Hashkafa of the Moadim

Rabbi Shulman addresses a spiritual question at the heart of Sukkot: after the כתיבה וחתימה טובה of Rosh Hashanah, Aseret Yemei Teshuvah, and Yom Kippur, why do we immediately begin saying “הושענא” (“save us”)? He answers with a vivid משל from his backyard: uprooting a deeply entrenched vine is like the intense עבודה of the Yamim Nora'im—but lasting change requires ongoing, small “walkthroughs” to remove new shoots before they reestablish themselves. Sukkot, Rabbi Shulman explains, becomes a training ground for sustaining growth throughout the year through consistent spiritual maintenance. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/sukkos-keeping-weed-free-20260925-030334-outline-20260925-030354.pdf

Rabbi Shulman examines the Mishnah in Sukkah that describes the mitzvah of lulav as “six and seven” days, and uses it to explore why Chazal sometimes suspend even a Torah-level mitzvah when it coincides with shabbat. He explains the role of ספקא דיומא in חוץ לארץ and how that uncertainty ends up shaping practice even in ארץ ישראל. Moving beyond the technical concern of carrying, Rabbi Shulman argues that certain mitzvot (שופר, לולב, מגילה) can pull a person out of a shabbat state of מנוחה, and he frames shabbat as possessing inner spiritual capacities that can “do the job” those mitzvot would otherwise do. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/no-lulav-on-shabbos-20260924-050436-outline-20260924-050516.pdf

Rabbi Shulman, drawing on the Maharal and Sifrei, develops how Moshe Rabbeinu models profound awe before uttering Shem Hashem, learning from the angels' “קדוש קדוש קדוש” and expanding it with a 21-word preface before “כי שם ה' אקרא.” He then traces a progression of halachic and ethical demands: not placing Hashem's Name “in midair,” responding with added praise when hearing His Name (e.g., in Barchu), and appreciating the spiritual advantage of the one who answers “אמן.” Finally, Rabbi Shulman applies a Gemara in Shevuot to Yom Kippur, explaining why certain sins undermine the very relationship that Yom Kippur is meant to restore—and warns that casual mention of Hashem's Name can fall into that category. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/yk-pronouncing-the-name-20260918-030333-outline-20260918-030412.pdf

Rabbi Shulman analyzes a well-known but difficult Gemara (Rosh Hashanah 16b) about three “books” opened on Rosh Hashanah—of צדיקים, רשעים, and בינוניים—and challenges the common assumption that it refers simply to who will physically live or die that year. Following Rashi, he reframes the books as “books of remembrance” of one's deeds, and—using the Maharal—redefines “life” as connection to Hashem and “death” as disconnection. The dvar Torah culminates in a practical roadmap: how mundane, “in-between” actions can be elevated through כוונה and rededication during עשרת ימי תשובה so that they too are “written for life.” Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/books-of-deeds-20260917-030649-outline-20260917-030732.pdf

Rabbi Shulman explains the Gemara's practice of eating symbolic foods on Rosh Hashanah and addresses the obvious concern: isn't this superstition and therefore a form of **דרכי האמורי**? He develops two approaches—first, that the effectiveness of **simanim** depends on **תשובה** and inner intention expressed through **יהי רצון**; second, that physical symbols can serve as an “anchor” for spiritual ideas, following the Ramban's principle seen throughout prophetic actions. Rabbi Shulman then presents the Maharal's deeper framing: the simanim are meant to awaken **זכות אבות**, and each food corresponds to a distinct quality associated with Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/rosh-hashanah-simanim-leavos-20260911-030331-outline-20260911-030358.pdf

Rabbi Shulman explains why Chazal suspended shofar-blowing on Rosh Hashanah that falls on shabbat, even though shofar is not a מלאכה דאורייתא. He develops the idea that shofar normally serves to “pull” lofty spiritual truths into the embodied, emotional self—an inner process the קדמונים call **נסירה**, modeled on the separation and reorientation of אדם וחוה. When Rosh Hashanah is on shabbat, however, shabbat itself elevates the body into a “מעין עולם הבא,” making **“שבתון זכרון תרועה”** not a compromise but a higher pathway to the same goal. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/shabbos-in-place-of-shofar-20260910-030540-outline-20260910-030635.pdf

