Partners In Prayer - Siddur

The 21st of Adar is the Yahrtzeit of the Noam Elimelech: “This is the decree of the Torah, which God has commanded, saying, ‘ Speak to the Children of Israel, and they shall take to you a completely red cow’ (Numbers 19:2).”   It is incumbent on the righteous leaders of the generation, those who represent Moses in each generation, to transform the Attribute of Judgment, represented by the color, red, and make it whole, meaning, healed and healing for Israel. (Noam Elimelech) By:  Rabbi Weinberg, n''y 

In “ Consultations ,” we offered five views of Achashveirosh: Achashveirosh believes that his ascension to the throne was guided by the constellations, or, Achashveirosh as Bill Clinton, Achashveirosh who believes that he is a   man with a great destiny, a man determined that every decision be perceived as a ruling by the Supreme Court expressing his deep commitment to law and structure, and finally, who understands a king that for some reason he will need Jewish support to succeed as King. We will have to examine the sages’ decision to recuse themselves from the perspective of each of these descriptions of Achashveirosh.   The Midrash continues: The wicked Achashveirosh said to them, “Seeing that I ordered Vashti to appear before me naked and she refused, what is to be her punishment?” They replied, “Your Majesty, when we were in our own land, we used to inquire of the Urim and Tummim, but now we are tossed about,” and they quoted to him the verse, “Moab has been at ease from...

“And these are the ordinances that you shall place before them (Exodus 21:1).” Immediately preceding, in the construction of the altar, the symbolic expression of the fundamental basic principle was given, that our whole relationship   to God is to be taken as one through which justice and humanity for building up human society, and morality and decency   for the work of each individual on himself , are to be gained and formed, on a firm unshatterable basis.   To that principle, the “and,” adds the legal laws by which the building up of Jewish society on the basis of justice and humanity is the first thing ordered . The “sword,” force and harshness are thereby to be banned from the Jewish State, only then can they be worthy to erect an altar to God in their midst. That is why these laws come before the building of the Tabernacle. (Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch) “Restore our judges as in earliest times and our counselors as at first; remove from us sorrow and groaning; and s...

Rabbi Yehudah ben Lakish says: Two people who come before you in judgement, one weak and the other powerful, before you hear their claims, or even after you have heard their  claims but you do not know in whose favor the case inclines, you are permitted to say to them, “I do not wish to be involved, for perhaps the powerful one will be found guilty and he will harass the judge. However, once you have heard their claims and you know in whose favor the case inclines, you are not permitted to say, “I do not want to be involved”, for it stated (Devarim, 1:17): ” You shall not fear any man”. (Midrash Tanchuma, Mishpatim #6) Why would a judge be allowed to withdraw from a case involving one powerful party, as long as he has not yet determined how he would rule? Why does “You shall not fear any man” not apply then? It seems that there are two distinct stages at work. The first stage, before the parties have spoken, or even after they have spoken but the judge has not formed his decision y...