Seven Days to the Sea
The Passover celebration lasts seven days in Israel and eight days, outside of Israel. (For more information as to why, please click here). The first day (and second, outside of Israel)…
Prepare for the Final Celebratory Meal of Passover
The seventh day of Passover, which begins tonight, recalls the splitting of the Sea of Reeds and the Shira (Song of Crossing the Sea), which is tomorrow’s Torah reading. We will read Shir…
Israel’s Memorial Day
The State of Israel’s independence, as well as its continued survival, is a modern-day miracle. But it has come at great cost in human lives and to its citizens. Therefore, before Israel…
Before You Light at Sundown
Just before lighting candles for Shabbat, say a prayer for those you know who need to be healed or are waiting to meet their soul mate. The Talmud Baba Kamma 92a notes that if a person…
Start Planning Gelt
Stock up on oil or candles and prepare your menorah, dreidels and gelt, Yiddish for coins, in anticipation of the upcoming holiday of Chanukah that begins on Sunday evening, December…
The Rebbe
Jews worldwide observe the yahrzeit (anniversary of death) of the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of blessed memory, on the 3rd of Tammuz, which is observed…
These Lights We Kindle
While the mitzvah of lighting the menorah is an outward-focused mitzvah – the menorah is lit in a window or doorway – it is also an opportunity for personal reflection on the deeper…
Giving Gifts
“A person who is diligent in lighting Chanukah candles will have children who are scholars” (Talmud Shabbat 23b). The desire for scholarly children was actually one of the motivations for…
A Special Shabbat
While welcoming Chanukah by lighting the menorah, and Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh Tevet by lighting Shabbat candles this afternoon, take a moment to appreciate the special opportunity we…
Seven Days to the Sea
The Passover celebration lasts seven days in Israel and eight days, outside of Israel. (For more information as to why, please click here). The first day (and second, outside of Israel)…