ysoscher

Tis’ the season! (The annual refresher for whoever needs it.) * Rabbi, can you help me pick out an esrog? I know aesthetics play a big role, but what actually determines supremacy in this citrus beauty pageant? ——— Sure! Broadly speaking, when buying an esrog, you look for three things: 🍋 1️⃣ Size 🍋 2️⃣ Cleanliness 🍋 3️⃣ Personality – is the surface bland, or does it have depth, crevices, and curves? Almost no esrog will have all three. You therefore have to prioritize — to find the characteristics that best reflect your sense of halakhic aesthetics. Historically, communities developed their own aesthetic hierarchy: 🟢 Chassidim (for the most part) prefer size and personality, caring less about cleanliness. 🟣 Litvaks, by contrast, favor size and cleanliness, and care less about personality. There’s also a subtle political dimension: Israeli esrogim often tend to be less clean than non-Israeli ones. So if geographical pedigree factors into your religious sensibility, you might be willing to trade some physical perfection for spiritual provenance. Ultimately, the choice is deeply personal. What looks beautiful to you may seem garish to me. Either way, come Tuesday morning we’ll all head to shul clutching a citrus fruit whose beauty is defined not by fashion or filters, but by faith. It will be the most beautiful esrog — to you. * * And in a culture that worships surface and shine, it is fitting that we celebrate a holiday that sanctifies the complexity of true beauty.

Today is a “yoma tava le’rabana,” a mini chag for bnei Torah. Daf Yomi began the study of tractate Zevachim today, the first tractate in Kodashim. Few things in Talmud are more thrilling than the study of the Kodshim section. As I’ve often said, paraphrasing the famous adage about Kabbalah: shechting korbanot may be bloody and raw, but studying those halakhot is soul-nourishing, beautiful, and aesthetically elevating. * * * For me, though, the study of Kodashim is also deeply personal. At 13, growing up in Satmar, there was an expectation to be in yeshiva at 6 AM. But my maternal grandfather—a prominent local Rosh Yeshiva and a serious talmid chacham—thought that was for shleppers. Serious talmidei chachamim, he believed, start their day much earlier. He therefore established a daily chavruta with me for an hour before yeshiva, at 5:00 AM. He would call me at 4:30 AM, and in his gruff, authoritative voice say: “Ysoscher, it’s 4:30. See you soon.” And sure enough, by 5 AM we’d be sitting together in front of the Gemara, delving into the intricacies of Masechet Zevachim. Those early mornings instilled in me a love for Kodashim—an affection that was both intellectual and emotional. The sugyot themselves captivated me with their precision and depth, but it was also the experience: the stillness of dawn, the steady cadence of my grandfather’s voice, and the sense that Torah was the very first thing the day demanded. That combination made Kodashim not just a subject I studied, but a world I cherished. * * * Today, therefore, feels like a personal yom tov. It kickstarts a journey in which we will immerse ourselves for the coming months in the world of Kodashim—Korbanot, Mizbeach, Kohanim, and more. It’s intricate, intellectually demanding, and spiritually rich. Studying the next three masechtot will also bring me back to that wonderful time when I was a pure, not-yet-jaded 13-year-old, learning Torah with my zayde. Though he’s no longer with us, I feel his presence in every daf of Kodashim—his voice, his cadence, his love of Torah. Each page is a reunion, binding me once more to the man who first opened this world for me. Toda zaidy!

axios.com/2025/09/15/israel-… Axios is reporting: Israel Launches Offensive To Occupy Gaza City According to Ynet: “The IDF completed its final preparations for the ground offensive this weekend, assembling hundreds of tanks, armored personnel carriers, and bulldozers along Gaza’s northern edge. Regular infantry units are expected to lead the incursion, supported by brigades already operating on the city’s flanks,” * * A long list of preparations—but the families of the chayalim are not among them. We are not PREPARED to lose our loved ones: husbands, wives, sons, daughters. We are not ready for the return of Hutar Lepirsum notices. When this campaign ends, some will be widowed. Some orphaned. Some will sit in silence no parent should ever know. I am not ready. None of us are. This war has already taken too much. Too many graves, too many tears. It must end—for the sake of every life still left to live. Maspik! * * * And still, Naomi Shemer’s words force themselves into my head like a relentless soundtrack. When the war surges, when the phone quivers with the fear of a call to miluim, the lines return—a melody I wish I could silence but cannot: —We fled to the very same hiding-places, —We fought together through three wars. —We crawled on thorns, on stones and brambles, —Yet always returned, together, to the village. * —I remember, in that battle without ending, —How suddenly I saw you fall. —And when the dawn rose over the mountain, —It was I who carried you back to the village. * —You see—here we are, still in the village. —Almost everything remains unchanged. —I walk the fields, still green with life, —While you lie just beyond the cemetery fence. ——— Ana Hashem Ho’shiah Na!

