Torah and Stories with Rabbi Liff

Rabbi Yehoshua Liff
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Every Erev Shabbos, Rabbi Yehoshua Liff sits down and speaks directly — about the parsha, about what is happening in our world, and about the stories he carries from the gedolim he learned from. He has been teaching in Eretz Yisroel for close to four decades, first as Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Ner Yaakov and now as Nasi of Yeshiva Ateres Yaakov in Ramat Beit Shemesh. His Artscroll book At His Rebbe's Side captures his years alongside Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Shach, Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, and others. This podcast is where he shares that same voice each week.

  1. 3d ago

    Erev Rosh Hashana 5787: Simanim Tovim, Hakaras Hatov and the Shofar That Is Tefillah

    Erev Rosh Hashana 5787, the last shiur of 5786. Rabbi Liff marks his grandfather's yahrzeit, recalls driving Rav Elyashiv to the Kosel for the last Minchah of the year, and the hakaras hatov Rav Elyashiv showed his chazanim and his Rosh Hashana visitors. The simanim, from the Gemara in Horayos to Reb Dovid Fox's kiwi and kohlrabi, point to the real siman: seeing the good in another Yid, and, as the Chazon Ish taught, never throwing away another Yid's kvitel. He closes on a year when the shofar is not blown on the first day (Aruch LaNer, Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk) and on Reb Eliyahu Baruch Finkel's vort: the shofar is tefillah, and Hashem is ma'azin to the teruah of a broken heart.

  2. 3d ago

    Zeidy Yisroel: He Lost Jobs and Kept Shabbos

    Rabbi Liff marks the yahrzeit of his maternal grandfather, Reb Yisroel ben Reb Kalman (born 1900, Poltava; niftar at almost 97). Lost jobs rather than work on Shabbos, kept chalav Yisroel in the America of those years, learned ten perakim of Kitzur Shulchan Aruch every Shabbos. Closes with the levayah on Erev Rosh Hashana, when the plane landed two hours early on strong winds and there was time for hespedim before running to yeshiva. From the last shiur of 5786, Erev Rosh Hashana 5787.

  3. 3d ago

    Erev Rosh Hashana 5787: Why Not to Fear a Year Without Shofar on the First Day

    With Rosh Hashana 5787 on Shabbos, shofar is blown only on day two. The Aruch LaNer says such a year is either very good or the opposite. Rabbi Liff gives two reasons not to fear: betuchim anu — Hashem moves to the Kisei HaRachamim; and Rav Meir Simcha of Dvinsk — our mesiras nefesh in keeping the gezeirah for the sake of Shabbos is itself counted for a good din. From the last shiur of 5786, Erev Rosh Hashana 5787.

  4. Sep 4

    Parshas Nitzavim-Vayelech: A Tikkun Katan in the Last Week of Elul

    Rabbi Liff's dvar Torah for the last Shabbos of 5786, with Selichos beginning Motzei Shabbos. He asks who can reach the Rambam's teshuvah sheleimah, and answers with Rabbeinu Yonah as Reb Chatzkel Sarna gave it to the bachur Reb Shlomo Hoffman: the way of teshuvah is to turn towards the road, and the moment of the turn is already the turn — one small tikkun, made completely, in one area. He reads "Atem nitzavim hayom kulchem" three ways: that we still stand in this galus, that atem is the letters of emes, and that no one stands alone. On "Vayelech Moshe" he takes the Rashi that gives no peirush, with Rav Moshe Feinstein in Drash Moshe, and learns from it that Moshe Rabbeinu is still going with us. In the name of Rav Avraham Gurwicz, zt"l, he explains why the luchos stand five beside five rather than ten in a row, and tells of Reb Shmuel Rozovsky taking off his shoes outside a bachur's dorm room rather than be gozel sheinah. Also Reb Chatzkel Abramsky on "gadol hama'aseh yoseir min ha'oseh," and the Vilna Gaon's wife's friend as written into the pinkas of the Chevrah Kadisha of Vilna.

