With strict confidentiality assured, correspondent could open up their hearts to the rebbe and receive the same response as they would have done in a ‘tete-a-tete’ (yechidut).  Indeed, in some respects, the written had obvious advantages over the personal, or oral, yechidut- advantages enjoyed by both the Rebbe and the Chassid. The advantage to the Rebbe would manifest itself both in term of time and strain.

Originally, the Rebbe devoted three nights a week – literally – to seeing people, most of these sessions lasting almost till dawn. While each audience was limited to several minutes, rarely more than ten, in order to give the maximum number of people an opportunity to see him and discuss their problems, very few of these people realized the strain that was imposed on the Rebbe as the night progressed, with people entering and leaving in rapid succession, each one with his story to tell.

A direct consequent of this was that the Rebbe had first to immerse him in the problem of the individual who had just entered and give his advice and blessing; then, as the party left, divest himself of this stage completely and without so much as a pause, receive the next visitor and go through the same process all over again. Being a man of great sensitivity, he was certainly deeply affected by the anguish of the sufferer, yet he had to conceal this inner state, so as to appear more detached and give the impression that things were not as desperate as they seemed, and encourage the person to have true faith in Hashem and confidence that G-ds help was on the way. In other words, though his natural inclination would have been to weep with the visitor, the Rebbe had to show a smiling face in order to bolster that very vital trust and faith in G-d that a Jew has to have under any circumstances.

The rigors of this process are amply illustrated by the following. The Previous Rebbe’s daughter, who would attend to him after a yechidut session, confided to me on that she had to giver her father a change of undershirt, as the first one was soaking wet!

(The letter and the spirit – Rabbi Nissan Mindel (Personal secretary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe) pg XIII to XIV)

Amazing 15 Part Lecture on the Beards, Peyos, Elecrtric shavers, etc - literally everything you would want to know on the topic by Rav Baruch Simon of YU. Includes lecture handout notes.

The Halachos of Beard and Peyos

Also see the previous 4 entries on the topic

• Electric Shaver part 1
• Electric Shaver part 2
• Electric Shaver Part 3
• Electric Shaver Part 4

Came across this trippy music video in celebration of the life of Eliyahu HaNavi ... interesting... Enjoy!

Relevant Sources: 

- He would also say: Those who are born will die, and the dead will live. The living will be judged, to learn, to teach and to comprehend that He is G-d, He is the former, He is the creator, He is the comprehender, He is the judge, He is the witness, He is the plaintiff, and He will judge. Blessed is He, for before Him there is no wrong, no forgetting, no favoritism, and no taking of bribes; know, that everything is according to the reckoning. Let not your heart convince you that the grave is your escape; for against your will you are formed, against your will you are born, against your will you live, against your will you die, and against your will you are destined to give a judgement and accounting before the king, king of all kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. (Pirkei Avot 4:22)

- Sins committed against other people, including hurting someone's feelings. Yom Kippur does not atone for these sins until the perpetrator gains forgiveness from the victim himself. (Orach Chaim 606:1)  

[This is a modified version of an email I recently wrote. I look forward to comments]

Rabbi Aryeh Klapper recently wrote the following in his  article "Fostering Modern Torah Leadership"

"Many Modern Orthodox Jews find spiritual inspiration and deep meaning in Shakespeare and Milton, but believe that halakha forbids reading all Christian religious works or works with erotic components".  

This comment is the impetus for writing this post. Something I have struggled with for quite some time is how to reconcile my religious practice and the beauty of the arts and literature. As an example movies, good ones with substance and meaning will express the full gamut of human experience. Human experience from time immemorial has included profanity, violence, sexual expression and coarse humour.  The Torah itself is aware of this; the book of Genesis is a very X-rated anthology of rape, incest, sex, murder, etc. Shir Hashirim is unabashedly erotic and many discussions in the Talmud do not leave much to the imagination.

Yet if that is the case, why do we find such a condescending attitude to expressions of human creativity? What can be said to the following secondary sources that essentially forbid all secular literature, movies, theatres, sport -- even music is only begrudgingly allowed. 

• http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5765/VSC65acmptrgms.htm
• http://machzikeihadas.blogspot.com/2009/02/moshav-leitzim.html
• http://www.koltorah.org/ravj/13-32%20Jewish%20Perspectives%20on%20Music.htm
• http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com/archives5761/korach/KRoentrtn.htm

What does it say for Modern Orthodoxy and its adherents, on what grounds can its curriculum and societal norms be defended from a halachic perspective? I think Prof Allan Brill in his "Judaism in Culture: Beyond the Bifurcation of Torah and Madda" summed it up well with the following:

"Can one determine from the following three short halakhic statements which works of the vast fields of literature, philosophy, science, history, politics, and art, are permitted?

