VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4], 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 21:27:06 02/25/13 Mon
Author: t
Subject: nice read

ish.com" Add sender to Contacts
To: alacil@yahoo.com

15 Adar 5773 / February 25, 2013 Torah Reading: Ki Tisa



DAILY LIFT
TODAY IN JEWISH HISTORY
GROWING EACH DAY
ASK THE RABBI



#741 Blessings Before and After Eating

The goal of each and every blessing we make is for us to increase our level of gratitude to our Creator. It helps to say in your own words before a blessing, "Now I am going to express my personal gratitude to my loving Father and powerful King, Creator and Sustainer of the universe for His kindness to me."

(From Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's book: THANK YOU! Gratitude: Formulas, Stories, and Insights: Artscroll Publishers)


See Rabbi Pliskin's new book "Self-Confidence"





15 Adar
Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Kaidonover (1646-1712), author of the ethical work, Kav HaYashar ("The Just Measure"). As a boy, during the war between Sweden and Poland, he fled with his family to a village near Lublin. Two years later they were attacked by Cossacks, and his two sisters were killed. Kav HaYashar posits that it is incumbent upon any person who has been saved from a crisis to either correct something in his life or initiate a good deed, so that people will be aware that he is expressing his gratitude to God. This idea, he says, applies to everyone, for who can say he has never been saved from a tragedy?




15 Adar

For Mordechai ... was approved by most of his brethren. He sought the good of his people and spoke in peace to all their descendants (Esther 10:3).

The great Mordechai, who saved the Jewish people from total annihilation, won the approval of only most of his brethren. Most, but not all.
Some people need to be liked by everyone. If one person out of several hundred does not approve of them, they are devastated. They are likely to become "people pleasers," going out of their way to obtain universal approval.
This attitude comes from low self-esteem. People who feel secure about themselves believe that they are generally likable and do not feel threatened if one or more people does not like them. They realize that some personalities are simply incompatible with certain other personalities. The "chemistry" between two people may be of such a nature that one person simply does not like the other, but that need not be a reflection on the latter's worth.
People who are insecure and feel unlikable expect to be rejected. They therefore interpret innocent comments or gestures as confirmations of their unlikability. Since they fear such "rejections," they do things in order to be liked, in other words, they try to "buy" affection.
Mordechai sought everyone's welfare and spoke peace fully to all, but he was not perturbed that he did not achieve universal approval. If some did not approve of him, that was their problem, not his.


Today I shall ...
... try to avoid using universal approval as the measure of my self-worth and avoid buying friendship and affection.

See more books by Rabbi Abraham Twerski at Artscroll.com



15 Adar

Haman and the Half-Shekel
I read that the Half Shekel that Jews give relates to Haman's offer to pay 10,000 "kikars" to Achashverosh for the right to annihilate the Jews (Esther 3:9).
My question: If one kikar equals 3,000 shekels, and Haman offered 10,000 kikars, then he gave 30 million shekels. But you wrote that he gave 300,000. If you could resolve this question, I would appreciate it.
Also, what is the approximate value of the biblical half-shekel in today's U.S. dollars?
The Aish Rabbi Replies:
You're right about one thing - the math here is confusing! Let's try to work through the steps:
A) Haman offered 10,000 kikars, and since one kikar equals 3,000 shekels, Haman was in effect putting a price tag of 30 million shekels on the Jews.
B) There are 600,000 main souls in the Jewish nation (see Numbers 2:32). At one half-shekel per person, that equals 300,000 shekels.
C) However, the "Holy Temple" currency is actually worth twice the value of a regular currency (such as that given by Haman). So actually the Jewish half-shekels totaled 600,000 of Haman's shekels.
D) Additionally, the obligation to contribute the yearly half-shekel begins at age 20 (Numbers 1:3). Given an average lifespan of 70 years, that means 50 years of giving half-shekels. Fifty (years) multiplied by 600,000 (main Jewish souls) equals 30 million - the exact amount offered by Haman to Achashverosh.
All this is explained by the "Bach" - Rabbi Yoel Sirkes (17th century Poland), based on the commentary of Tosfot to the Talmud (Megillah 16a).
Had enough? Another explanation is as follow: Since 50 shekels is the donation value of an adult male (as specified in Leviticus 27:3), this amount multiplied times 600,000 souls equals 30 million.
This and other explanations are given by Rabbi Yaakov Emden on the Talmud; Rabbeinu Bachaye - Parshat Pekudei; Midrash Chazkuni - Parshat Ki Tisa; Panim Me'erot 3:30; Binyan Tzion 144; Tzitz Eliezer XI 1:8.
As for the current value of a biblical half-shekel, Maimonides records it as weighing 160 grains of barley, which is equivalent to 8 grams, or 0.28 ounces. With the current rate of silver at about $28 USD per ounce, that means a biblical half-shekel equals about $8.
In other words, Haman was willing to pay about $200 million to annihilate the Jews.
Now don't you wish you'd been paying more attention in ninth grade math class?




Featured at Aish.com



What do you think of this email?
Help us make these personalized newsletters — and our site — better.
Send us your questions and comments to tellus@aish.com.
Forward this email to a friend.
• You are currently subscribed to The Aish Daily list as alacil@yahoo.com.

• To unsubscribe from this list only, click on the link below:

Unsubscribe me from the Aish Daily

• To modify your subscriptions, change your e-mail, or unsubscribe, go to
click here


Aish.com is the most complete online Jewish resource.
We hope you enjoy receiving this personalized newsletter.

Aish.com
One Western Wall Plaza
PO Box 14149
Jerusalem 91141
Israel

Tel - 972-2-628-5666
Fax - 972-2-627-3172


© 2013 Aish.com


Unsubscribe instantly from all Aish.com emails by clicking here.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.