Jews did not dominate the slave trade

 

Samuel Biagetti holds a doctorate in early American history from Columbia University. He uses his knowledge & insights to produce the Historiansplaining Podcast, to be an expert guest on other podcasts, to give speaking engagements and author published analysis, along with teaching college courses too.

https://historiansplaining.com/bio-of-dr-sam/

https://613tube.com/watch/?v=Fuf-nngHPa8

Origin of TIDE

 Did Rav Hirsch initiate TIDE? Sounds like the Rambam did it centuries before. Consider these statements from Menachem Kellner, "Today’s Perplexed: Between Maimonidean Promise and Peril," TRADITION 53:4/2021.

Had not Rambam invested his considerable authority behind the project of integrating science and “secular” studies with Judaism, how much room would the Jewish world have made for rationally-oriented Jews in the Middle Ages and today? For Rambam, God, as it were, “wrote” two books: Torah and Cosmos. The truly devout Jew realizes that he or she must study both books, or only have access to half of God’s works. 

Finally, had Rambam not enunciated a universalist vision of Judaism would almost all Jews today be even more particularist than they are? It is my distinct impression that most secular Israeli Jews, and almost all Israeli Orthodox Jews, as well as some secular Jews (to one degree or another) in the Diaspora and almost all Orthodox Jews there, are convinced that there is something inherent, intrinsic, metaphysical, or mystical that distinguishes Jews from non-Jews; on this view the difference between Jew and non-Jew resides in their “hardware,” and not only in the different software they “run.” In this, knowingly or not, they reject Rambam, one of Judaism’s most outspoken universalists. He held that all human beings are truly created in the image of God, period, and insisted that there is no essential difference between Jews and non-Jews.

Rambam emphasizes that Jews and nonJews are all created equal by God and formed “in the same womb,” i.e., there is no essential difference between Jews and non-Jews. 

 Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Slaves 9:8

Similarly, we should not embarrass a slave by our deeds or with words, for the Torah prescribed that they perform service, not that they be humiliated. Nor should one shout or vent anger upon them extensively. Instead, one should speak to them gently, and listen to their claims. This is explicitly stated with regard to the positive paths of Job for which he was praised Job 31:13, 15: "Have I ever shunned justice for my slave and maid-servant when they quarreled with me.... Did not He who made me in the belly make him? Was it not the One who prepared us in the womb?"

Rambam, Hilchos Talmud Torah 3:10.

Anyone who decides to be engaged in Torah [study] and not to work, but, rather, to be supported by tzedukah, this person desecrates G-d’s name, degrades the Torah, extinguishes the light of our faith, brings evil upon himself and forfeits life in the next world, since it is forbidden to derive benefit from the words of Torah in this world.

Society is a factor

The true Law, which as we said is one, and beside which there is no other Law, viz., the Law of our teacher Moses, has for its purpose to give us the twofold perfection. It aims first at the establishment of good mutual relations among men by removing injustice and creating the noblest feelings. In this way the people in every land are enabled to stay and continue in one condition, and every one can acquire his first perfection. Secondly, it seeks to train us in faith, and to impart correct and true opinions when the intellect is sufficiently developed. Scripture clearly mentions the twofold perfection, and tells us that its acquisition is the object of all the divine commandments. Comp. “And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive as it is this day” (Deut. 6:24). Here the second perfection is first mentioned because it is of greater importance, being, as we have shown, the ultimate aim of man’s existence. This perfection is expressed in the phrase, “for our good always.” You know the interpretation of our Sages, “‘that it may be well with thee’ (ibid. 22:7), namely, in the world that is all good, ‘and that thou mayest prolong thy days’ (ibid.), i.e., in the world that is all eternal.” In the same sense I explain the words, “for our good always,” to mean that we may come into the world that is all good and eternal, where we may live permanently; and the words, “that he might preserve us alive as it is this day, “I explain as referring to our first and temporal existence, to that of our body, which cannot be in a perfect and good condition except by the co-operation of society, as has been shown by us.

