Articles Holiday Thoughts

One could quite reasonably make the argument that the overarching goal of the Torah is the establishment of a Jewish state that will serve as a model…

A few years ago while on a visit to Israel, my good friend Michael Levenstein z”l, in whose memory this devar Torah is dedicated, was giving my wife…

Moshe Rabbeinu was our teacher par excellence. As a great pedagogue, he understood the importance of teaching subject material in a timely manner. “…

The eating of karpas has long baffled our commentators. Why exactly do we dip a vegetable in salt water just as we are ready to begin the…

“In the first month of the second year on the first of the month, the Tabernacle was erected” (Shemot 40:2). Sefer Shemot concludes with…

Rare is the person who has the opportunity to knowingly shape the course of Jewish history. Most are happy to be relieved of that responsibility.…

"He shall surely be put to death."  "They shall be pelted with stones and thus stoned to death."  "He shall be burned with fire."  "His soul shall be…

“Ezra enacted for the Jewish people that they should read the curses that are recorded in Vayikra before Shavuot and […

For better or worse, in the minds of many—Jew and non-Jew alike—Chanukah and Christmas are two sides of a similar, if not the same, coin. Chanukah is…

There is no more powerful symbol than light in our tradition. It is how we usher in the Shabbat, march down the wedding aisle, mark the yahrzeit of a…

Mai Chanukah? What is Chanukah? the Talmud (Shabbat 21ba) queries, a question we find with respect to no other holiday. The Talmud explains that…

The Jewish holidays have two distinct themes. The shalosh regalim, three pilgrim festivals of Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot, occurring at key…

For many years, students were introduced to the study of Talmud with Eilu Metziot, the second chapter of masechet Bava Metzia, focusing on the…

For seven days a year, one is to “make his home temporary and his Sukkah permanent”. Ideally, we move our finest furniture, china, and…

As important (if not more so) as what one says is how it is said, when it is said, and what is not said. This is equally true regarding both our…

“We work and get reward and they work and do not get reward?” This statement, said when one completes a Talmudic tractate, articulates a…

“In a place where ba’alei teshuva stand there, not even the fully righteous can stand” (Brachot 34b). This teaching is generally…

Man has a tremendous capacity for self-deception. We easily see faults in others; somehow, we miss them in ourselves. Teshuva, repentance,…