Rebbi מנשה מאיליה crossed paths with a דיין who would sit in judgment alone. רבי מנשה told him that he was violating the principle of רבי ישמעאל בנו של רבי יוסי הגלילי that אל תהי דן יחידי, שאין דן יחי. The דיין responded: "I and the גמרא and the שולחן ערוך are three." רבי מנשה
Moshe Mendelsohn, the Jewish philosopher, was a hunchback. His wife, however, was a beautiful, kind and wealthy woman. The two were the odd couple. One day, a close friend asked him how their marriage came about. Mendelsohn told him the following: “When I was young, her wealthy father hired me as a tutor for his
Why do חזנים have a reputation of being שוטים. Why? Because they go before the תיבה, where it is written: שויתי ה׳ לנגדי תמיד. And the פסוק in משלי כא, ל tells us מפורש that אין חכמה ואין תבונה לנגד ה׳.
A non-Jewish shoemaker came to ר׳ שמואלכ׳ן of Brody requesting his assistance. “רבי,” he said, “For many years now I wanted to have a son and I’ve heard that your prayers get answered. If you pray for me and I have a son, I will donate a pair of shoes each year for every boy
A רב in גליציה was asked why people send their boys to ישיבות that don’t teach לשונות הגויים but let the girls learn their language. The רב answered that it’s a תקנה of עזרא הסופר. He explained that עזרא decreed that women should speak with one another in the בית הכסא. “And do you
A young man was offered a job and was told the starting pay was the minimum wage. He responded that he was interested in the job but needed a higher salary. “But you don’t have any experience,” he was told. “True,” he responded, “but the job is so much harder when you don’t know what
While learning today’s דף, which states that a תלמיד חכם is not permitted to live in a city which doesn’t have a doctor, a תלמיד asked his רבי how he and other תלמידי חכמים can live in their city, which doesn’t have a doctor. The רבי responded: “We rely on the so-called medical expert, who
When the רב of a certain town decided to retire and move to ארץ ישראל, the people accompanied him to outside the תחום, even though he had been a very difficult person and they were glad to see him go. Taking a last look backward, the רב remarked "What a wonderful town it is."
A צדיק who was a תלמיד חכם and ירא שמים passed away and arrived at the gates of גן עדן, where he saw a lawyer also waiting to enter. They were each escorted to their quarters, but the צדיק couldn’t help but notice that the lawyer was assigned a luxurious mansion and he was given
A teacher of Hebrew language, ר׳ עוזר קניג, said with respect to פרשת דינה that “I understand the actions of בני יעקב, twelve brothers with only one sister.” A פסוק in משלי says כיס אחד יהיה לכולנו. In a play on words, ר׳ עוזר said that the בני יעקב knew that גיס אחד יהיה לכולן