Maimonides, Guide, 3, 27

You cannot reach intellectual mastery in an undignified society, and society is becoming increasingly undignified. In my opinion, Israeli is no better than any other and in many respects is worse than most.

many pious gentiles recognize the Creator

 Rav Yisrael Lipschutz, the Tiferet Yisrael,  (Yakhin, Sanhedrin 10:2) 

Even without the holy words of our sages who told us this [i.e., that pious gentiles merit olam ha-ba], we would know this from our intellect because “God is just (Tzaddik H') in all His ways and benevolent (chassid) in all His works (ma`asaw).” (Ps. 145:17) We see that many pious gentiles recognize the Creator, believe in the divinity of Scripture, act compassionately toward Israel, and that some have done great things for the entire world.

Could you imagine that these great deeds will not be rewarded in olam ha-ba? God does not withhold the reward of any creature. Even if you say that these pious ones who keep the seven Noachide commandments would not have the status of a ger toshav (resident alien) because they never made a formal acceptance before a court or because we do not accept gerei toshav in our day, since they do not act like Esau they have a portion in olam ha-ba. (Translated by Rav Yitzchak Blau)

https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/883/non-jews-gentiles-in-olam-haba-jewish-afterlife

Rav Schwab on the Parsha

Rav Schwab on the Parsha 

R' Yaakov de Wolff (London) 

"Avrohom rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey; he took his two servants with him, and Yitzchok his son. He split the wood for the offering, and rose to go to the place that Hashem had told him [to go to]” (Bereishis 22:3). The Ramo says (in Shulchan Oruch Ourach Chayim 583:2) that on Roush Hashono it is customary to go to a river to say Tashlich. One of the reasons provided (in his Darchei Moushe there in the name of the Maharil) is based on a Midrash (see Tanchuma Vayeiro 22:12) in which we learn that during the journey with Yitzchok, Avrohom was waylaid by Soton who created a wide river. Avrohom, determined to follow Hashem’s instructions, waded through the river. At one point the water reached his neck, and he cried out to Hashem: 

 Tehillim 69:2 "Rescue me Hashem because the water has reached my neck.”

"הֹושִׁיעֵנִׁי אֱֹלקִׁים כִׁי בָאּו מַיִׁם עַד־נָפֶש" 

It is not clear how precisely how this Midrash connects with the throwing of our transgressions in the water during Tashlich. HoRav Schwab זצ״ל explains that Chazal use water as a symbol for kindness and fire for strict justice (see Gemoro Pesochim 118a, where Gavriel is described as being appointed over fire and Michoel over water). When Soton created a mighty body of water, he was trying to evoke in Avrohom an overwhelming feeling of love and kindness to the point that he would refuse to bring him as a korban. Avrohom realised that without Hashem’s support, these feelings would gain full control over him. When we perform the ritual of Tashlich, when we symbolically throw our transgressions into the water, we ask that they are swallowed up entirely by Hashem’s love for us, until the point that “the transgressions of Beis Yisroel will be thrown to a place where they will not be remembered, will not be counted, and will not be considered for eternity”

Is Yeshiva U TIDE?

Not really. YU is Litvish Judaism with lots of Zionism and a touch of feminism. See Zev Ellef's articles: Between Bennett and Amsterdam Avenues: The Complex American Legacy of Samson Raphael Hirsch, 1939-2013 and AMERICAN ORTHODOXY’S LUKEWARMEMBRACE OF THE HIRSCHIAN LEGACY,1850-1939.

Being more open to things, YU will have some talk about Rav Hirsch and some Chassidus, but even those are approached Litvish style, which means analytically. They are more open to careers in part because Modern Orthodoxy is very expensive with the million dollar houses and day school tuition at $40,000 a year per child. Nobody is encouraging fulfilling careers for men, just ones that make lots of money. 