Rabbi Shulman analyzes the Ramchal's organization in *Derech Hashem* (Chelek 4, Perek 8) to highlight a fundamental distinction between the שלוש רגלים (Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot) and Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur. The רגלים primarily reconnect us to past revelations, while Rosh Hashanah is a present, annual reality: a renewed judgment in which Hashem “restarts” the year and reassigns the world's status. Rabbi Shulman then explains how the heavenly court system is structured as a merciful, relatable framework for human teshuvah—and how תקיעת שופר both draws down רחמים and “confounds the prosecutor,” operating within דין rather than negating it. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/derech-hashem-on-rosh-hashanah-20260908-030431-outline-20260908-030514.pdf

Rabbi Shulman analyzes the Gemara's warning that a year in which “we do not blow at its beginning” may end “with teru'ah,” focusing on the purpose of shofar as “מְעַרְבֵּב את השטן” and how that interacts with shofar's absence on shabbat. He contrasts the Ritva and the בה״ג on whether the Gemara refers to intentional neglect of extra blasts or an אונס that prevented shofar entirely. From there, Rabbi Shulman opens the larger sugya: why shofar is not blown on shabbat, how Rava reframes earlier Amoraic readings, and how later Acharonim (notably the מרום שדה) understand the “פסוקים” as אסמכתא rather than a true דאורייתא exclusion. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/no-blowing-shofar-on-shabbos-20260907-180434-outline-20260907-180519.pdf

Rabbi Shulman explains that Parashat Nitzavim's national “standing” is not a ceremonial moment but a spiritual mechanism for transition—whether from one leader to the next or from one year to the next. Each new stage in עבודת ה׳ demands a fresh approach, yet it can only succeed when it is built upon the gains (and lessons) of the previous stage. The proximity of Nitzavim to Rosh Hashanah highlights that the “new world order” of the coming year requires us to arrive upright, repaired, and strengthened by what the past year taught us. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/netzavim-last-parsha-standing-20260904-030334-outline-20260904-030405.pdf

Rabbi Shulman frames the mitzvah of ביכורים as the “pinnacle” of coming home to Eretz Yisrael: a spiritual return to the inner root of things. He addresses why the Torah emphasizes going specifically to “the kohen in those days” and why the declaration is phrased “לה׳ אלוקיך” (as if Hashem is the kohen's God). Drawing on רבי צדוק, Rabbi Shulman explains that the kohen represents the “kohen-dimension” within every Jew—accessing פנימיות and the shoresh—and he connects this to תפילה and ברכות as post-Temple pathways of the same root-reconnection, especially relevant as Rosh Hashanah approaches. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/ki-savo-bikurim-20260828-110331-outline-20260828-110406.pdf

Rabbi Shulman reframes Rosh Hashanah and the entire concept of יום הדין through a striking Midrash: Hashem “gifts” משפט to His beloved people the way a king gives a treasured orchard to his favorite son. He explains that justice is not merely frightening accountability, but the mechanism that allows our relationship with Hashem—and our reward—to be truly “ours” rather than a handout. From there, Rabbi Shulman shows how embracing דין elevates Hashem as מלך המשפט, enables Hashem's shift from strict judgment to צדקה, and ultimately brings קדושה and גאולה. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/20260827-030536-outline-20260827-030613.pdf

Rabbi Shulman presents Parashat Ki Teitzei as an Elul-facing roadmap for teshuvah, reading “war against your enemy” as the inner battle against the יצר הרע and the reclaiming of the יצר טוב. He explains that victory comes through עמילות בתורה—especially תורה שבעל פה—because Torah is bound up with the “name” of Hashem itself. Rabbi Shulman then maps the parashah's sequence (shaving, removing garments, crying for a “month of days,” and ultimate closeness) onto the stages of teshuvah: עזיבת חטא, חרטה על העבר during Elul, and culminating קרבת אלוקים associated with יום כיפור. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/ki-saitsei-stages-of-trshuva-20260821-040731-outline-20260821-040804.pdf

