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.
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
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
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
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
How to Acquire the Attribute of Yosef ha-Tzaddik: In last week's article Ya'akov's Fear in Going Down to Egypt, we learned that through the strength of his character, specifically his shemirat einayim, Yosef was able to break the tumah of immorality that filled the land of Egypt. As a result
Mashiach and the Mechanics of Rebuke: A little over a year ago, we published a d'var Torah entitled To Rebuke or Not to Rebuke: That is the Question. In that article, we explained what happens to someone who receives rebuke from someone who is unfit to rebuke. In short, instead
The Importance of Correcting Our Speech: Have you ever wondered why certain heresies, i..e. religious, scientific, psychological, educational, philosophical and political heresies, spread like wildfire while others never seem to gain much traction? Likewise, have you ever wondered why the mythology of almost every nation of the world contains the
The Secret Kavanah of Brit Milah (Part 2) In last week's article entitled Revealing a Tefach and Covering a Tefach, we began to explore a little bit of the hidden meaning of the mitzvah of brit milah. Guided by Likutei Moharan 63, we learned that the Torah has hidden the deeper kavanot of brit
The Secret Kavanah of Brit Milah (Part 1) We accept the mitzvah of brit milah without question. Even some of the outwardly less-observant members of our nation, for example, those who desecrate the kedushah of Shabbat without even the slightest pang of conscience, would never imagine not performing brit milah
The Secret of the Erev Rav (Part 3) In the past two issues of The Shoemaker Report, we examined the origins and characteristics of the souls of the converts who accompanied the Jewish People when they left Egypt in the days of Moshe Rabbeinu. This group, known collectively as the