Hirsch was neither a Zionist nor a feminist nor a Litvack so YU can be a problem but so can be every other group. When I say he wasn't a feminist, I mean a political or gender feminist. He probably did more for women's education than any Jew in the history of klal Yisroel by inspiring the Beis Yaakov movement. However, he argued for traditional roles and I can't imagine him sanctioning those ridiculous pre-nuptial agreements that risk mamzeres, radicalize halacha, and get marriages off on a bad note. 

To be a Hirschian you will walk alone because what's left of the German community is either Modern or Litvish. The few people who describe themselves as Hirschians are usually Zionistic, sometimes intensely so. They rationalize that if Hirsch were around today, he'd be a Zionist. That's what you call delusional rationalization as most Zionists have replaced God and Torah with State and that's exactly what R' Hirsch said not to do. He also said to be cognizant of the dignity and purpose of gentiles. Show me a Zionist who does that. 

So, no, YU is not TIDE. You have to be TIDE on your own. Go for it. R' Hirsch will be by your side, and all the gadolim who praised Hirsch are by your side too because they understood that he was sent by Hashem to help people in their Judaism. 

But you won't be entirely on your own. You can have a foot in many communities. In the Israeli Haredi world you get the anti-zionism of Hirsch. It's a militant anti-zionism because Israel is a militant country but you ignore that part. You also get the religious intensity that was true of Rav Hirsch, although he didn't impose that on others. In the Chassidic world you get the sense of community, more of a focus on God, and a pursuit of happiness. In the Modern O world you get more of a tolerance for earning a parnassah. In the small Yekke world, mostly Wash Heights, you get the German Minhagim. And they all respect Hirsch so you keep that in your back pocket. 

Realschule

"Realschule, reˈaːlʃuːlə German secondary school with an emphasis on the practical that evolved in the mid-18th century as a six-year alternative to the nine-year gymnasium. It was distinguished by its practical curriculum (natural science and chemistry) and use of chemistry laboratories and workshops for wood and glass. The realschule became the model for educational reformers in other countries." (This note and following ones from Wikipedia) It is pronounced ReeAl Shuleh. 

"A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education," meaning after primary school, which is grade school where you learn the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic.

I believe this is pretty much what American high schools were like 50 years ago when the day included wood and metal shop and home economics and science labs and language study and gym, when the goal of high school wasn't to get into college where the goal is to get into graduate school. I imagine that many yeshiva boys would be thrilled to get a Real Schule education. 

The second secondary school building with a lyceum of the Israelite Religious Society, which was inaugurated in 1881:

 "The lyceum is a category of educational institution defined within the education system of many countries, mainly in Europe. The definition varies among countries; usually it is a type of secondary school. Basic science and some introduction to specific professions are generally taught." 

"The name lycée was retrieved and utilized by Napoleon in 1802 to name the main secondary education establishments. From France the name spread in many countries influenced by French culture."

"Lyceum is a Latin rendering of the Ancient Greek Λύκειον (Lykeion), the name of a gymnasium in Classical Athens dedicated to Apollo Lyceus. This original lyceum is remembered as the location of the peripatetic school of Aristotle. Some countries derive the name for their modern schools from the Latin but use the Greek name for the ancient school: for example, Dutch has lykeion (ancient) and lyceum (modern), both rendered lyceum in English (note that in classical Latin the C in lyceum was always pronounced as a K, not a soft C, as in modern English)."

"The Lyceum (Ancient Greek: Λύκειον, romanized: Lykeion) was a temple in Athens dedicated to Apollo Lyceus ("Apollo the wolf-god"[1])."  λύκος transliterated lýkos means wolf in Greek.

"The remains of the Lyceum are now in a park in modern Athens; they were discovered in 1996."

"The gymnasium (Ancient Greek: γυμνάσιον, romanized: gymnásion) in Ancient Greece functioned as a training facility for competitors in public games. It was also a place for socializing and engaging in intellectual pursuits. The name comes from the Ancient Greek term gymnós, meaning "naked" or "nude". Only adult male citizens were allowed to use the gymnasia."

The Greeks could be brilliant but between their crazy deities, their wars, and their nude wrestling, they were nuts.

