We are obsessed with robots that act like humans. But what about humans who act like robots? How accountable are they for their actions? 

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When a talmid chacham gives advice or expresses an opinion, it is not just his personal view that he is expressing. His personal views infact totally merge with da’at Torah (the view of the Torah according to his understanding of it as taught to him by his rabe’im). His opinions then are halacha. This is especially so when the gemarra itself quotes opinions. 

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An animal’s source of vitality is the oxygen it enhales and the food it eats. A fish’s source of vitality is the water in which it lives. Removing a fish from water is like severing an animal’s trachea and oesophagus. A human’s source of vitality is the society in which he lives. What is a Jew’s source of vitality? 

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For there to be harmony and integration, there must first be the recognition of disparateness. Disparateness, and the abitlity to discern it, is the condition for beauty, harmony, wholeness and integrity. This is the power of havchannah, discernment. This is the foundation of humanness and is represented in the structure of the letter aleph - א 

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In exploring differences between the laws of Shabbat and of Tum’ah, we highlight the differences between a focus on activity and a focus on results.

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Knowing what to answer is information mastery. Knowing how to answer is human mastery. 

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The neck houses three vital channels of life: the simanim, the trachea, oesophagus,  and the carotid arteries. In Kodshim the focus is on the arteries, in Chullin on the simanim. Severing the simanim is the condition for removing the animal from tumat beveila whereas severing the arteries is the way to prepare the animal to be kosher for consumption by a Jew. In the human neck the trachea also serves as the channel for speech. Speech, רוח ממללא, distinguishes human from animal; for speech is the deepest expression of neshama. 

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The quality of the things we do is a function of where our heads are in the moment of action. It is this quality that affects who we become through the things that we do.

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Shechita as the way to prepare chullin meat, was only instituted after the entrance of Benei Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael 

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Halachik principle is broad and widely applicable. Halachik decisions are much more specific to individual, time and circumstance. Leaders calibrate their communications to their specific audiences. Interpreters should cautiously identify intended audiences, understand them and apply the halacha responsibly. 

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