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Moed Katan has as its focus two contradictory themes: the laws of Chol Hamoed and of aveilut, mourning. Chol Hamoed is a time when we are obligated…
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“And I have given them statutes that are not good, and laws that they do not live with" (Yechezkel 20:25). In our last post, we…
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Learning Torah is meant to be enjoyable. It is for this reason that a mourner is not permitted to learn (Moed Katan 21a) [1]--the joy that…
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One of the ways we show respect for a person is to stand in their honour, and such an honour is not only bestowed on people. The notion of the…
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One of the most central requirements of Jewish life—both in time and importance—is that of daily prayer. Yet most fascinatingly, the…
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Pesach is the foundational holiday of the Jewish people, and the Exodus is the defining moment of Jewish history. A group of slaves formed a nation…
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Often it takes our enemies to whip us into shape. “Rav Abba the son of Kahana said: Greater was the removal of the ring [of Achashverosh] than…
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When one makes a siyum to mark the completion of a tractate of Talmud, we recite the beautiful words of the hadran[1], that "we toil and they…
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"Rav Yehoshua ben Levi said, women are obligated in the reading of the Megillah she'af hen, because they, too, were included in the…
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"These days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of…
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The first daf (page) of Masechet Megillah focuses on the distinction between open and walled cites, regarding the timing of the reading of…
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Masechet Ta'anit ends with a description of how, on the 15th of Av and on Yom Kippur, "the maidens of Jerusalem" would dance in the…
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Sukkot marks the beginning of the rainy season, and Rabbi Eliezer opines that we should start saying masheev haruach umoreed hageshem starting…
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"If not for my covenant, day and night, the laws of heaven and earth, I would not have created" (Yirmiyahu 33:25). Classical Jewish thought…
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It is hard enough to do what is right. Our wants, desirers, egos, social pressure, and the like often get in the way of acting properly. Even when we…
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Living in Canada, it is hard to get excited about rain. Often it puts a damper on nice summer plans. Even in Israel, where water is so much more of a…
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One of the most popular images in our tradition is that of a tree. Its many component parts reflect the diversity of our community. Some, like the…
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"Memati mazkirin gevurat geshamim, from when do we begin to mention the power of rain?" (Ta'anit 2a). Masechet Ta'anit opens with a…
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The last Mishnah in Masechet Rosh Hashanah quotes a debate between the Sages and Rabban Gamliel on a fundamental aspect of prayer. "The same way…
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The fourth and last chapter of Masechet Rosh Hashanah focuses on the mitzvah of shofar and the special davening—malchiut, zichronot and…
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"Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh, all Jews are co-signers [responsible] for one another" (Shevuot 39a). This is not just a nice idea…
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G-d is known as kel mistater, a hidden G-d (Yishayahu 46:15). Being created in His image, man, too, should yearn for anonymity. As Rav Soloveitchik…
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There is a widespread custom to decorate our shuls with flowers in honour of Shavuot. This beautiful custom commemorates the flourishing of the…
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In the last couple of posts, we discussed the fact that many of our prayers are likely to have little impact. We noted how many of the Talmudic views…