Even though the holiday of Sukkoth is the time of our happiness and joy, with the streets of Jerusalem filled with visitors and tourists, the events that took place during the holiday week saddened all of us. A young father and mother, descendants of a famed rabbinic family of leaders and educators were brutally murdered by Arab terrorists. Their four small children somehow survived the attack,...
The Torah at its onset here in the parsha of Bereshith describes itself as being “the book of the generations of humankind.” Although the literal context of this verse of the Torah is referring to the generations and descendants of the first human being Adam, it has been widely interpreted by Jewish traditional scholars, in its broadest meaning, to refer to all of the generations and the...
Supervising my somewhat willing helpers in the succah, while hanging our decorative memorabilia collected from our extensive travels all over the world, I quietly reflected to myself about the nature of this beautiful and happy holiday. Here in Israel the weather is not that much of a factor and only rarely does it play a role in our observance of the commandment of dwelling in a succah for a...
In reality, the first word of this week's prophetic song/parsha in encompasses the entire message of this Torah portion. Haazinu connotes paying attention, concentrating, listening attentively and absorbing words and messages that are being spoken. As one's hearing acumen begins to lessen and wane with the passage of time, background noise becomes a problem when attempting to hear what someone...
Judaism views life itself as the ultimate gift granted to us by Heaven. As such, it takes the highest prominence and priority. However, most humans, when not in situations of danger and emergency, hardly view their lives in such a perspective. Instead of seeing it as a gift, most humans simply see it as a given state of existence to which they are somehow entitled. Because of this view, life...
The name of this week's Torah reading is taken from the first word of the parsha itself – vayelech. This word signifies movement, the action of going somewhere. The subject of this verb is a great teacher and leader Moshe. According to Jewish tradition and the words of the great commentators to the Torah, this parsha was recorded for us by Moshe on the last day of his presence on earth. It...
As part of our human nature, we begin a new year with great optimism and hope, though experience has taught us that there is no year that does not contain its share of problems. And some of the challenges that we may face, the very severe ones, are not given to easy solutions. Nevertheless, that in no way dampens our hopes for a year of goodness, success, health and accomplishment. We...
The custom of reciting special penitential prayers before Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is an ancient one. It certainly dates back to the time of the Geonim in Babylonia, if not even earlier. The custom of the Sefaradim is to recite these prayers beginning with the entire month of Elul until Yom Kippur. The custom of the Ashkenazin is to begin the recitation of these prayers the week before Rosh...
One of the more obvious lessons taught to us by the book of Dvarim is the eternity and immutability of the covenant between God and the Jewish people. There are all sorts of difficulties and tragedies forecast for the Jewish people from the time of Moshe forward. And, unfortunately, these sad events have all come to pass. Nevertheless, nowhere is it indicated that the covenant between God...
The next few parshiyot of the Torah, leading up to the final uplifting and glorious conclusion, portray for us a somber picture of the experiences that the Jewish people will undergo in their march through history. The descriptions of the horrors that will overtake the Jewish people, when their national entity is destroyed and they embark on a long and painful exile of millennia, are graphic,...
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