Rosh Hashana 5782

Rosh Hashanah The Torah (Deuteronomy 29:1) calls Rosh Hashanah “יום תרועה” a day of “teruah.” The exact meaning of the word “teruah” is a mystery, and a bit of detective work was necessary to define it. The first step was…

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Parshat Ki Tavo 5781

Ki Tavo תשעט In the glorious days of the Holy Temple, every week, in cities all over the Land of Israel, one of the 24 families of Cohanim, and the Levites assigned to them, would meet to travel together to Jerusalem.…

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Parshat Ki Tetzei 5781

Ki Tetzei תשפא   The Torah teaches us in this week’s parsha Deuteronomy (22:6,7):  (ו) כִּי יִקָּרֵא קַן צִפּוֹר לְפָנֶיךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּכָל עֵץ אוֹ עַל הָאָרֶץ אֶפְרֹחִים אוֹ בֵיצִים וְהָאֵם רֹבֶצֶת עַל הָאֶפְרֹחִים אוֹ עַל הַבֵּיצִים לֹא תִקַּח הָאֵם עַל הַבָּנִים: (ז)…

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Elul 5781

The Month of Elul Rosh Hashanah, which falls on the 1st day of the month of Tishrei (this year, Monday night, September 6th), marks the beginning of the new year 5782. This counts the years since the world’s creation, which happened on…

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Parshat Re’eh 5781

Reeh תשפא             A student recently asked me, “There are two major types of social systems, democracy and socialism. What social system does the Torah recommend?”              I answered him that the Torah’s social system is neither, as it operates on a different…

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Parshat Ekev 5781

Parshat Ekev             This week’s portion contains, according to all opinions, the only Torah-mandated  ברכה  - blessing, namely, the ברכת המזון - Birkat Hamazon, the Grace after meals, which is derived from the verse in (Deuteronomy 8:10): ספר דברים פרק ח י) וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבָעְתָּ וּבֵרַכְתָּ אֶת יְדֹוָד…

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