"The Peripatetic school (Ancient Greek: Περίπατος lit. 'walkway') was a philosophical school founded in 335 BC by Aristotle in the Lyceum in ancient Athens. It was an informal institution whose members conducted philosophical and scientific inquiries. The school fell into decline after the middle of the 3rd century BC, but had a revival in the Roman Empire."

"The term peripatetic is a transliteration of the Ancient Greek word peripatētikós, meaning 'of walking' or 'given to walking about'.[1] The Peripatetic school, founded by Aristotle,[2] was actually known simply as the Peripatos.[3] Aristotle's school came to be so named because of the peripatoi ('walkways', some covered or with colonnades) of the Lyceum where the members met.[4] The legend that the name came from Aristotle's alleged habit of walking while lecturing may have started with Hermippus of Smyrna.[5]"

Also the term Apollo Lyceus refers to a statue. "The Apollo Lyceus (Greek: Ἀπόλλων Λύκειος, Apollōn Lukeios) type, also known as Lycean Apollo, originating with Praxiteles[1] and known from many full-size statue and figurine copies as well as from 1st century BCE Athenian coinage, is a statue type of Apollo showing the god resting on a support (a tree trunk or tripod), his right forearm touching the top of his head and his hair fixed in braids on the top of a head in a haircut typical of childhood. It is called "Lycean" not after Lycia itself, but after its identification with a lost work described, though not attributed to a sculptor, by Lucian as being on show in the Lyceum, one of the gymnasia of Athens."

"Lucian of Samosata[a] (Λουκιανὸς ὁ Σαμοσατεύς, c. 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed superstition, religious practices, and belief in the paranormal. Although his native language was probably Syriac, all of his extant works are written entirely in ancient Greek (mostly in the Attic Greek dialect popular during the Second Sophistic period)."

"Lycia (/ˈlɪsiə/;[1] Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 Trm̃mis; Greek: Λυκία, Lykia; Turkish: Likya) was a historical region in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the provinces of Antalya and Muğla in Turkey as well some inland parts of Burdur Province. The region was known to history from the Late Bronze Age records of ancient Egypt and the Hittite Empire." (Wikipedia)

I believe that what all of this is saying is the Napoleon named the secondary schools as lycée after Aristotle's school that was called Lyceum because it was dedicated to Apollo the wolf-god, lýkos means wolf in Greek. 

The Hirsch Real Schule was  located at Tiergarten 8 (today: Bernhard Grzimek Avenue, Bernhard-Grzimek-Allee 8, across from the zoo.)

School type	Secondary school for boys, Lyceum for girls
Founding	1853
Closing	1939; reopened 1946 to 1948

Student	around 400 (1928)
Teachers	22 (1928)

1853–1871

The secondary school with lyceum of the Israelite Religious Society was opened in 1853 on the southwestern edge of the Pfingstweide, a former parade ground, on Schützenstrasse Ostend through Rabbis Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808–1888), who also served as the first headmaster.[2] The western part of the Ostend was largely influenced by its Jewish population until the Second World War.

1864: The secondary school with lyceum of the Israelite Religious Society (the second building shown completely from the upper left corner) Hanauer_Bahnhof

Location of Rav Hirsch's grave

Jewish Cemetery of Frankfurt, in the Austritt Gemeinde section, Section E. 

Rat-Beil-Straße 10, Frankfurt, near the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences

Nearest train stop: Frankfurt (Main) Münzenberger Straße, 18, light rail

Nearest bus stop: Bus stop Frankfurt (Main) Richard-Wagner-Straße, M32

This is not the Old Jewish Cemetery that's near the Jewish museum near the Main river. "The Jewish Museum Frankfurt is located in the city center, next to the old Jewish cemetery, which is the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in Frankfurt and dates back to the 13th century." It's not that one. 

This is the general look of the place. 

Video of cemetery

Jewish Community Frankfurt - Cemetery Administration

Phone: +49-69 / 76 80 36-790

E-mail: friedhof@jg-ffm.de

The cemetery is locked at night. Gate is opened for free access at 10 AM. 

