A Word from the Wise

“And these are the vestments they should make: a Choshen (breastplate) …holy vestments for Aharon your brother and his sons to serve Me.” (Shemos 28:4)

It’s too bad we don’t have a Choshen these days. The Gemara describes how it would dispense Heavenly advice for help in making decisions in matters of national security and the like. Where can we get that type of guidance in our days? (Rabbi Label Lam, Torah.org)

Growing up, we always heard Krias Megillah in Yeshivas Ner Israel by the renowned baal korei, Rav Sheftel Neuberger ztz”l. The Torah world recently lost this adam gadol, and anyone who’s heard his leining experienced the further loss of an incredible talent used to glorify Torah. Each word was enunciated beautifully with its tune and pitch, and to this day, decades later, no matter where I hear Megillah, I still replay his voice in my mind.

Reb Klonymous Kalman of Piaseczno wrote that there’s a type of prophetic revelation that comes when one looks into a holy book. It’s not knowledge of the future — that ceased when the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed. Rather, this revelation offers guidance and a call to avodas Hashem.

We’ve all experienced times when we looked into a sefer kadosh and were suddenly extremely moved by a certain idea, times when a word pierced our heart and gave us no rest for years. This experience can transform us into a different person, sanctify and uplift us.