Series: Daily Shiur

Venue: Kew Gardens Hills Kew Gardens Hills

Halacha:

Brachot,  Kashrut,  Shabbat 

Personalities:

Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik 

Collections: Rabbi Berzon: Tools of Brisk

Description

This shiur will serve as an introduction to the structure of Negative vs. Positive, or Shlili vs. Chiyuvi. This is a gigantic field of study with many branches and sub-categories. Perhaps the original distinction of this ilk would be Mitzvot Aseh (positive, "do", Active), as opposed to Lo TaAseh (negative, "do not", inaction). In the case of Shabbos, for example, we encounter a dualism, on the one hand, a Lo Ta'aseh enjoining us from any category of labor, i.e. inaction or abstention, coupled with Aseh, obligating us to engage in a host of actions, the positive aspect of Shabbos. But is there always a Kiyum Aseh when action is required? We will use Birchas HaMitzva as our measuring rod to determine if the action is a kiyum Aseh or to avoid.