Portal:

Second entrance. You enter here.

Third gate is locked:

Wall is around eight feet high. 

Enter the middle gate -- Eingange -- make a right and walk along brick wall for around 80 meters. Walk until you reach another brick wall. Step through the opening in the wall. 

On the right you will see another metal gate, what I am calling the third gate. Turn left and go around 50 meters. Grave will be to your right. 

Good news for Kohanim. You can see the tombstone by peering through the opening in the third gate. Peering through the gap in the gate. Arrow points to the grave. 

There are overhanging trees along part of the wall, but not at the third gate. You might need someone to point it out to you though, someone who is inside the cemetery. 

https://alemannia-judaica.de/frankfurt_friedhof_rat-beil-strasse.htm

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alter_j%C3%BCdischer_Friedhof_Rat-Beil-Stra%C3%9Fe

Reb Moshe

 

Men and women are different

Switzerland Women’s Team Gets Destroyed By Under 15 Boys. Final score 7-1.

Women cannot compete with men in sports. They can't even compete with boys.

All over the Modern Orthodox and Yeshivish world, the authority and dignity of the man is undermined. Chassidim and Sephardim suffer much less from this problem. But in the Litvish world, the men are undermined, their manhood is taken away. They are not allowed to earn a parnassah until they can only get the worst kind. They are made to feel like losers it they are not giant Talmudic scholars. Their personal autonomy is handed over to a rabbi who doesn't know or care about them. They are told that they are less spiritual than the women (which is false). All problems in the home are blamed on the man. The divorce courts, including the batei dinim, punish the men, and the women even while married, know that they have this advantage. The men are emasculated and the women try to be men. But they can't be men. The Swiss women's national adult team gets smashed by under 15 year old boys. When women try to be men, you get a disaster. But that's what happens when you emasculate the men. 

Rav Hirsch anticipated all of this:

“It is not good that the man should be alone.” The object would be missed or imperfectly attained if only men were to strive for it unaccompanied. The task is too great for one, it requires essentially two human beings who can share the work and carry it through by supplying one another’s deficiencies. “I will provide for him a help meet for him.” כנגדו עזר) cf. אזר,אצר,עזר, עזרה (is that kind of assistance which through taking over a part of the work to be performed allows the other partner to concentrate his attention on the part which is left to him to perform, and so enables him to perform his part properly, thus securing the proper performance of the whole. This

is the essence of the division of labour."

“This will-subordination of the wife to the husband is a necessary condition of the unity which man and wife should form together. The subordination cannot be the other way about, since the man as זכר has to carry forward the divine and

human messages which through every marriage are to be a living force in the household, and to which the husband and wife are in union to devote their forces.” 

R’ Samson Raphael Hirsch, Judaism Eternal, Volume 2 (New York: Soncino, 1976) 

Mikki Willis on his experience with new age culture and philosophy:

"It's also where men also learn to be less masculine because the whole thing is about, you know, that none of that, no force, you know, no strength, just everything is just is Tai Chi through it all, Aikido through it all. And so I tried that for a long time and it wasn't until I had children and then we were trying to teach our children that and I realized these kids are developing a mentality and they're running us. Our children were, you know, four and six and they were running us because they saw dad as soft and because we were trying to do this conscious parenting thing where I remember one time I was at the park in Ohigh and I was watching this little boy pummel his mother in the face sitting on her lap pummel her and she's going, "Okay, I see that you're angry and something must have really ow ow ow ow. Okay, that's hard. It really upset you and you're angry"  and it's like just the whole thing just talk through it all. 

