by R. Yisrael Isser Herczeg 1) Shemos Rabbah 23:1 comments on the first verse of Shiras HaYam, “The Song of the Sea”: “Then (אז) Moshe sang” (Shemos 15:1).[1]The entire phrase reads, אז ישיר משה ובני ישראל. This is the idea referred to in the verse, “Your throne has been affirmed since then (מאז); [You are eternal]” (Tehillim 93:2).[2]The entire verse ...

by R. Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg The Rambam includes an unusual phrase in his description of teshuvah which, when analyzed, completely refocuses and redefines the repentance process. The Rambam writes (Hilchos Teshuvah 3:4): Although blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah is a decree of Scripture,[1]A commandment of the Torah for which there is no obvious rationale. there is a subtle ...

by R. Yisrael Herczeg The Rambam states in Hilchos Teshuvah 3:14: All the wicked and the transgressors and the apostates and the like who did teshuvah, whether in the open or in secrecy, are accepted, as it says, “Come back, unruly children” (Yirmiyah 3:14, 22). [This implies,] even though he is unruly, for he repents furtively and not in the ...

The Commentary of Rabbeinu Gershom to Bava Basra 17a by R. Yisrael Herczeg Why do righteous people die? The Gemara in Shabbos 55b and Bava Basra 17a quotes a baraisa that says: There were four who died because of the advice of the snake. They are the following: Binyamin the son of Yaakov, Amram the father of Moshe, Yishai the ...