Integral Torah Perspectives

ב''ה The 'otzar of yirat shamayim' is compared to a king who takes out the most precious treasures from the depths of his kingly storehouse to win a battle. This treasure is so precious the king never showed it to anyone or even looked at it. To win the battle he sells it to give to the soldiers. This corresponds with the concept of 'hakol beyedei shamayim chutz me yirat shamayim." All is in the hands of heavens except for the fear of heaven. This fear of heaven is so precious it was hidden away, even from the king, so to speak. Given to the solitary soldiers to choose good and win over evil.   Basi Legani 5746

ב''ה A murderer transgresses all 10  commandments when he kills since the dead man could have fulfilled them all. Even if he was a wicked man, its still possible that his children would. With this we can understand the conversation between Hashem and Kayin. Hashem asks, "Ei Hevel achicha?" Where is Hevel your brother, he can no longer fulfill the mitzvos? Kayen answers, "Hashomer achi, 'Anochi'? Was my brother so righteous that he would gaurd (the 10 commandments that begin with) "Anochi"? Hashem Responds: "the voice of your brothers blood(s) are calling to me from the earth." - His children that would have been able to keep the 10 commandments. Divrei Yehonatan - Breishit

Just a piece of metal becomes warm just by being close to a fire, without the fire having to 'do' anything to the metal, so to the soul makes the body alive just by being near it (inside it) without having to 'do' anything to the body to make it alive. Admur Ha'rayatz 5682

In shemona esre, I learned, the bracha of hashivenu corresponds to teshuva for negative commandments while slach lanu corresponds with positive commandments. Why do we hit our chest then, I ask, for slach lanu and not for hashivenu? If the minhag of hitting ones chest means that one has sinned in the heart, it would seem to make more sense to hit for the negative things we have done, out of our wayward hearts desires, than for the positive things we have simply not done, out of negligence, perhaps with no thought given to it at all? Perhaps it is because the positive commandment that we are asking forgiveness for, mostly, is bitul torah -lack of Torah study. Since we are obligated to constantly study, if we spend our time doing other things it shows a lack of constant devotion in the heart. Ve'hegata bo yomam valayla.

BH We ask, if we are like sons, have mercy on us like a father. If like a servant, we look up to you hopefully for mercy (but not as sure as a son.) It is brought in the Holy Zohar that the yomim tovim are days of judgment above. This is one reason we do not do melacha on the yom tov, to show that we are like sons, not servants, and should be granted mercy accordingly. Tiferet Yehonatan - Emor

The nations accused the Jews of imorrality. 'Im be'gufan hayu sholtin, kol she'chen be'nishotehem.' - 'If they were in charge of their bodies, how much more so of their wives.' Just as when we left Egypt and Hashem had Moshe send a bitter branch into the waters to test the Jews as you would a sotah, so to we do this every year in miniature. For this reason, Hashem checks us like a sotah each year to show 'Pischa' is the same letters as 'chaspa' - Pesach is the same letters as 'pottery'. This coressponds to the pottery cup that the sota would drink from. You have to place something bitter inside the sota water, this is the marror. The matza corresponds with hashems name that would go in the water. The omer on pesach was from barley, like the korban sotah, and was waved, just as the korban sotah was. Tiferet Yonatan Emor

ב''ה The reason that an אונן who lost their mother or father is not obligated in מצות until they are buried is that the child has a little of the the soul of their parents in them. When the parent dies a part of the child also dies. When a person is dead, they are free from מצות, 'במתים חפשי'. Similarly, when an animal loses its parent it is part dead, treifa, therefore it is forbidden to slaughter it the same day as its mother. It would not be a kosher Shechita. From תפארת יונתן פ' אמור