"And it wasn't until one day I just went, you know, I'm gonna scrap all this and I'm gonna do I'm gonna follow my instincts and I'm going to be a man. What the result of it was this. My kids discovered that their dad is not to be messed with. And as a result, they felt safe in a dangerous world. And so they didn't try to pull the same BS on us. They stopped all of that because they also had a sense of respect for the pecking order in our home which I started to really lay into it heavily like you never disrespect your mother. Let's go back to some old-fashioned like all of our history, all of our old ways which have just been deemed as kind of barbaric and archaic and wrong because that's what's led to capitalism and the destruction of everything. I don't know. I think we kind of have thrown the baby out with the bath water with a lot of those practices. So, I just went, I'm just going to go. And thank God my wife was willing to let me go there. And there were a few times when she said, "I don't know if you need to yell like that." No, I'm going to yell because that's what I feel inside. And it turned out to be the right thing to do because, like I said, in the end, my kids, they're balanced. Um they're good kids and they have respect for their elders. They have good old-fashioned respect....

"We're so sensitive that now all these words and terminologies that we've used forever are now being frown frowned upon and you want us to bend everything to make you comfortable so you're not and I realized later I'm like, Oh, this is the feelings over facts crowd. This is where it's starting, like we're shaping  everything in our physical world to make us feel better instead of dealing with the realities of the world and and doing  something about them. And so that's why I say that it was an incubator for the woke movement because it really did a lot of damage to a lot of men who are now stepping out of it. Talking with a lot of my friends that can look back and go, Wow, you know, not only was I a big phony, but it really did some damage to my strength, who I am as a person and my personal strength." 

 

5:36-8:08

Derech Eretz at Amazon

 

Instead of making you feel that you messed up, they put the blame on themselves and show you a photo of a nice dog. 

Derech Eretz

Can I do TIDE in Israel?

Sort of, not really. You are thinking a Jewish state will allow me to put my Judaism into full practice in the full dimension of life. Problem is Israel is more a military base than a real country. If it were an independent country it wouldn't have needed $1.6 trillion from the Americans to survive.

The military is mostly what the country is about, that and being anti-religious or superficially religious. There's little derech eretz in terms of good manners. People are far from being German in the good sense of the term, meaning self-disciplined, orderly, and polite. I dealt with a German on the phone the other day, I couldn't get over how organized and polite this man was. It was so refreshing. And he was personable too. Israelis are not like that, not usually.

They have their good points, but derech eretz is not one of them. It's Israel. And you might like it there. But it's not a great place for TIDE. There's are obstacles to everything. They are so overboard on their requirements for certifications, degrees. It's obnoxious, not practical. There are few libraries, very little culture. Any classical music is supplied by Russian immigrants. It's a difficult place, not an orderly, reasonable place. The economy is lame. Mostly it's about the military. Nearly every time you hear of a big business deal in Israel it's selling of weapons systems or spy software. Most other industries are not robust. The best place for TIDE is the American Midwest, Switzerland, and England, due to the Germanic influence. Also the Breuer's community in NY since they follow German Jewish custom and the atmosphere still enjoys the influence of Rav Hirsch and Rav Breuer.

Reb Moshe

 

Minhag Ashkenaz Kenes, Bene Brak, Thursday Oct 9, Mincah 5:50 PM

 Minhag Ashkenaz Kenes, Bene Brak, Thursday Oct 9, Mincah 5:50 PM

Also available online via Google Meet

https://meet.google.com/bfm-qjvh-xxs

Followed by talk in Hebrew by Rav Hamburger, followed by Maariv, followed by Chazanus.

Also available online via Google Meet

Rav Schwab on Sefer Melachim

 

