Collected Archive of Shoemaker Reports
The Shoemaker Report is Rav Hoshea’s weekly Torah publication. Its focus is on internalizing and living Torah from the heart, not only from the head. The divrei Torah often take the parashah of the week as their point of entry and address central questions of inner avodah — including teshuvah, prayer (tefillah), emunah, bitachon, and related areas of spiritual and personal refinement.
The writing assumes seriousness from the reader and speaks from within Torah life, with meaning emerging organically from honest analysis of our holy Torah and the words of Chazal, rather than from short-lived inspiration or simplified conclusions.
The Deep Purpose for Suffering: Why is it that when someone begins to do teshuvah and starts walking in Hashem's ways, he frequently encounters difficulties and experiences suffering? If the purpose of suffering is to motivate a person to do teshuvah, why should he have to suffer at all? After
Why We Need to Know that Yoav was Buried in the Desert: Have you ever paid attention to how one thing leads to another, which leads to another, and so on, and before you know it, you've ended- up somewhere seemingly unrelated to where you began? If you've ever actually
How the Torah Can Be an Elixir of Life or a Deadly Poison: It is taught in Kiddushin 30b: תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: ״וְשַׂמְתֶּם״ סַם תָּם, נִמְשְׁלָה תּוֹרָה כְּסַם חַיִּים (The Rabbis taught in a Baraita, "And you shall place [these words of Mine upon your heart and upon your soul]" [Devarim
Having Our Prayers and Requests Accepted: It is taught (Chullin 60b): רבי שמעון בן פזי רמי כתיב "ויעש אלקים את שני המאורות הגדולים" וכתיב "את המאור הגדול…ואת המאור הקטן" אמרה ירח לפני הקב"ה רבש"ע אפשר לשני מלכים שישתמשו בכתר אחד אמר לה לכי ומעטי את עצמך (R' Shimon ben Pazi
The Incredible Journey of Eternal Soulmates: Life has been difficult lately – not just here in Eretz Yisrael but everywhere. And when life is difficult all over, people have a tendency to lose hope and get depressed. They begin by wondering if their life has any meaning or if Hashem
The Dispute Between Zimri and Pinchas: The Gemara in Berachot 32a offers different 'proof texts' to show that Moshe Rabbeinu spoke somewhat impertinently [הֵטִיחַ דְּבָרִים כְּלַפֵּי מַעְלָה, literally, 'he threw his words upward'] to Ha-Kadosh, baruch Hu when he sought to defend B'nei Yisrael on account of their sins. One
Why Yehoshua Told the Sun to be Quiet: In last week's study entitled Be Quiet, Sun!, we learned that Yehoshua bin Nun merited to silence the Sun in the Valley of Ayalon and defeat the army of the five kings because he had remained silent in the face of the
Yehoshua's Merit in the Valley of Ayalon: What does the prophecy of Eldad and Meidad have to do with Yehoshua bin Nun telling the sun to be silent? This past Tuesday, the 3rd of Tammuz, was the anniversary of a decisive and strategically important victory for Yehoshua and B'nei Yisrael
Making One's Prayers a Delight to Hashem: In Chullin 60b, Rav Asi reconciles an apparent contradiction in the account of creation regarding when the grasses grew from the ground (see Bereshit 1:12 and Bereshit 2:5 for specifics). He answered as follows: שיצאו דשאים ועמדו על פתח קרקע עד שבא אדם
The Laws of Nature vs. Divine Providence – It's Our Choice: Near the beginning of the first berachah before reciting the Shema in the morning, we praise Hashem by saying the following: וּבְטוּבוֹ מְחַדֵּשׁ בְּכָל יוֹם תָּמִיד מַעֲשֵׂה בְרֵאשִׁית (and in His goodness, He renews [mechadesh] every day, constantly, the
Passing Through the Three Evil Klipot to Merit Prophecy: Yechezkel ha-Navi describes in great detail the 'prophetic journey' that one must go on in order to receive nevuah. He begins his description with these words (Yechezkel 1:4): וָאֵרֶא וְהִנֵּה רוּחַ סְעָרָה בָּאָה מִן־הַצָּפוֹן עָנָן גָּדוֹל וְאֵשׁ מִתְלַקַּחַת וְנֹגַהּ לוֹ סָבִיב
What R' Nachman Actually Taught About Limud Torah: As long-time readers of The Shoemaker Report should know by now, the predominant השקפה [hashkafah, outlook, perspective] followed in its pages comes from Breslov chasidut. However, let's face it, Breslov chasidut doesn't have the greatest reputation in the world, at least not
