Snippets — pirke avot

I have lost track of how many times I've done a papercut of the line from Pirke Avot 1:6, "Get yourself a teacher, make yourself a friend." This makes me happy, not only because I enjoy doing them but because of what it says about Judaism. Knowledge is portable, and its transmission has preserved the Jewish people against long odds. In a religion that elevates study to a holy pursuit, our teachers mean everything to us; they are our rock stars.  This particular line from the Talmud has a third part, as so many mishnayot often do: "...and judge every...

A fellow convert to Judaism, in giving his "acceptance" speech to the congregation told us about a dream he had. Seems that, in the dream, his rabbi (also my own) had put him in charge of the Hebrew letter lamed. That's a lot of responsibility. Such a beautiful letter, extending above the line (Hebrew letters are oriented to the top line rather than to the base line), graceful, curved, female almost.  Aside from its physical form, the Hebrew letter lamed is filled with meaning. The root, or shoresh, for the word lamed is actually lamed-mem-dalet; its root is inside itself....