Melachim_03_Chapter_02_Pesukim_08_19 - Track 1.mp3

Melachim_040_Chapter_02_Pesukim_19_25 01 - Track 1.mp3

Melachim_04A_Chaper_03_Pesukim_1_14 - 01 - Track 1.mp3

Melachim_04B_Chapter_03_Pesukim_15-end - 01 - Track 1.mp3

Melachim_04C_Chapter_04_Pesukim_01_16 - 01 - Track 1.mp3

Melachim_04D_Chapter_04_Pesukim_17_40 - 01 - Track 1.mp3

Melachim_05_Chapter_04_Pesukim_41_42 + ch5_psu_1-16.mp3

Melachim_06_Chapter_05_Pesukim_17_27 - Track 1.mp3

Melachim_07_Chapter_06_Pesukim_02_32_ Track 1.mp3

Melachim_08_Chapter_06_Pesukim_32_33+Ch_07_Pes_1_17 - Track 1.mp3

Melachim_09_Chapter_07_Pesukim_17_20_+Ch_08 _Pes_01_13Track 1.mp3

Melachim_10_Chapter_08_Pesukim_13_end_+CH_09.mp3

Melachim_11_Chapter_09_Pesukim_09_30Track 1.mp3

Melachim_12_Chapter_09_Pesukim_31_end+Cp_10_Pes_19Track 1.mp3

Melachim_13_Chapter_19_36+Ch_11_Pes_01_02Track 1.mp3

Melachim_14_Chapter_11_Pesukim_05_end+Ch_12_Pes_10Track 1.mp3

Melachim_15_Chapter_12_Pesukim_10_22+Ch_13_Pes_01Track 1.mp3

Melachim_16_Chapter_13_Pesukim_11_end+Ch_14_Pes_06Track 1.mp3

Melachim_17_Chapter_14_Pesukim_06_14Track 1.mp3

Melachim_18_Chapter_14_Pesukim_15_end+Ch15_Pes_02Track 1.mp3

Melachim_19_Chapter_15_Pesukim_03_25Track 1.mp3

Melachim_20_Chapter15_Pesukim_25_38+CH_16_Pes_01_05.mp3

Melachim_21_Chapter_16_Pesukim_06_20+ch_17_Pes_01_10.mp3

Melachim_22_Chapter_18_Pesukim_01_22_.mp3

Melachim_23_Chapter_10_Pesukim_11.mp3

Melachim_24_.mp3

Melachim_25_.mp3

Melachim_26_Chapter_19_Pesukim_23_.mp3

Melachim_28_Chapter_20_Pesukim_01_12.mp3

Melachim_29_Chapter_20_Pesukim_12_21.mp3

Melachim_30_Chapter_21_Pesukim_06_25+Ch_22_Pes_01_13.mp3

Melachim_31_Chapter_22_Pesukim_13_20.mp3

Melachim_32_Chapter_24_Pesukim_01_.mp3

Melachim_33_Chapter_24_Pesukim_17.mp3

Melachim_35_Chapter_23_Pesukim_01_18.mp3

Melachim_36_Chapter_23_Pesukim_18_36.mp3

not by your own power

 The land that He is now giving to you so that you may take possession of it was already promised to your fathers. You are receiving it only as an inheritance from them so that you may pass it on to your children. You did not gain possession of it by your own power. You owe the land solely to your forefathers loyalty to their covenant with God, and only if you will transmit this same loyalty to your own children as a spiritual heritage will you be able to bequeath to them also the land as an inheritance. 

R. Samson R. Hirsch, Devarim 25:19

Judith Grunfeld

Judith Grunfeld born Judith Rosenbaum (18 December 1902 – 14 May 1998) was a Hungarian born Jewish German teacher who spent much of her life in the United Kingdom. She was a pioneer of the revolutionary Bais Yaakov girl's education movement.^[1] She taught teachers in Poland and then led a Jewish school of girls, which was evacuated throughout the war to the small town of Shefford.

Germany and Poland

Grunfeld was born in Budapest in 1902, but she was educated and raised in Frankfurt where she attended the Hirsch Real Schule before going on to Frankfurt University.^[2]

In 1924, Jacob Rosenheim of Agudat Yisrael persuaded Grunfeld to abandon her dreams of going to Palestine and instead to go to Krakow, Poland and join Sarah Schenirer's fledgling school that was trying to teach girls from Jewish backgrounds.^[2] Schenirer did not have an extensive Jewish education but she was to change the way that women were regarded within Jewish culture.^[3] They aimed to teach girls and their teachers and get them to appreciate their culture and religion. For five years from 1924 she was involved with teaching teachers at the Beit Yaakov teachers' Seminary. She also had to raise the funds and this would involve some travel. In 1929 the school was adopted by the Orthodox "Agudat Yisrael" now that Rabbi Jacob Rosenheim was its President.^[2]