A Church that claimed the moral courage of Nostra Aetate cannot now hide behind silence. * * * Over the weekend, a number of people suggested that my recent critique of Charlie Kirk was misdirected. Upon reflection, perhaps they are right. The more urgent focus should instead be on one of his closest friends, Candace Owen’s (@RealCandaceO), whose repeated use of vile antisemitic tropes has made her a pock on American culture. Ordinarily, I would not give her the dignity of notice. She thrives on attention and often appears more like a provocateur than a serious thinker. But when her poisonous rhetoric is wrapped in the mantle of Christianity, the danger becomes far greater. In those moments, her words do not merely insult; they corrupt the moral language of an entire faith. That is why they demand an unambiguous, public response. As the Rabbis teach us, מדשתקי רבנן שמע מינה דניחא להו — when leaders remain silent, their silence itself becomes a form of consent. This silence is especially intolerable because I know another Christianity. For several years now, I have been engaged in interfaith dialogue with priests, rabbis, and Jewish and Christian scholars working together in the spirit of Nostra Aetate. Our shared goal has been to build bridges of love, support, and understanding, to heal the wounds of centuries of persecution, and to nurture a future grounded in honesty and mutual respect. Against that backdrop, Owens’ rhetoric is grotesque — not only an assault on Jews but a betrayal of the very best within her own tradition. Some are tempted to dismiss her as a joke. And indeed, she often presents herself as one. But history has shown us, time and again, that foolish words, when laced with hatred, can ignite violence. We have witnessed, even in these past days, how swiftly toxic speech can spiral into chaos — leaving death, pain, and mayhem in its wake. For that reason, it is not enough to roll our eyes or turn away. It is incumbent upon the Church — its leaders and its faithful alike — to forcefully, clearly, and unequivocally denounce her. Silence is not neutrality. Silence is acquiescence. The burden lies squarely with the Church. If people like Owens are allowed to drape their hatred in Christian garb without loud and public rejection, the stain will not be theirs alone — it will be the Church’s.

Very few people are entirely noble or utterly vile. Most of us live in between, with traits that inspire and others that condemn. Kirk was no different. Some of his efforts were admirable, and at times genuinely beneficial for the Jewish community. But others were corrosive. They caused immense pain and left real damage in their wake. His legacy will carry both. The good he accomplished is no expiation for the pain and harm he caused, and at the same time, neither does the harm he caused invalidate all the good he accomplished. Both remain, side by side, inseparable parts of the story he leaves behind.

To the left: dignity and Grace! To the right: gracelessness galore! * * Sabalenka: 1) “Geoff didn’t win because she played well. She won because I played poorly.” 2) “She would have lost if she played against Swiatek”) Sabalenka’s match scores was bad but not as bad as her graciousness score. Those were awful.

