The Ten Days of Teshuva 5780
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…
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…
Parshat Shoftim תשפ If statistics are correct, Jews comprise .02% of the world’s population. There are over 2.5 billion Christians, almost 2 billion Muslims, billions more people in many other religions, including non-believers. The Torah instructs us to follow the…
Re’eh תשפ Imagine the following scenario: You are sitting in your living room watching the evening news, when suddenly a weird looking fellow appears on the screen. He is wearing a turban, has a spider tattooed on his forehead, and…
Parshat Ekev תשפ Ekev is the third portion in the fifth and last book of the Torah,דברים Devarim (Deuteronomy), which Moshe related in its entirety to the Jewish people in the last 36 days of his life, the last three…
The Three Weeks תשפ Last Thursday, July 9th, we observed the fast of the 17th of Tamuz, and next Thursday, July 30th, we will observe “Tisha b’Av” the fast on the 9th day of the month of Av. These fasts…