  5. Sep 4 ·  Bonus

    Parshas Vayelech: The Rashi That Gives No Peirush

    A vort from Rabbi Liff's dvar Torah for Parshas Nitzavim-Vayelech, the last Shabbos of 5786. On "Vayelech Moshe" there is a Rashi that writes the words and gives no peirush. Rabbi Liff asks what Rashi is saying by saying nothing, and brings Rav Moshe Feinstein in Drash Moshe. The mahalach: Moshe Rabbeinu is still going with us. This year we stand together — atem nitzavim hayom kulchem — and we go together, with the emes of Moshe Rabbeinu. Full episode: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/67639ac2-2fa1-4f71-96a7-5f85baba0634

  6. Sep 4 ·  Bonus

    Reb Chatzkel Sarna Sends a Bachur to Rabbeinu Yonah

    A story from Rabbi Liff's dvar Torah for Parshas Nitzavim-Vayelech, the last Shabbos of 5786. Reb Chatzkel Sarna, rosh yeshiva of Chevron, finds Reb Shlomo Hoffman with a stricken face in the middle of Elul, and tells him to go with Rabbeinu Yonah rather than with the Rambam. The Rambam asks for teshuvah sheleimah. Rabbeinu Yonah asks to walk in the ways of teshuvah — laleches b'darchei hateshuvah. Rabbi Liff brings his own mashal of a car travelling the wrong way on the highway: the moment you turn towards the right road, you are already going the right way. You don't have to change everything, but you have to change something. Full episode: https://player.captivate.fm/episode/67639ac2-2fa1-4f71-96a7-5f85baba0634

  7. Aug 28

    Parshas Ki Savo: The Gantzer Mentsh Is Hakaras HaTov

    Rabbi Liff speaks two weeks before Rosh Hashanah on hakaras hatov, built around a Yiddish phrase — "a dank" — and the story Reb Leizer Silver told him at the Kupat Cholim, of Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz putting his head into the paroches to beg for a teirutz, and going back to that same paroches when the answer came, to say two words. He takes up Rashi’s wording on bikkurim, that we are "she’eincha kofui tov," and Rav Meir Simcha at the end of the parsha, who reads the ninety-eight klalos as the consequence of serving without simcha and tuv leivav. He brings the Chovos HaLevavos that the Torah is the greatest tovah of all, and the Lutzk Rav on the "v’hayah" that joins mechiyas Amalek to bikkurim. He closes with the Chofetz Chaim in Radin, and Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz’s words — der gantzer mentsh is hakaras hatov. Recorded Erev Shabbos Kodesh, 15 Elul 5786. Sources and stories in this shiur: Waiting at the Kupat Cholim with Reb Leizer Silver, and the vort heard b’shem the Vilna Gaon that "a dank" is the gematria of Olam Haba — 156. The ma’aseh Reb Leizer witnessed as a bochur in the Mir: Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, horev in a sugya on a hot Shabbos morning, burying his head in the paroches — "Ribbono shel Olam, rateve mir, I don’t have a teirutz" — and returning to that same paroches when the answer came, to say two words: "A dank." Rashi on bikkurim, who writes that we are "she’eincha kofui tov," not a denier of good, rather than that we are makir tov — and the answer that we can never grasp the full measure of what is given to us. Rav Meir Simcha at the end of the parsha, with Ben Zoma on Adam HaRishon and the thirty-nine melachos, and the tuv ha’amiti of the mind that can reason its way to a Creator. The Chovos HaLevavos and the Ohr HaChaim: the Torah is the greatest tovah of all. The Lutzk Rav in Oznayim LaTorah, on the "v’hayah" that joins mechiyas Amalek to bikkurim — hakaras hatov is how Amalek is destroyed. The Warsaw Gerer rav who took the aliyah of the klalos when no one else would. The Chofetz Chaim in Radin, and his answer to his granddaughter: "Dos machen zey — mir machen mentshn." Parsha connection: Bikkurim at the start of Ki Savo and the klalos at its end are two halves of one lesson. The first fruits are brought with a whole recitation of what Hashem has done, and the curses follow from serving without simcha and tuv leivav. Rabbi Liff closes with Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz’s words — der gantzer mentsh is hakaras hatov.

  8. Aug 28

    Parshas Ki Savo: How Hakaras HaTov Destroys Amalek

    Ki Savo opens with "v'hayah," a vav hachibur joining it to mechiyas Amalek at the close of Ki Seitzei. The Lutzk Rav in Oznayim LaTorah asks what Amalek has to do with bikkurim, and answers that Amalek appears at every juncture where Klal Yisrael is about to bind itself to the Ribbono shel Olam. The way to be rid of him is hakaras hatov, not being a kofui tov. From the dvar Torah for Parshas Ki Savo 5786.

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About

Every Erev Shabbos, Rabbi Yehoshua Liff sits down and speaks directly — about the parsha, about what is happening in our world, and about the stories he carries from the gedolim he learned from. He has been teaching in Eretz Yisroel for close to four decades, first as Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Ner Yaakov and now as Nasi of Yeshiva Ateres Yaakov in Ramat Beit Shemesh. His Artscroll book At His Rebbe's Side captures his years alongside Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Shach, Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, and others. This podcast is where he shares that same voice each week.

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