Rabbi Albert Setton hosts classes every morning at 9:00 AM at West Deal Shul.

Day ten of the Selichot series translates the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy one by one. Rabbi Setton explains why the name Hashem itself represents mercy overriding strict judgment, the difference between rachum and chanun, and why emet, truth, belongs in a list of mercy. The class then draws out the halachic weight of the passage: the Thirteen Attributes are a davar shebikdushah requiring a minyan, because the covenant is with the nation as a whole, not the individual. It closes with the reminder that in Selichot we pray as members of Am Yisrael, not alone.

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(0:00) Hashem: the name of mercy
(0:55) Rachum, chanun, erech apayim
(1:55) Rav chesed ve'emet
(2:45) Three words for sin
(3:35) A davar shebikdushah
(4:25) Praying as a nation

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Rabbi Albert Setton hosts classes every morning at 9:00 AM at West Deal Shul.

Day nine of the Selichot series looks closely at the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy themselves. Rabbi Setton points to the great machloket of the Rishonim over how to count and define the middot, and why Hazal ended the list in the middle of a pasuk, leaving out venakeh lo yenakeh. The class follows the attributes through Tanakh, from Moshe's own prayer after the sin of the spies, where the Ramban notes he omits some, to Yonah, who leaves out veEmet. It then opens the Rahamana prayer, explaining bedil vaya'avor and why seven biblical figures are invoked by berit while Yosef is remembered by his merit, following the kabbalistic order of the middot.

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(0:00) Counting the 13 middot
(1:20) Why the list stops mid-pasuk
(2:20) Moshe, the spies, and the Ramban
(3:10) Yonah leaves out veEmet
(3:50) Rahamana and bedil vaya'avor
(4:40) The seven tzaddikim of the berit

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Rabbi Joseph Dana records a short daily Mishnah class, working through all of Mishnah a few minutes at a time.

Mishnah Berachot 1:5 teaches that we mention the exodus from Egypt even at night, which is why the third paragraph of Shema is recited in the evening Shema even though its main subject, tzitzit, applies only by day. Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah says that although he was like a man of seventy, he never understood the source for this rule until Ben Zoma derived it from the verse "lema'an tizkor et yom tzet'cha me'eretz Mitzrayim kol yemei chayecha" - "the days of your life" on their own would teach only the daytime obligation, and the extra word "all" adds the nights. The Chachamim read the verse differently: "yemei chayecha" refers to this world, and "kol yemei chayecha" teaches that the exodus must be remembered even in the days of Mashiach. The Rambam notes that the Chachamim do not dispute the obligation itself; they simply derive it from a different source.

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(0:00) The Third Paragraph at Night

(1:24) Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah's Statement

(2:37) Ben Zoma's Derasha

(3:28) The Chachamim Disagree

(4:24) Rambam: They Agree on the Mitzvah

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Rabbi Moshe Tobal hosts classes every day at 6:30 AM at West Deal Shul.

Rabbi Moshe Tobal asks a hard question for Elul: some wrongs can't be undone - a murdered man isn't coming back, a ruined family stays ruined, and five stolen minutes of someone's Torah learning cost him words of Gemara for eternity. So what does teshuvah actually fix, and how can anyone honestly ask mechilah for a loss that lasts forever? With the mashal of a missed flight, he answers: everything, in ruchniyut and in gashmiyut, is apportioned from Heaven on Rosh Hashanah - how many chances each of us gets for each mitzvah. The one who caused the loss still needs mechilah, because he chose to be the instrument; the loss itself was already decreed. That choice, and only that choice, is what teshuvah repairs.

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(0:00) No Fix for Murder and Adultery

(2:19) Is Teshuvah Even Possible?

(3:00) Stealing Someone's Learning

(3:54) The Missed Flight

(5:19) Two Judgments on Rosh Hashanah

(6:14) You Chose to Be the Instrument

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Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes every day at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul.

Rabbi Ike Hanon finishes Nun Bet Amud Bet and turns the page. The Gemara tells of Ribbi Ilai, who cut down a Shemita palm for lumber and destroyed the unripe berries on it - but the Torah says Shemita produce is "for eating," not for wasting. Along the way: when you may cut down a fruit tree at all, why Shemita apple cores and wine carry kedushat Shevi'it, and the search for Ribbi Ilai's defense. Unripe dates fail as a defense because even the protective husks count as fruit (Rav Nachman, from orlah); Rabbi Yose's grape bud gives way to the Rabbanan, but Rav Shimi min Hadraba shows from Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel's tree list that dates are strict too; and the Gemara finally answers that Ribbi Ilai cut a male palm whose berries never ripen on the tree, so nothing was destroyed. The class closes with a vort on the parsha: hanistarot l'Hashem - the true reward is hidden with Hashem, and the life and good we are given are a means to serve Him (Ksav Sofer, Rambam, Kli Yakar).

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(0:00) Ribbi Ilai Cuts Down the Palm

(2:40) You Can't Waste Shemita Fruit

(6:50) First Defense: The Dates Weren't Ripe

(9:55) Rabbi Yose and the Grape Bud

(11:20) Rav Shimi's Challenge

(14:50) Boser, Giru'a, and the White Bean

(16:40) The Male Palm Answer

(18:40) Parsha Vort: The Hidden Things

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Rabbi Ike Hanon hosts classes every day at 6:10 AM at West Deal Shul.