Episode Notes Notes go hereR

Episode Notes Notes go hereRabbi Shulman explains why the Torah—after already giving the time and place—adds that Moshe spoke to Israel only *after* defeating Sichon and Og. Drawing on Chazal and Rabbi Tzadok, he presents Sichon and Og as spiritual forces of the יצר הרע that block a person's mind (preventing חשבון הנפש) and heart (hardening it like stone), making תוכחה unable to penetrate. The repeated emphasis on “בעבר הירדן” then becomes a conceptual map: the “east bank” represents מוחין (חכמה, בינה, דעת) that must be “brought down” into action as the nation enters Eretz Canaan. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/devarim-struck-the-two-kings-20260717-030330-outline-20260717-030407.pdf

Rabbi Shulman contrasts the “lived” experience of the Nine Days—darkness, mourning, and absence—with a deeper Torah view in which this time is paradoxically called a **מועד**. Drawing from Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen (Pri Tzadik), Rabbi Shulman explains how Rosh Chodesh (especially Rosh Chodesh Av) contains hidden קדושה and “light,” even amid טומאה and חורבן, and how the very experience of rock-bottom can become the fuel for transformative תשובה מאהבה that retroactively reveals good בתוך החושך. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/av-the-light-of-darkness-20260716-130634-outline-20260716-130733.pdf

Episode Notes Notes go hereRabbi Shulman addresses the apparent tension in the Torah's treatment of נדרים and שבועות: Chazal often criticize making vows, yet the Torah opens Parashat Matot with the laws of nedarim and even allows for their annulment. He explains (based on Rav Tzadok and the Zohar) that vows are spiritually valid only when a person's רצון is profoundly aligned with רצון ה׳—to the point of “זה הדבר,” where speech becomes a vehicle for דבר ה׳. Hatarat nedarim then functions as a corrective mechanism when vows emerge from confused or misguided רצון rather than authentic דבקות. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/matos-speaking-a-vow-20260710-030333-outline-20260710-030404.pdf

Rabbi Shulman explores the famous דרשה of Reish Lakish that Torah only endures in someone who “kills himself” over it, derived from the pasuk “זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באהל.” He addresses the tension between the pasuk's פשט—death and טומאה in a literal tent—and the דרוש—life-giving devotion in the tent of Torah. Rabbi Shulman then reconciles an apparent contradiction in חז״ל about whether the human body can be purified in this world, arguing that intense immersion in Torah creates a temporary “Har Sinai” state where physical drives fall silent and the זוהמה is functionally suspended. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/chukas-the-bright-side-of-death-20260626-031631-outline-20260626-031657.pdf

Rabbi Shulman raises Rabbi Tzadok's fundamental question: how can the Torah—*divrei emet*—record the falsehoods Korach spreads, especially when they fuel machloket rather than peace? He explains that Korach's claims are not “random lies” preserved as history; rather, they express a profound truth that applies in a different spiritual mode: moments of “circular” revelation (like Kriyat Yam Suf and Matan Torah) and the future world, where every Jew relates directly to Hashem without hierarchy. Korach's error was weaponizing that truth prematurely—using a real ideal of equality in a world that still operates by process, gradation, and necessary distinction. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/korach-the-truth-of-equality-20260619-141019-outline-20260619-141057.pdf

Rabbi Shulman focuses on the Torah's instruction that all seven lamps of the menorah must shine “אל מול פני המנורה,” and he raises two questions: how this applies to the middle lamp, and why this detail appears here rather than earlier in the construction of the Mishkan's vessels. Drawing on Rav Tzadok, Rabbi Shulman explains that “מול” hints to the north side of the Mishkan—the spiritually vulnerable “opening” associated with the hidden yetzer hara (“הצפוני”). The menorah's light (Torah) must therefore shine “into the north,” elevating the שולחן (physical eating and enjoyment) into holiness and providing the only real antidote to modern excess and indulgence.

