העורך Editor

How Many Prophets Are Mentioned In the Megillah?

(So what if Purim passed?)

Want to guess?

Answer: About six.

1. Mordechai.

2. Esther.

3. Hasach (according to the opinion this was Daniel).

4. Charvona (according to the opinion this was Eliyahu).

When a prophet is mentioned in Tanach with his father’s name, his father is a prophet, too, such as Amotz of Yeshayahu, Amitai of Yonah, Be’or of Bil’am, etc.

Perhaps these are mentioned here solely for Yichus reasons, per Rashi, but if not, then:

5. Avichayil, father of Esther.

6. Ya’ir, father of Mordechai.

 

Understanding the Blessed Modern Evolution of Judaism

Our own Rabbi Avi Grossman echoes my own take on the famous “Rupture and Reconstruction” essay by Rabbi Haym Soloveitchik.

Here is an excerpt justifying and explaining the results of the change:

Becoming a text-based halachic society is therefore a critical stage in our recovery as a nation, and the writings of Maimonides and the Vilna Gaon are some the greatest texts for teaching us how to somehow remove the Oral Law from its deep freeze, how to make it live once again so that we once again think as we should, and works such as the Mishna Berura are not sufficient. If the mainstream halachic works would have served as our guide, or if the mimetic ways were to do so, or even a combination of the two, we would never have seen for example, the reinstatement of the daily priestly blessing, or any of the advantages conferred on our people by the establishment of the State of Israel.

The Reconstruction needs to continue, but it also needs to be guided by decision-making principles, principles that lead to decisive courses of action while rejecting others, instead of principles for trying to maintain the status quo and/or satisfying as many opinions as possible. The halachic system, if is to continue to be a unifying force, must avoid false ethnocentricities and the pernicious monolithism that pervades halachic discourse.

Read the rest.