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Welcome to Step 4 — a wiki of accessible Torah wisdom, tightly bound to identifiable sources in TaNaCh, Gemara, and Mesorah.

✦ Today's Featured Article Yom Kippur: Yonah, Prophecy, Teshuvah, and the Fear of Greatness The shiur opens with the mystery: how could a navi flee his mission? Classical answers are surveyed. Ibn Ezra (drawing on a yesod echoed in the Kuzari) distinguishes between naturally gifted prophets and those who achieve prophecy through painstaking cultivation; a ‘worked’ prophet can lose nevuah when conditions shift, offering a psychological-spiritual window into Yonah’s flight. Rashi resists this, presenting Yonah as fully prophetic but calculating consequences: if Nineveh repents easily, Israel’s stubbornness will look worse, creating a chilul Hashem, and Nineveh’s teshuvah may be transient while Israel’s, once earned, endures. Saadia Gaon’s view that Yonah did go but it wasn’t recorded is noted then set aside by Ibn Ezra and Rashi. This complex of motives reframes Yonah not as a cartoonish rebel, but as a conflicted servant of Hashem, weighing truth, optics, and the nature of lasting teshuvah. Read full article... Published: September 20, 2026 ? Did You Know... ...that the word tirosh (wine) contains tirash (poverty), and this duality is the key to understanding Kiddush? (source) ...that Shabbos candles are not merely about light, but about establishing seder — an ordered, purposeful framework for Shabbos? ...that the phrase Av Hamon Goyim — "father of a multitude of nations" — encodes a transformation in Avraham's very identity? ...that true leadership begins with recognizing that Hashem is the Elokei HaRuchos — the G-d of all spirits? ...that Kiddush Hashem is not only about martyrdom but about how we live every ordinary moment?

📖 This Week's Parsha Parashat Ha’azinu 8 Tishrei 5787 · September 19, 2026 · Deuteronomy 32:1-52 Summary for Ha’azinu coming soon. Haftarah (Ashkenaz): Hosea 14:2-10; Joel 2:15-27 | Shabbat Shuva (with Ha'azinu) Read on Sefaria → 🗓 Upcoming Holidays Holiday Date Erev Yom Kippur — Eve of Yom Kippur September 20, 2026 Yom Kippur — Day of Atonement — holiest day of the year September 21, 2026 Erev Sukkot — Eve of Sukkot September 25, 2026 Sukkot I — First day of Sukkot September 26, 2026 Sukkot II — Second day of Sukkot September 27, 2026 Sukkot III (CH’’M) September 28, 2026 Sukkot IV (CH’’M) September 29, 2026 All dates begin at sundown of the evening prior. Times are for Diaspora.

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Shabbos & Kiddush Tirosh or Tirash: Wine and Daas Wine as Sod in Kiddush Bridging Zohar and Maharal Distinguishing Shabbos with Wine and Word The Framework of Oneg and Kedusha Illumination, Seder, and Oneg

Leadership & Character Leadership and Elokei HaRuchos Leadership (overview) Making Kiddush Hashem Teaching the World

Torah Sources & Study Key Gur Aryeh Sources Learning Chumash with Gur Aryeh Calling beshem Hashem Av Hamon Goyim Bamidbar 27:16 — Elokei HaRuchos

About Step 4: This wiki preserves Torah wisdom learned from Rabbi Beryl Gershenfeld — tightly bound to identifiable sources in TaNaCh, Gemara, and Mesorah; deep; and relevant. Learn more →