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Self-deception and unconscious self-destructive urges are confounding. At times, we make best and sincerest efforts to avoid falling into certain patterns and dysfunctional behavior. Despite this, like lemmings, we hurl ourselves over the cliff to our doom.
Our Gemara on Amud Beis quotes a verse (Devarim 22:8) that instructs one to make their home safe:
כִּ֤י תִבְנֶה֙ בַּ֣יִת חָדָ֔שׁ וְעָש …
What is the extent and nature of the commandment to honor parents? Is it to honor requests of substance that bring them benefit, as enumerated by Gemara Kiddushin (31b, quoted below), or is it even to honor their requests that have no concrete benefit? In other words, if your father or mother ask you to pour them a glass of tea, this is honoring their request and brings them a concrete benefit. But what about if one’s parents say, “Do …
It seems to be a staple of modern and ancient law, and even aspects of halacha to enact fines upon perpetrators. Our Gemara on Amud Aleph (see Rashi as well) notes that the institution of fines represent an extra-judicial response that is not about compensation per se, but some form of punishment. According to the Klein Dictionary, the etymology of the word Kenas is Greek. It is related to the word census, which is to count.&nbs …
The Torah’s response to accidental death when there is a degree of negligence is for the perpetrator to go into exile until the death of the Cohen Godol, as our Gemara on Amud Beis describes. But what is the reason for exile? The verses offer a mixed message because there is reference to not accepting payment as exchange for forgiveness (as described in our Gemara), which implies exile is a form of penance, yet the verses also speak o …
The great mystics saw God in everything. The more physical something is, the more intensely spiritual potential is locked within it. After all, if God leaves a road sign, it pays to read it carefully. When there is so much physical energy present, it is only the tip of the spiritual iceberg. This is why erotic and sexual imagery is used constantly by the Zohar and other mystical works. It’s much more than a metaphor. …
Our Gemara on Amud Aleph quotes the verse in Devarim (25:2-3) which are the scriptural source for the punishment of lashes. It is notable that though the verse states 40 lashes, there is a rabbinic tradition that seemingly overrides the explicit verse and the number of lashes is never to exceed 39. (For more on the philosophical and psychological implications of this dichotomy, see Psychology of the Daf, Kesuvos 32.) Regardless of the …
