – anyone who breaks the fence (on a Rabbinic law) deserves that a snake should bite him.” Yet, here things were different. Every day that Rabbi Meir Schuster was not at the Kosel, the wailing wall, was a day that Jewish people would not get a chance to be brought to Torah-true Judaism. Should he sit three days or seven days?

It was, of course, not even a question. Rav Elyashiv paskened that he may only sit for three days. Rav Elyashiv had never ruled in this manner for anyone else. Rav Meir Schuster was irreplaceable.

Meir Schuster hugged my brother

I met Meir Schuster in 1970, at the Kotel in my first days after arrival from Madison. I felt an immediate affinity for Meir. I had been in Madison. And he was from Milwaukee. I was looking for myself as a Jew.

And Meir was there, at the Kotel, a selfless one man endeavor who only wanted to make sure that every Jew who sought a Jewish soul from within would have someone to talk to.

In those days before the internet, when few people had telephones, Meir developed a network of people who would welcome wandering Jews into their homes, especially on Shabbat.

For years, Meir Schuster would arrive at the Kotel each day, to be there for fellow Jews who had no real home in Israel.

Bracha Goetz at rebmeirschuster.org

Reading the stories about Rabbi Meir Schuster that are just now being collected, I am transported back over thirty years ago.

It is 1976. The man who was to become my husband was praying at the Kotel. Larry had finished his time in a kibbutz ulpan, and was still volunteering in a development town in the Negev, when he decided to spend the weekend in Jerusalem. He was scheduled to return to the States a few weeks later, with no clear plans. Larry put a note in a crevice in the Wall and then prayed sincerely to find his path in life. When he finished, there was a tap on his shoulder. It was Rabbi Schuster, asking him, “Do you have the time?” Thank G-d, Larry did have the time, and he followed Reb Meir to a yeshiva for baalei teshuva where he began the process of finding his life’s path. After nine years of learning and teaching at Yeshiva Aish HaTorah, young wandering Larry became Rabbi Aryeh Goetz.

It is 1978, and after completing my first year of medical school, I was volunteering on the oncology ward at Hadassah Hospital, visiting with patients who were dying, while my secret mission was to learn the purpose of living. During my first few days in Israel, I went to the Kotel, and Reb Meir Schuster found me there. His purity and his sincerity came right into my heart. I began to study at the women’s division of Ohr Someyach, and the process of understanding the purpose of living began for me as well.

Lincoln and the Jews

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From Abraham Lincoln and the Jews:

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, whose 203rd birthday we are observing, was a protector and friend for the Jews “In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity.”

At the outset of the Civil War the Jewish Community faced official discrimination as the legislation expanding the US Army restricted the chaplaincy to clergy of the Christian faith. Members of the Jewish Community energetically protested this exclusion. Petitions for change in the law, including one in the U.S. Senate presented by Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, later the author of the 13th Amendment ending slavery, were submitted. In response, President Lincoln wrote to Dr. Arnold Fischell on December 14, 1861:

I find that there are several particulars in which the present law in regard to Chaplains is supposed to be deficient, all of which I now design presently to the appropriate Committee of Congress. I shall try to have a new law broad enough to cover what is deferred by you in behalf of the Israelites.

Truly yours,
A. Lincoln

President Lincoln was good to his word and on March 26, 1862 the act was amended to allow for brigade chaplains “one or more of which shall be of the Catholic, Protestant or Jewish religion.” The community reaction and Mr. Lincoln’s responsiveness set an important precedent for the far more dangerous threat that was to follow.

From Lincoln and the Jews:

In January 1863, Lincoln revoked the only incident of official anti-Jewish discrimination when he countermanded Ulysses S. Grant’s infamous Order No. 11, which expelled Jews from Northern Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky. Lincoln also appointed seven Jewish generals to the Union forces.

What were the reasons for Lincoln’s concern and kindly attitude toward the Jews? First and foremost was the fact that by the time of the Civil War, Jews had become a factor in American life. During the Revolutionary War and the founding of America, Jews numbered a miniscule 2,500 out of a population of approximately 4 million. By 1840, they had only grown to 15,000, but 20 years later, in 1860, the Jewish population had risen to 150,000, out of a nation of 30 million. The Jews emerged from a relatively docile and unseen element in the population to a viable minority, striving for its own rights and recognition.

With the increased Jewish population, the future president knew Jews as admirable neighbors even in the little towns where he grew up.

Louis Salzenstein was a storekeeper and livestock trader in the town of Athens, Ill., near New Salem, where Lincoln spent six years. When Lincoln was postmaster, he collected the mail from “Old Salty’s” store, which served as the regional post office. He became good friends with Salzenstein, who was remembered by a town historian as “doing more than any other man toward bettering the improvements and the mode of living in this section.”

First Published 2/21/2011