Oh, how to even decide what to talk about?! This page is so
filled with wonderfulness, I feel like going on and on.
Don’t worry, I won’t.
But just to give a sampling, there is:
1. Details on how and why one
says a blessing for when bad things happen as for good
2. How we know that permission
is given from G-d for physicians to heal
3. Admonitions not to say
certain things, so as not to give an invitation to Satan
4. Trust that things generally
turn out for the good, even when it doesn’t seem so
5. A sexual ethic which acknowledges
and even gives precedence to the female orgasm
6. A prayer for going to the
bathroom, prayer for going to sleep, prayer upon awakening, and step-by-step prayers
for the morning routine (now incorporated into the morning service as “Nissim
B'chol Yom” – “everyday miracles”)
7. Admonition to keep words to
G-d brief
8. Why a gentleman never walks
behind a lady
9. Textual evidence for the
Good and Evil inclination (ok – I’ll give you this one: in Gen. 2:7 when the human
is created, the word vayeetzer [“formed”] is written with two yuds
– not so with animals [Gen. 2:19] – thus indicating two natures to the human!)
10. G-d was Best Man to Adam at
his wedding to Eve
Ah – these are fabulous! But, speaking of the “Evil
Inclination” I’ll just note one other:
Our Rabbis taught: Man has two
kidneys, one of which prompts him to good, the other to evil; and it is natural
to suppose that the good one is on his right side and the bad one on his left,
as it is written, A wise man's understanding is at his right hand, but a
fool's understanding is at his left. (Eccl. X, 2)
As a Left-handed person, I take offense.
But how interesting
to see their understanding of the kidneys as the source (or location) of the Evil or Good Inclination!
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