Simchat Torah is a medieval invention, a holiday designed by and for the Jews of chutz la’aretz, Jews who live outside the Land of Israel. The…
Sukkot: The Right Season
If asked which holiday Rosh Hashanah is most connected to, I think most of us would, for very good reason, answer Yom Kippur. Yet the Rambam – master…
Yom Kippur: What Comes Next?
Yom Kippur is a means to an end. We spend the day in shul, confess our sins, plead for forgiveness, abstain from food, drink and all physicality,…
Reflections on Tisha B'Av
Tisha b’Av is the day of national Jewish mourning. It was on this day that “our House was destroyed, our Temple was burned, and we were exiled from…
Shavuot: A Gift of the Omer
“And you shall count from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that you brought the [barley] omer of the wave offering; seven complete sabbaths…
Yizkor Thoughts: Good or Comfortable
Seemingly, one of the more depressing debates in rabbinic literature is one that the houses of Hillel and Shammai argued about for two-and-half years…
Purim: Celebrating Community
In what surely is one of the strangest, shocking and surreal of teachings, our Sages have noted that Yom Kippurim (which is what the Torah calls Yom…
Terumah: The First of Adar
The first of Adar is a very special day. “Just as when Av begins one decreases rejoicing, so too when the month of Adar begins, one…
Chanukah: The Lights and The Lights
"The mitzvah of kindling Chanukah lamps is a very beloved mitzva” (Laws of Chanukah 4:12). So writes the Rambam living in the…
Yom Kippur: Where is the Golden Calf?
Yom Kippur marks the day that G-d forgave the Jewish people for the sin of the golden calf. And precisely because G-d forgave the people on this day…
Rosh Hashanah: Looking Ahead
The haunting, powerful and frightening words of Untenah Tokef – who shall live and who shall die – is for many the emotional highlight of the High…
Tisha B'Av: Avoiding a Recession
When we think of Tisha B’Av many images enter our mind – this year sadly more than in the past. Tisha B’Av is the day we mourn our historic tragedies…
Shavuot: A New Torah
“Every day they [the mitzvot of the Torah] should be like new”. With the exception of Coca-Cola, we like that which is new. We tend to associate new…
Acharei Mot: From Pesach to Yom Kippur
“And G-d spoke to Moshe after the death of the two children of Aharon when they came close before G-d and they died” (Vayikra 16:1). The Torah…
Pesach: A Second Chance
Jewish life is all too often rather chaotic. Yet Pesach and Yom Kippur, the two central holidays of the year[1] teach the importance of …
Pesach: What Should We Read
It is hard to argue that there is a more impactful and important rabbinic decree than that of kriat haTorah, the weekly public reading of the…
Pesach: Why Eat Matza
“Rabban Gamliel would say: Anyone who does not say these three things on Pesaḥ has not fulfilled his obligation, and these are they: [the korban…
Purim Thoughts: Far, Far Away
The decree has been promulgated and publicized through the empire. 127 provinces have received “hurried” instructions that they should “destroy,…