307: 16 Secular Poetry and parables, erotic literature such as Sefer Immanuel, and books of wars are forbidden to read on the Sabbath. Even on weekdays they are forbidden because [they are considered] a place of scoffers, and one violates not consciously turning to their idols, and [concerning] the erotic literature there is a furtherdecree of [following] the evil inclination. Those who write them, and copy them, and needless to say those who publish them cause the public to sin;

Note [of Rama]: There is to distinguish, that it is only forbidden to read secular and military matters. In the vernacular, but in Hebrew they are permitted.

307:17: It is forbidden to learn on Shabbat and Yom Tov except Torah, even books of wisdom are forbidden. There are those who permit it [works of wisdom]. Based on their reasoning it would also be permitted to look in an astrolabe on the Sabbath.

307:18: One can inquire from a demon those things permitted on weekdays.

Following the logic of practice, these halakhic statements, despite their binding legal status, do not describe the current practice in Modern Orthodoxy."

I look forward to some thoughtful comments and feedback on the above issue. Its a complicated topic, but one definitely worthy of discussion.

After writing up my post an Oath to Sin  (Part 1), I decided to formulate a question to Kollel Eretz Hemda in Israel. Here is their response.

And Blessings from the Rabbis of Eretz Hemda

Four years ago on the 5th of January 2006, I wrote a post entitled the Value of Learning Mishna outlining the benefits of learning Mishna, links to online mishna classes and some general guidance for starting your own mishna seder.

On the 5 of January 2010, I received the following email, which I post with the authors permission as is.

I cannot put into words what tremendous joy I feel from receiving this email, knowing that one blog post by a guy in Sydney, Australia inspired Yitz Fleischman of Baltimore to complete the entire of Mishna. Incredible! On behalf of myself and all my readers, I congradulate you Yitz on this tremendous milestone and may you  go G-d willing from strength to strength in all your future learning endevours, keep us posted!

As for myself, I unfortunately have not be so resilient in my learning efforts, however this email from Yitz has really got me inspired to get back in the game and go on to finish mishna myself. I hope this post will inspire you as well, Yitz is proof that it really can be done and we should all aspire to his example and go from strength to strength in our learning. Amen.

By Tzvi Freeman

At the outset of Creation, He removed all light. And that is the source of all that ever goes wrong.

MISCONCEPTION:1 In 1925, in Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook’s invocation for the inauguration of the Hebrew University, he applied the Biblical verse “Ki miTzion tetzei Torah, u’devar Hashem meYerushalayim, For out of Zion shall go forth Torah, and the word of God from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3; Michah 4:2).2 This is an oft-used criticism cited by denigrators of Rav Kook who claim that by quoting the verse, he proved that he viewed the scholarship that was to come from the Hebrew University as the fulfillment of the Prophet Isaiah’s vision of Torah “going forth from Zion.”

FACT: The invocation by Rav Kook, the first Ashkenazic chief rabbi of Eretz Yisrael, was a brave exposition of Biblical verses and Jewish history designed to sound a cautionary note regarding potential dangers inherent in the founding of a Jewish university. His paraphrase of the verse about Torah emanating from Jerusalem did not refer to the Hebrew University but rather was part of his concluding prayer in which he pined for the Messianic era

To find out more, see: What’s the Truth about… Rav Kook’s Hebrew University Invocation By Ari Z. Zivotofsky

An envoy from the Guiness Book of World Records is coming to Israel to formalize 115-year-old David Pur's title as the oldest living man on earth. 

....He has trouble seeing, but as one who has repeated the prayers for more than a century, he knows them by heart. David Pur, age 115, continues to learn Torah and to pray every day, now in the nursing home to where he moved just three months ago.

....The old man is known for his smiles and for laughing and joking with the various members of his large family, who visit him daily. “The main thing is not to lose your optimism,” he said. “I, who buried the woman of my life 50 years ago, and six of my children – I understand that we must not let bitterness take hold of us.”

....For nearly 110 years he smoked, but he says the damage was minimized because he “never swallowed the smoke.” At breakfast, he drinks a glass of brandy and eats nuts. “It is best not to eat on [from on-the-street establishments],” he advises, “because who knows when they change the oil, and you could unknowingly swallow poison. I avoid meat and fried foods, and eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible."

(Source: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/136370 )

Amazing! May he only go from strength to strength B"H

 Please see parts one and two here:

"Y. Mirsky in his dissertation on R' Kook notes that - Rav Kook wrote an approbation to the Liqutei Halakhot, a volume by the celebrated sage and saint Israel Meir Kagan (a.k.a. Hafetz Hayim) on the laws of Temple sacrifices, understandably, a less-visited precinct of Talmudic study.

I noticed a first-hand report (based on a conversation with R' Kook) in HaHed (7:6) that states that the Chafetz Chaim has initially asked R' Kook to help him write the sefer:"

Click on the image below to expand it:

(Source: Ishim V'Shitot Blog )