Parshat Behar 5784
The mitzvah to count the Omer (namely, to count the 49 days between Pesach and Shavuot) was in last week’s portion, Emor. These seven weeks of preparation lead us to the great day of Shavuot when we will receive the…
The mitzvah to count the Omer (namely, to count the 49 days between Pesach and Shavuot) was in last week’s portion, Emor. These seven weeks of preparation lead us to the great day of Shavuot when we will receive the…
This week’s portion Emor contains the five mitzvot relating to the קרבן העומר - the Omer Sacrifice. The first mitzvah is to bring an omer of barley (omer is the name of a unit measurement equal to, according…
What do you do when you know the world is about to end? Where do you go if you’re sure the world is going to experience an apocalyptic culmination in the very near future? If you’re any where near the…
The Talmud (Brachot 6a) reveals a stunning idea: אמר רבי אבין בר רב אדא אמר רבי יצחק: מנין שהקדוש ברוך הוא מניח תפילין? שנאמר נשבע ה' בימינו ובזרוע עוזו בימינו זו תורה שנאמר מימינו אש דת למו ובזרוע עזו אלו…
Dairy cows are prodigious producers. You pump about one hundred pounds of feed into a dairy cow over the course of a day; usually a mixture of hay, grain, soybean meal or some other protein, and silage, which is fermented…
In 1981, Project Kansas was hatched secretly in the boardroom of one of the most successful companies in the US. It was the desperate gambit of a company that was rapidly losing its footing, and it would set off a chain of…
Pesach II תשפד The Pesach holiday which commemorates the release of the Jewish nation from 210 years of slavery in Egypt is celebrated in the month of Nissan. Nevertheless, we are commanded to remember the Exodus from Egypt twice…
When I was twelve years old, there was nothing I enjoyed more than going to the Shuk Machane Yehuda. The massive indoor/outdoor market in Jerusalem was an assault of sights, sounds, and smells coming from the garbled masses of people…
This year, especially, as we approach the holiday of Pesach, we may feel like the Jews in Egypt did before Hashem redeemed them. It seems as if the world is caving in around us. Antisemitism is rapidly accelerating as…