30: Malbish Arumim Part IV: The Snake and The Shame: The Seeds of Return

January 27, 2015 in Brachos, Fundamentals

Clothing is an expression of a person's sense of self and self-respect. When a person is unclothed, only the externality of the body is visible, and the soul, the spirituality of the person, lacks external expression.

"At the level where a Ba'al Teshuva stands, a perfectly righteous person cannot stand." When we fix what we have broken — when we get back to perfection — we get back to somewhere even greater than where we started.

#30B P.S. Post Shiur Discussion: When foreign ideas become integrated into our own thinking; internalization of the snake, the Yetzer Hara.

29: Malbish Arumim Part III מלביש ערומים: The Function of Clothing

January 20, 2015 in Brachos, Fundamentals

"Garments clothe the body; the body clothes the soul." (Shelah)

Also: the power of symbols; making inspiration last by tying it to the concrete.

#29B P.S. Post Shiur Discussion: Rabbi Shlomo Goldberg's responses to halachic questions from Session 28; responses to misconceptions about modesty.

28: Malbish Arumim Part II מלביש ערומים: The Definition of Chessed

January 13, 2015 in Brachos, Fundamentals

The Torah is Chessed (kindness) from beginning to end. In this session, we find that God's lovingkindness in clothing Adam and Chava reveals the deeper essence of what Chessed really is about.

"Everything which, when done selfishly for ourselves, is lowering, becomes divinely great when done for others. … Thus the hardship of life, the need for assistance, has become the basis on which everybody, who so wills, can elevate himself to God-like heights." (Rabbi S.R. Hirsch, Commentary on the Torah, Bereishis 3:21)

#28B P.S. (Post-Shiur) Q&A: Practical Approaches to Chessed in Real Life

27: Malbish Arumim - מלביש ערומים - Part I

December 31, 2014 in Fundamentals, Brachos

Show people that part of you which you value most. Show people that part of you which identifies who you really are. Show people that part of you which you want them to notice and focus upon.