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Hillel

Part 1

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By Lazer Gurkow
Rabbi Gurkow is spiritual leader of congregation Beth Tefilah in London, Ontario. He has lectured extensively on a variety of Jewish topics, and his articles have appeared in many print and online publications. For more on Rabbi Gurkow and his wrtings and talks, please click here.
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Discussion (6)
August 13, 2009
Incriminates The Poor
Dear David,
Hillel did not set out to incriminate anyone. He simply lived up to his standards despite the trial of poverty.
The Talmud reflects that by doing this he made it difficult for any poor person to use poverty as an excuse for his lack of torah study.
If a poor person should try this excuse the heavenly tribunal would respond, "If Hillel could overcome his poverty to study Torah why couldn't you?"
Lazer Gurkow
August 13, 2009
Hillel Incriminates the Poor
Can you kindly explain why and how Hillel did this?

I am reminded of the satirical and caustic comment by Shalom Alechem about the Almighty surely hateing the poor, because there is no other reason why He makes their lives so wretched and squalid.!
David Chester
Petach Tikva, Israel
August 12, 2009
Great timeline
I knew that Rabbi Gurkow has a family {meaning all those great Jewish minds out there} that is very well versed in this study.It is nice to hear the smooth timing in which when able can make the lesson so much easer to absorb.For me I have a hard time picking just one thing from the Torah and working on those details because their is so much .I never in my life read everyday(never) I have since subscribing to Chabad.org and I purchased the Chumash Bemidar.I believe that once my finger prints touch one page of that book I had opened up my whole life to the Jewish life style.Love to learn best wishes and happy Shabbat.
Mr. Richard Raff
August 12, 2009
Thank you
Thank you for this great lecture.
Anonymous
Chapel Hill, NC
April 23, 2009
Commendation
Dear Anonymous,

In terms of more to come, the Jewish Learning Institute is set to unveil a powerful course called Portraits In Leadership featuring the incredible accomplishments of our Talmudic sages. Those who have enjoyed this series, Sages of the Talmud, will surely enjoy JLI's Portraits In Leadership. It will draw on some of what is discussed here and will also add a great deal of new material . The focus of Portraits In Leadership will be some of our sages' monumental achievements including preserving the oral tradition during a time of upheaval and of maintaining integrity during times of pro.

If you are not already a JLI participant you might want to explore the possibility with your Rabbi at your next available opportunity.

You can also access JLI on the web, www.myjli.com
Lazer Gurkow
April 23, 2009
Commendation
This series is done so well. Nicely paced, easy to listen to, material taken from all over, on an very important historical era. Thanks for a job well done, and on what is (hopefully) still to come.
Anonymous
Brooklyn, USA
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