Chanukah II
Chanukah ll תשפא Tonight, Tuesday, December 16, the 1st day of the month (“Rosh Chodesh”) of Tevet, is the sixth night of Chanukah. Jews the world over will be lighting six candles in their menorahs to celebrate the sixth day…
Chanukah ll תשפא Tonight, Tuesday, December 16, the 1st day of the month (“Rosh Chodesh”) of Tevet, is the sixth night of Chanukah. Jews the world over will be lighting six candles in their menorahs to celebrate the sixth day…
Chanukah תשפא This coming Thursday night we will light the first Chanukah candle. We will then celebrate Chanukah for eight days, adding a candle each night until there are eight. The Talmud (Shabbat 21b) asks, “מאי חנוכה?” What is Chanukah?…
Vayishlach תשפא The Midrash (Bereshit Rabba 2:4) informs us that from before creation, Hashem knew that the Jewish people were destined to endure four exiles. The Midrash derives it from the second verse in the Torah, which says: (ב) וְהָאָרֶץ…
Parshat Vayetzeh תשפא Esav has vowed to kill Yaakov for having stolen his blessing from Yitzchak , so Rivka and Yitzchak decided to send Yaakov to Rivka’s brother Lavan, to escape Esav, and also, to find a wife. As Yaakov…
Chayei Sarah תשפא This week’s portion begins with Sarah’s passing at age 127. The Torah reports that her years were all equally righteous and that Sarah lived a perfect life. Now it became Avraham’s responsibility to bury her in an…
Parshat Vayeira ספר בראשית פרק יח (א) וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו יְדֹוָד בְּאֵלֹנֵי מַמְרֵא וְהוּא ישֵׁב פֶּתַח הָאֹהֶל כְּחֹם הַיּוֹם: Genesis 18:1: Hashem appeared to him (Avraham) in the plains of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of the tent…
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…