Ketaim – קטעים
Ke’taim are snippets, short Torah and mussar thoughts from the vast Yam Ha’Talmud, halachah and mussar. I inaugurate this column, b’siyata d’Shmaya, as an alternate to Vaani Tefillah whose tenure lasted twenty-five years.
In Migdal Oz (Aliyas HaTeva), Horav Yaakov Emden notes a remarkable phenomenon. The stones of Har Sinai bear a natural engraving of the sneh, bush, through which Hashem revealed Himself to Moshe Rabbeinu. Furthermore, to add to the stunning nature of these stones is the fact that, if one were to be broken into numerous pieces, each piece would bear the original engraving of the bush. We derive from here that nothing was superficial at Har Sinai; from its stones, to the Giving of the Torah; everything was intrinsically imbued with the Divine imprint. Every detail of Maamad Har Sinai, the Revelation, was infused with kedushah that was eternal and indelible. From a mussar perspective, we may suggest that just as every stone, regardless of its condition, continues to bear the Divine imprint, so, too, does every Yiddishe neshamah, regardless of its brokenness, always retain its eternal connection. Likewise, the Torah that Hashem gave us on Har Sinai leaves an enduring impression on the soul. People who had learned a lifetime ago and had, due to various challenges in life, become alienated from Torah will pick up a Gemorah and still remember their girsa d’yankesa, the Torah learned in childhood.
