http://blog.thefoundationstone.org Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from The Foundation Stone Blog Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:26:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2011/10/10/a-willow-is-not-an-aravah/ http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2011/10/10/a-willow-is-not-an-aravah/#comments Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:45:31 +0000 Rabbi Simcha Weinberg http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/?p=1279 A rose may be a rose, but a willow is not an Aravah: It is Succot for me whenever I drive on a road through trees. No matter the time of year, I am on the lookout for kosher Aravot – Willows – for my Lulav and Hoshanot. There are magnificent Aravot in Dobb’s Ferry, but [...]]]> http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2011/10/10/a-willow-is-not-an-aravah/feed/ 1 http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2011/07/20/the-music-of-halacha-kashering/ http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2011/07/20/the-music-of-halacha-kashering/#comments Wed, 20 Jul 2011 21:54:43 +0000 Rabbi Simcha Weinberg http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/?p=5748 Dear Rabbi Weinberg; I have heard you say on numerous occasions that the laws of Kashering are a guide to repairing spiritual damage. Since the laws of Kashering are in this week’s Parsha, Matos, “Everything that comes into fire, you shall pass through fire and it will be purified (Numbers 31:23),” I was wondering where [...]]]> http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2011/07/20/the-music-of-halacha-kashering/feed/ 1 http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2011/03/29/sanctifying-the-new-moon/ http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2011/03/29/sanctifying-the-new-moon/#comments Tue, 29 Mar 2011 20:38:42 +0000 Rabbi Simcha Weinberg http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/?p=48 Since we are approaching Rosh Chodesh Nissan, I would like to ask about two strange customs in Kiddush Levana – The Sanctification of the New Moon: 1) Why do we recite “May fear and trembling befall them, at the greatness of Your arm may they be still as stone” (Exodus 15:16) forward and backward? [...]]]> http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2011/03/29/sanctifying-the-new-moon/feed/ 1 http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/11/28/what-is-the-reason-chinuch-chanukah/ http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/11/28/what-is-the-reason-chinuch-chanukah/#comments Sun, 28 Nov 2010 20:34:31 +0000 Rabbi Simcha Weinberg http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/?p=3955 In 1984 you dedicated a small cemetery near Saratoga Springs and you seriously considered slaughtering a rooster for what you called the “Chanukat Beit Hakevarot.” I thought you were a little crazy, but since I’ve been reading your website I suspect that you had a good reason. What was it? Why did you decide [...]]]> http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/11/28/what-is-the-reason-chinuch-chanukah/feed/ 0 http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/11/03/what-is-the-reason-honoring-parents/ http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/11/03/what-is-the-reason-honoring-parents/#comments Wed, 03 Nov 2010 17:45:37 +0000 Rabbi Simcha Weinberg http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/?p=3784 My father signs his letters to me with his actual name, and not Dad. May I respond by writing a letter addressed to him by his proper name? M.D.  The Halachic issue is whether writing is considered the same as speaking. Both the Rambam and the Tur (YD 240 & 242) rule that one may not [...]]]> http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/11/03/what-is-the-reason-honoring-parents/feed/ 0 http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/10/06/from-past-to-future/ http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/10/06/from-past-to-future/#comments Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:56:58 +0000 Rabbi Simcha Weinberg http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/?p=1332 In 1509, Johannes Pfefferkorn, a Dominican monk who was also a converted rabbi, published Mirror of the Jews, an anti-Semitic book proposing that all works in Hebrew, including the Talmud, be burned. Johannes Reuchlin, a Bavarian humanist, dismayed by the possibility of such desecration, formally protested to the emperor. Jewish scholarship should not be suppressed, he [...]]]> http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/10/06/from-past-to-future/feed/ 6 http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/09/27/the-hyrax-and-the-schach-perceptions-matter/ http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/09/27/the-hyrax-and-the-schach-perceptions-matter/#comments Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:34:58 +0000 Rabbi Simcha Weinberg http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/?p=1253 Can you explain for me, please, how come that its written that ‘HASHAFAN KI MA’ALEI GEIRA’ – ‘And the Hyrax, for it brings up its cud, but its hoof is not split – it is unclean to you.’ (Leviticus 11:5) when it’s against nature. So which one is the truth? Life or Torah [...]]]> http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/09/27/the-hyrax-and-the-schach-perceptions-matter/feed/ 1 http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/09/26/aravot-smashing/ http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/09/26/aravot-smashing/#comments Mon, 27 Sep 2010 00:06:38 +0000 Rabbi Simcha Weinberg http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/?p=1288 In Honor of the Holy Breslaver’s Yahrtzeit Xerxes was furious. His engineers had constructed a bridge across the Hellespont in 480 BC, and an act of God had taken out the bridge. Xerxes blamed both the sea and the hapless engineers: “As soon as the strait had been bridged, a great storm fell upon it and [...]]]> http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/09/26/aravot-smashing/feed/ 7 http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/08/03/talking-to-the-wall/ http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/08/03/talking-to-the-wall/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:50:45 +0000 Rabbi Simcha Weinberg http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/?p=2817 “Rabbi, I usually feel when I pray that I am talking to the wall!” “Rabbi; when I read or hear people say to a child, ‘Your father is now in heaven,’ to console him, I shudder. I wonder how much we choose to believe simply to make ourselves feel better. If I believe that about people [...]]]> http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2010/08/03/talking-to-the-wall/feed/ 2 http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2009/06/18/misreadings-or-catch-me-if-you-can/ http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2009/06/18/misreadings-or-catch-me-if-you-can/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:44:31 +0000 Rabbi Simcha Weinberg http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2009/06/18/misreadings-or-catch-me-if-you-can/ I had a great idea for a column on my blog: “No statute has ever been put up to a critic” Sibelius was supposed to have said. What a wonderful opportunity to write about my “What is The Reason?” Column on my website. I had an entire essay mapped out in my head about [...]]]> http://blog.thefoundationstone.org/2009/06/18/misreadings-or-catch-me-if-you-can/feed/ 1