Although it has been said (by me) many times, in many ways ... I will repeat it until I am blue in the face: One does NOT have to be a believer in order to have faith, even a non-believer (or even an avowed heretic) can have EMUNAH * * * In this week's Torah portion (Ekev), Moshe rabbeinu dramatically recounts the story of the giving and subsequent crushing of the luchot, the twinned covenantal tablets. The giving of the tablets, like every good drama, followed a "three act structure;" they were given, they were broken, and then they were replaced. This process was integral to the religious transformation the tablets were meant to perpetuate. To paraphrase a Kotzk'er aphorism: religious defiance is the foundation of religious subservience, Our personal luchot cannot be whole unless they are first broken. Religiosity is by definition countercultural, crushing old paradigms and replacing them with the new. As a matter of fact, breaking norms is actually in our DNA. According to the midrash, that's exactly what our forebearer Abraham did: he contemptuously vanquished his father's religious icons and replaced them by introducing a new religious model-monotheism. Mattan Torah still operates in that vein even today. There's a notion in chassidut that Mattan Torah happens in perpetuity, that every generation has its own Har Sinai experience. Taken to its logical conclusion, it would then mean that we too have to go through our own breaking-of-the-tablets experience. That moment happens when we realize that old paradigms are insufficient for our contemporary religious struggles and require some polishing and refurbishing. Our discourse on faith is where it is most needed. Conventional notions of faith and belief no longer resonate with a significant number of observant Jews-our generation's tablets have tragically been crushed. We are, therefore, due for a refurbished set. Perhaps, like Avraham Avinu in his time, we need to drastically reorient our notion of faith and belief. (I have no doubt that Avraham was the inspiration for Maimonides, the Arizal, and the Besht when they revolutionized their own community's religious tenets and nomenclature) Our new model should be: BELIEF in the very God which you doubt or perhaps are even convinced that He no longer exists. Along those lines, BELIEF in a Mamad Har Sinai moment should mean believing in an experience whose factuality is no longer relevant to you. We have emunah in God and believe that the Mattan Torah narrative is religiously true, irrespective of its scientific veracity. We can do this by categorically shifting our conception of faith. We need to take belief out of the logical arena and put it where it belongs, in the psycho/spiritual realm. Belief is a religious mantra, not an intellectual conviction. A Religious faith-statement is dogmatic, not scientific. This understating of our credal tenets could perhaps be our generation’s new and reconstituted Luchot. (Which, as the Rabbis tells, lie alongside the broken luchot, because even after the old luchot are crushed they still remain a source of guidance and inspiration. Their value has somewhat diminished but their relevance has not been negated.) (Below: Moses Breaks Tablets Of Law, By Marc Chagall)

Loss of life is always devastating. Still, I have a hunch that from a legal standpoint every Gazan who surrounded the IDF during yesterday’s rescue mission had the status of what Jewish law calls “rodef,” one who could potentially cause the death of another person, even if it was inadvertent. One may save their own life by taking the life of someone who poses a potential mortal threat. The IDF was therefore justified in using all means at their disposal to thwart those who posed a possible threat to the lives of the hostages. If anybody should be held responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people, it should be those who encouraged them to put their lives in harms way, not the IDF. (This is my instinctual reaction, but admittedly need to think more about it.)

#TorahJews I will not stay by idle when the blood of my own children and million others are put at risk. Oh, the irony: this new outfit Naturna, a reincarnation of the discredited and condemned radical anti-Jewish group, Neturai Karta, has shown up on social media. They’re not saying much other than repeating the same mantra over and over again: Zionism isn’t (their version of)Judaism. Occasionally, however they’ll throw in a real beau, a blatant lie which easily fools the ignorant masses, but those who know them well enough aren’t fooled. Best example: in the doc. below they drop one of the most outrages antsemitic tropes, that Jews have dual loyalties, to America and to Israel. If ever there was a laughable critique, this is it. They are ultra-orthodox and beseech God incessantly to redeem them from the accursed exile and return them to their “REAL” homeland, and they have the audacity to accuse mostly secular American Jews of holding dual loyalties. How much more unself-aware can one be? This group is a danger to many and needs to be stopped—soon.

Torah Judaism @TorahJudaism Torah Jews @TorahJews It's time we call out these two groups who purport to love and care about Palestinians, when in fact they hate them way more than any "zionist" would. Sad to see how gullible and desperate the muslim community is, how easily they fall for these lies. What hypocrites! They claim to support the establishment of a Palestinian state but at the same time pray everyday for its annihilation. Each and everyone of them prays three times a day for the coming of the messiah who will kill everybody in Israel unless they accept Judaism, and would also decimate every church or Mosque in Israel. It's sad and perhaps even pathetic.

Sad to see how gullible and desperate the muslim community is, they fall for these lies. What a hypocrite! He claims to want the establishment of a Palestinian state but at the same time prays everyday for its annihilation. He prays for the coming of the messiah who will kick out everybody from Israel unless they accept Judaism. It's sad and perhaps even pathetic. xitter.cf/TorahJudaism/sta…

Oh the irony. The people who posted the tweet below, the Netura Karta, who pray daily for the arrival of the messiah who in their view will annihilate anybody who doesn’t embrace Orthodox Judaism, are condemning Israel for waging a war of self defense. It’s time to call their bluff. They are just waiting for the “right time.” When that time arrives, they will destroy every church, Mosque, and Buddhist temple, and then murder in cold blood anybody who refuses to embrace Orthodox Judaism.