Some perspective: ישעי' פרק י:  טו הֲיִתְפָּאֵר, הַגַּרְזֶן, עַל, הַחֹצֵב בּוֹ:  אִם-יִתְגַּדֵּל הַמַּשּׂוֹר, עַל-מְנִיפוֹ, כְּהָנִיף שֵׁבֶט וְאֶת-מְרִימָיו, כְּהָרִים מַטֶּה לֹא-עֵץ.  {פ} טז לָכֵן יְשַׁלַּח הָאָדוֹן יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, בְּמִשְׁמַנָּיו--רָזוֹן; וְתַחַת כְּבֹדוֹ יֵקַד יְקֹד, כִּיקוֹד אֵשׁ.  יז וְהָיָה אוֹר-יִשְׂרָאֵל לְאֵשׁ, וּקְדוֹשׁוֹ לְלֶהָבָה; וּבָעֲרָה, וְאָכְלָה שִׁיתוֹ וּשְׁמִירוֹ--בְּיוֹם אֶחָד.  יח וּכְבוֹד יַעְרוֹ וְכַרְמִלּוֹ, מִנֶּפֶשׁ וְעַד-בָּשָׂר יְכַלֶּה; וְהָיָה, כִּמְסֹס נֹסֵס.  יט וּשְׁאָר עֵץ יַעְרוֹ, מִסְפָּר יִהְיוּ; וְנַעַר, יִכְתְּבֵם. ... לג הִנֵּה הָאָדוֹן יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, מְסָעֵף פֻּארָה בְּמַעֲרָצָה; וְרָמֵי הַקּוֹמָה גְּדוּעִים, וְהַגְּבֹהִים יִשְׁפָּלוּ.  לד וְנִקַּף סִבְכֵי הַיַּעַר, בַּבַּרְזֶל; וְהַלְּבָנוֹן, בְּאַדִּיר יִפּוֹל. פרק יא א וְיָצָא חֹטֶר, מִגֵּזַע יִשָׁי; וְנֵצֶר, מִשָּׁרָשָׁיו יִפְרֶה. This nevua is about Sancheriv, whose army was wiped out miraculously on Pesach night. Many...

ב''ה ויזד יעקב נזיד– Yaakov cooked a stew. The reason he started cooking may have been the success he saw that Esav had with serving food to his father Yitzack, כי ציד בפיו, to win him over. Yakov figured cooking was the way to go if you wanted to win someone over. אור החיים הקדושׁ פרשת תולדות

ב''ה ושמרתם את השבת –read: and you should 'await' with longing' the shabbat, as Rashi explains the meaning of  the pasuk ואביו שמר את הדבר. - "and his father awaiting with longing for it [for Yosef's dream to materialize]. לעשות את השבת – We await the Shabbat in order to fulfil the mitzvah, not so we can just rest. That is why it says לעשות – to make.

כל שמעשיו מרובין מחכמתו, חכמתו מתקיימת All whose good deeds outweigh their wisdom, their wisdom stands strong. This is connected to the concept of נצח, overcoming. This means that, for example, when there is a poor person that does not deserve charity you give to them anyway. You do not know why or have a rationale for why you did it. This works the other way as well, if you sin even though you know it is wrong. You do it anyway without rational explanation. This is like Amalek, who knew all the miracles of Egypt yet rebelled. For this reason, Shmuel, who stated, "נצח ישראל לא ישקר", the victory of Israel does not lie, was the one to kill Agag. So this is what it means that your deeds are greater than your wisdom, that your good deeds are done even when they defy your reason. ממאמרי אדמו''ר האמצעי מסעי

ב''ה According to the Rambam, below the orbit of the moon begins the yesod Ha’esh and explains that the atmosphere is not fire because it is a fundamental element and not a composed existence like the fire we see down here. Here is a recent discovery that seems to confirm the intense heat of the particles that exist below the moon’s orbit. For reference, the moon is about 350,000 kilometers awa y. conscerning ‘cold plasma ion distribution’ in the upper atmosphere which makes up, “At the edge, the amount of cold ions varies between 50 to 70%… making up most of the mass of space.” “According to the research satellite data and calculations, certain high-altitude zones harbor low-energy ions continuously. As far fetched as it may sound, the team has also detected them at altitudes of 100,000 km! According to Andre, discovering so many relatively cool ions in these regions is surprising because there’s so much energy hitting the Earth’s high altitudes from the solar wind – a...