The Beit Yaakov teachers' Seminary in Kraków today

She married lawyer Isidor Grunfeld on 22 November 1932. He was a lawyer in Würzburg until 1933.^[4] The Nazis' rise to power prompted them to move to Israel, they moved to London in 1933 because they struggled to find work in Israel.^[5]

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Philosophy, Categorization of Mitzvot, and Rationales for Mitzvot Rav Yitzchak Blau, etzion.org.il

 MODERN RABBINIC THOUGHT

By Rav Yitzchak Blau

 

Shiur #08:

Philosophy, Categorization of Mitzvot, and Rationales for Mitzvot

 

 

One of R. Hirsch’s most significant contributions to Jewish thought is his intensive effort to find rationales for every aspect of each mitzva.  He outlines the foundation for such a project in The Nineteen Letters and carries out this project in great detail both in Horeb and in his commentary on the Torah.  The Nineteen Letters and Horeb, R. Hirsch’s two early works, both set forth R. Hirsch’s unique and innovative six-part classification of mitzvot.[1]  

 

            The choice to focus intellectual efforts on analyzing the reasons for mitzvot fits R. Hirsch’s general worldview.  R. Hirsch had little interest in metaphysical speculation about God, favoring more practical kinds of philosophic activity.  “Judaism has no regard for the kind of speculation that does not aspire to contribute to active productive life” (The Nineteen Letters, letter 15, trans. Karin Paretzky, revised by R. Joseph Elias).  In letter 18, he criticizes Rambam for introducing foreign modes of thought into Judaism, rather than analyzing it from within.  For example, according to Rambam, “Knowledge of God was considered an end in itself rather than a means toward the end.”  Clearly, for R. Hirsch, knowledge of God is not the end goal. 

 

            This practical bent emerges clearly from his analysis of the eighth chapter of Tehillim.[2]  The second verse of that chapter says: “O God, our Lord, how glorious is Your name in all the earth.”  One would expect the subsequent verses to outline in detail God’s grandeur; instead, they turn to a discussion of humanity.  R. Hirsch argues that this psalm reflects a characteristic Jewish truth. 

 

Knowledge of God is not a metaphysical insight into the existence, essence and metaphysical attributes of God.  The true knowledge of God is the ethical insight into the essence of man, his calling and his task rooted in the concept of God and His relationship to the world.

 

            Moreover, R. Hirsch contended that any knowledge of divinity is rooted in revelation and that human speculation could tell us very little about God (commentary on Shemot 19:4).  Letter 15 states that “we are warned against misconceiving our intellectual powers and probing into bottomless depths, no matter what glittering constructions and theses such a quest may produce.”  According to R, Hirsch, the eighth psalm mentions “out of the mouths of babes” to teach that the mind of every child is sufficient to understand what we need to know about God.  “The maturest mind of a philosopher knows no more about the essence of God than the simple mind of a child” (cited in I. Grunfeld, page xlii).

 

            The above idea finds powerful expression in an essay written by R. Hirsch about Shavuot and revelation.[3]  There, he objects to calling Judaism a “religion” or a “theology.”  He rejects the former term because “religion” refers to the inner thoughts of man rather than to outward physical expression.  Other religions are made by man and their external religious acts merely attempt to realize those inner thoughts.  In the case of Judaism, however, God gave us the commandments and we try to understand the divine thought manifest in those commandments.  The commandments constitute the primary essence of Judaism. 

 

R. Hirsch continues to explain that Judaism is not a “theology” either:

 

For, whilst theology contains the thoughts of man on God and things Divine, the Torah contains the thoughts of God on man and things human.  There is little said in the Torah which refers directly to God and things Divine; and of the inner essence of the Godhead and the supernatural we find in the Torah nothing at all….  The Torah does not want to tell us how things look in heaven, but how they should look in our hearts and homes (ibid., p.189).

 

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