Lech Lecha תשפא This week’s portion introduces us to our Forefather Avraham. Maimonides (Laws of Idol Worship 1:3) tells us of Avraham’s beginning and his greatness. ג) כיון שנגמל איתן זה התחיל לשוטט בדעתו והוא קטן והתחיל לחשוב ביום ובלילה…
Parshat Noach תשפא Rashi last week began his Torah commentary with Rabbi Yitzchak’s famous query: Why does the Torah commence with a description of Creation? If the Torah’s purpose is to convey to man his obligations in the form of…
Moshe Rabbeinu instituted that a portion of the Torah be read every Shabbat. He divided the Torah up into 54 portions, so that one portion could be read on each Shabbat including a leap year, which has 13 months. This…
Sukkot תשפא As we progress through the Jewish calendar year, we enter different time zones. As we reach each new time zone, our Sages have given us a tool to take note of the fact that Hashem has granted us…
The Ten Days of Teshuva The ten days beginning with Rosh Hashanah and ending with Yom Kippur are called עשרת ימי תשובה The Ten Days of Teshuva (Repentance). These special days are a gift from Hashem to help us secure…
Rosh Hashanah ll תשפא This year, the first day of Rosh Hashanah falls out on Shabbat. Because it is Shabbat, the shofar will not be blown. What is behind this law? What is it about the Shabbat that prevents us…
Rosh Hashanah The prayers in the סדור, Siddur, the Jewish prayer book, were composed by the Men of the Great Assembly, the אנשי כנסת הגדולה . This esteemed assemblage, was comprised of 120 holy Rabbis many of whom were also…
Parshat Ki Tavo תשפ This week’s Torah portion Ki Tavo is famous for the תוכחה - the Tochacha. (No English word adequately captures the meaning of Tochacha, but its meaning will become clear as we go along.) The Tochacha comprises…
The Month of Elul Rosh Hashanah, which falls on the 1st day of the month of Tishrei (this year, Friday night, September18th, marks the beginning of the new year 5781. This counts the years since the world’s creation, which happened…