[Avodah] The Return of Chometz

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, May 01, 2008 at 05:37:42AM -0400, Cantor Wolberg wrote:
:> However, if so, then your idea could be taken as the point of the words
:> of Shema "lihyos lakhem lEilokim", to answer Hashem's calling rather
:> than imposing our own.

: I'm not sure I understand fully what you are saying.
: My point is (of course, what you say is intrinsic in Torah)
: that we need props to remind us of "lihyos lakhem l'Eilokim."

And my point is that in at least one opinion, we do the props once a
year to give meaning to the daily recitation. According to that shitah,
the mitzvos themselves are structured on the assumption that most people
don't need daily props, but daily reminders leveraging the annual prop.

Mussar, OTOH, heavily uses the idea of people establishing their own
props to help middah correction. These are called pe'ulos. Sometimes
they are an expression of the middah itself -- those are qabbalos.

    eg: A commitment not to yell at any of my children for the first
    15 minutes after I get home. Which can then be grown into a more
    appropriate balance of discipline and patience.

And some pe'ulos are simply mnemonic. Like the bracelet one switched
from wrist to wrist every time you lose patience with someone. (R' Perr
of Yeshivas Derekh Aysan beat Operah by decades on that one, although
he used a rubber band. Admittedly, he has no marketing opportunity in
his version...)

Itwould be rare, though, outside the context of a va'ad, for someone to
say "we *all* should". Different people need work in different areas,
and different people respond to different kinds of work.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 11th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        1 week and 4 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Netzach sheb'Gevurah: What is imposing about
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            strict justice?