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…
“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…
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…
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…
One of the most central requirements of Jewish life—both in time and importance—is that of daily prayer. Yet most fascinatingly, the…
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…
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…
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…
"Rav Yehoshua ben Levi said, women are obligated in the reading of the Megillah she'af hen, because they, too, were included in the…
"These days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of…
The first daf (page) of Masechet Megillah focuses on the distinction between open and walled cites, regarding the timing of the reading of…
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…
Sukkot marks the beginning of the rainy season, and Rabbi Eliezer opines that we should start saying masheev haruach umoreed hageshem starting…
"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…
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…
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…
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…
"Memati mazkirin gevurat geshamim, from when do we begin to mention the power of rain?" (Ta'anit 2a). Masechet Ta'anit opens with a…
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…
The fourth and last chapter of Masechet Rosh Hashanah focuses on the mitzvah of shofar and the special davening—malchiut, zichronot and…
"Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazeh, all Jews are co-signers [responsible] for one another" (Shevuot 39a). This is not just a nice idea…
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…
There is a widespread custom to decorate our shuls with flowers in honour of Shavuot. This beautiful custom commemorates the flourishing of the…
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…