Rabbi Shulman explains the well-known Chazal on the juxtaposition of *Sotah* and *Nazir*: seeing a *sotah* “in her disgrace” should motivate a person to abstain from wine. Beyond the simple concern of avoiding moral desensitization, he highlights a deeper link—both *sotah* and *nazir* are defined by hair: her hair is undone as shame, while his hair becomes *נזר אלוקיו* (a holy “crown”). The broader מוסר: when a person “sees” spiritual failure that truly registers, it is not enough to avoid the wrongdoing; one must actively elevate and sanctify that very area as a תיקון. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/naso-see-something-do-something-20260529-031901-outline-20260529-031933.pdf

Rabbi Shulman presents a teaching from Rav Tzadok (in *Machshavot Charutz*) that the three regalim align with the three life-areas described as dependent on “mazal”: children, life, and sustenance. He develops how Pesach corresponds to מזונות/פרנסה and why the Omer process refines human physicality from “animal food” (barley) toward “human food” (wheat), culminating in Shavuot as the “עצרת”—the internalization of revelation into lasting vessels. The centerpiece is the linkage of Torah and בנים: children represent a person's eternity, and new souls require new expansions of Torah (especially תורה שבעל פה) as their spiritual “place” in the world. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/shavuos-torah-and-children-20260521-032651-outline-20260521-032743.pdf

Rabbi Shulman frames the final week of ספירת העומר as the culminating עבודה that leads directly into שבועות: the מידה of מלכות. Unlike the earlier weeks' focus on “doing” (active character refinement), מלכות is about “receiving”—aligning oneself with the singular רצון of הקדוש ברוך הוא and recognizing His unified dominion in all events. He connects this to קבלת עול מלכות שמים through שמע ישראל, explaining that Hashem's oneness and kingship are mutually defining, and that this awareness is the core of אמונה. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/malchus-short-version-20260515-031226-outline-20260515-031255.pdf

Rabbi Shulman explains that the final week of Sefirat HaOmer corresponds to **מלכות**, the divine attribute of “kingship,” rooted in the pasuk recited when the Torah is taken out: “לך ה׳ … לך ה׳ הממלכה והמתנשא לכל ראש.” He develops מלכות as **רצון**—the unifying will that gives direction and cohesion to all reality—and shows why its historical manifestation is the ultimate defeat of **עמלק** and the confrontation with **גוג ומגוג**. Along the way, Rabbi Shulman uses the Ramchal to address the tension between Hashem's absolute will and human free choice, and concludes with how מלכות is lived personally through **אמונה**: receiving, recognizing, and unifying life under Hashem's purpose. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/malchus-one-will-20260514-031632-outline-20260514-031744.pdf

This dvar Torah continues a series mapping the sefirot/middot through a Gemara in Berachot, focusing on **יסוד** as the “hidden” middah embedded in the phrase **“כִּי כֹל בַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ”**. It develops Yesod as the power of **hashpa'ah and kabbalah** (influence and receptivity), the discipline of **discernment** (channeling energy only where it belongs), and the stance of **faithfulness to one's source**—modeled by Yosef. The outline ties these themes to **Milchemet Sisera** (where the heavens and earth interact), to the Yamim Nora'im as “shamayim/aretz,” and to **Tu BiShvat** via the **olive/oil** as the seventh-species symbol of Yesod. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/yisod-unity-of-expression-20260507-211329-outline-20260507-211426.pdf

This dvar Torah uses the Maharal (in the third introduction to *Gevurot Hashem*) to frame the seven weeks of Sefirat HaOmer as a progression through seven divine מידות, anchored in a sugya in Berachot that maps them onto the pasuk “לך ה׳ הגדולה...” The focus is on מידת ההוד: its connection to hiddenness (צפון), to הודאה/תודה as “admitting” what could have been denied, and to healing as restoring balance. Through the episode of נַחֲלֵי אַרְנוֹן and the role of אהרן הכהן, the talk develops Hod as the capacity to reveal and acknowledge inner truth—whether in Hashem's hidden salvations or in the hidden goodness within people. Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/sefiras-haomer-sefiras-hahod-20260430-111533-outline-20260430-111625.pdf

Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/pesach-embittered-learning-20260327-042005-outline-20260327-042048.pdf

Outline: https://danielggordon.github.io/ateresami/haggadah-sheli-13-20260327-041547-outline-20260327-041704.pdf