Rabbi Ike Hanon finishes Nun Bet Amud Alef and turns the page. Ravina offers the Gemara's last reading of Rabbi Yehuda's "go and bring it yourself," mapping it onto the Tannaic dispute over the dates of Tzo'ar: the Tanna Kamma lets you eat until the last date is gone, while Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel stops you once the only dates left sit between the thorns, beyond the animals' reach. At the top of 52b the Gemara quotes Masekhet Shevi'it - the land splits into three regions for biur (Yehuda, Ever HaYarden, the Galil), each with three subregions - and Rashi and Tosafot battle over what the subregions add, Tosafot landing on topography: mountain, valley, and plain. The pasuk "for your animals and the wild animals of your land" grounds the whole system in how far an animal will walk. The class closes with Shemita fruit carried abroad - the Tanna Kamma says remove it where you are, Rabban Shimon ben Elazar says carry it back to Israel - and with Rav Safra's barrel of Shemita wine, whose two travel companions remembered Rabbi Abbahu's ruling in opposite ways, earning Rav Yosef's jab: a man follows the student who tells him what he wants to hear.

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(0:00) Ravina's Last Answer for Rabbi Yehuda

(2:10) Dates Between the Thorns

(5:45) Three Regions for Biur

(8:20) Three Subregions in Each Region

(11:15) Tosafot: Where's the Difference?

(13:55) The Pasuk Behind the Regions

(15:50) Shemita Fruit Taken Abroad

(18:30) Rav Safra's Barrel of Wine

(21:10) Rav Yosef's Jab

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Mr. Sammy Saka hosts classes on Zoom Tuesday and Thursday at 12:30PM. Contact Jacob Betesh to be added to the chat.

Mr. Sammy Saka learns Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion's mishna: two people who sit together with no words of Torah between them are a "session of scorners," but when Torah passes between them, the Shechinah rests between them. He contrasts the scorner, who feels superior like Amalek, with the scoffer, who mocks, and brings Midrash Shmuel's reading that the mishna can speak even about scholars who study Torah yet refuse to talk to one another. The class centers on his theme "Torah at our table" - using the Friday night table, a lunch-and-learn, or a car ride alone as chances to bring Torah to life, with stories from his own family's Shabbat table and from Harry Adjmi's talk on humility. He closes with a call for unity across shuls, schools, and learning styles, and a short community announcement about the Mount Scopus Jerusalem project.

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(0:00) Reading the Mishna

(2:00) Today's Topic: Torah at Our Table

(2:55) Scorner vs. Scoffer

(4:45) Midrash Shmuel: Scholars Who Don't Talk

(6:55) The Popular Reading: No Torah at All

(8:40) Torah at Our Table, in Practice

(12:05) The Shechinah Between Them

(14:35) Even One Person: Torah Everywhere

(16:55) Speak Peaceably: Unity in Torah

(19:55) Conclusion: Values on the Table

(21:20) Mount Scopus Announcement

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Rabbi Albert Setton hosts classes every morning at 9:00 AM at West Deal Shul.

Day eight of the Selichot series explains the covenant of the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, the Gemara's promise that these middot never return empty-handed. Rabbi Setton retells the scene in Shemot after the golden calf, Moshe asking to know God's ways and seeing only His back as Hashem passes and calls out the attributes. The class gives two readings of the covenant: the attributes are how God Himself acts, and Israel must also live them, as Rabbi Moshe Cordovero's Tomer Devorah teaches. It closes with the eternal covenant after the Cheit Ha'Eigel, God's commitment never to reject His people.

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(0:00) The berit of the 13 middot
(1:10) Moshe sees God's back
(2:20) Vaya'avor: God calls out the middot
(3:05) Two readings of the covenant
(3:50) Tomer Devorah: living mercy
(4:40) An eternal covenant

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Rabbi Joseph Dana records a short daily Mishnah class, working through all of Mishnah a few minutes at a time.

Mishna Dalet of Masekhet Berachot lists the berachot the sages placed around Kriat Shema: in the morning, Yotzer HaMeorot and Ahavat Olam before Shema and Emet VeYatziv through Ga'al Yisrael after; at night, HaMa'ariv Aravim and Ahavat Olam before, and Ve'emunah and Hashkivenu after. The Mishna then explains "one long and one short": a long beracha opens and closes with Baruch Atah Hashem, while a short one only closes with it. And it rules that the sages' text is fixed - where they set a long beracha you may not shorten it, where they set a short one you may not lengthen it, and you may not add or drop a closing Baruch Atah on your own, because these berachot come from the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah.

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(0:00) The Berachot Around Shema

(0:46) The Evening Berachot

(1:15) Long Beracha, Short Beracha

(2:20) The Evening Pair

(3:20) No Shortening, No Lengthening

(4:00) To Seal or Not to Seal

(4:52) Why the Mishna Spells It All Out

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Rabbi Joseph Dana records a short daily Mishnah class, working through all of Mishnah a few minutes at a time.

Mishna Gimmel of Masekhet Berachot moves from when to say Kriat Shema to how. Beit Shammai read "uv'shochbecha uv'kumecha" as a required position - lie down at night and stand in the morning - while Beit Hillel point to "uv'lechtecha vaderech": say Shema as you are, standing, sitting, or walking. Pressed on why the verse mentions lying down and rising at all, Beit Hillel answer that it marks the time people sleep and wake, not their posture. The Mishna closes with Rabbi Tarfon, who left the road and lay down to follow Beit Shammai, endangering himself among bandits - and the sages told him he would have been liable for his own life, because the halacha follows Beit Hillel.

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(0:00) The Position for Saying Shema

(0:18) Beit Shammai: Lie Down, Stand Up

(0:57) Beit Hillel: Say It As You Are

(1:37) Why "When You Lie Down and Get Up"?

(1:53) It's the Time, Not the Position

(2:17) Rabbi Tarfon and the Bandits

(2:58) The Sages Rebuke Rabbi Tarfon

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