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…
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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…
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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 then…
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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 seder, order…
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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 Torah.…
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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]…
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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,…
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Sukkot: The First Sin
“And you shall take for yourselves on the first day, the fruit of the hadar tree, date palm fronds, a branch of a braided tree, and willows of the…
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Yom Kippur: Sinning Under Duress
“For the sin we sinned before You, b’ones u’beratzon, under duress and willingly. So begins the litany of al chets, the double acrostic listing of…
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Rosh Hashanah: Come Together
“Ubechen, Please G-d instill pachdecha, terror upon all Your works and eimatecha, Your dread upon all that You have created”. So begins the Amidah on…
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Tu B'Av: Time to Dance
Our holidays form natural units, as none truly stand alone. The 49 days of the omer link Pesach to Shavuot. We begin the holiday cycle by celebrating…
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Tisha B'Av: Before the Law
“Rav Yochanan said: Jerusalem was destroyed only because they followed the laws of the Torah” (Bava Metzia 30b). The Talmud is incredulous at such an…
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Shavuot: An Omer of Kindness
It is the omer, a measure of barley, that unites the Biblical holidays of Pesach and Sukkot. With no calenderic date Shavuot occurs on the day after…
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Pesach: The Forest and the Trees
A legal system by its very nature is detail oriented. While laws represent the values of any given society, a law once established takes on an…
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Pesach: A Trial Run
“Go out and learn what Lavan the Aramean sought to do to Yaakov, our father. Pharaoh only decreed on the males but Lavan sought to uproot everything…
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Purim - We are One
One of the (many) strange features of Purim is the fact that we do not recite Hallel. “The Prophets among them established [Hallel] for the Jewish…
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Chanukah: The Menorah of the Exile
Ask any child – or adult for that matter – how we celebrate Chanukah and chances are beyond pretty good that the answer will be by lighting the…
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Simchat Hatorah: Moving in Circles
Holidays are a most opportune time to instill in our children the values and character traits that personify a Jewish lifestyle. At first glance…