Everyone Does The Wave
One of the main mitzvot of the holiday of Sukkot is the waving of the four species: citron (etrog), palm, myrtle and willow. Trying to understand this mitzvah metaphorically, our sages…
Give Them A Choice
There is an oft-cited Midrash (Sifrei, Dvarim 343) describing how God offered the Torah to the other nations of the world before He gave it to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. According…
Shabbat In The Spring
As spring takes hold of the northern hemisphere, and the hours between sunrise and sunset lengthen, people often spend the long Shabbat afternoon enjoying the outdoors. Even as one soaks…
Sanctify Thyself
In the 21st century, how does one understand a Talmudic statement praising a man for “restricting his eyes” when he has no choice but “to go to a place where there will be immodest women”…
Inauguration Time
Imagine... Place: In the Wilderness Who: The Children of Israel When: Almost a year after leaving Egypt For seven days they practice. Each morning the intricate pieces of the Mishkan…
Read At Mincha
The climax of the Shabbat morning service is the Torah reading, which is often accompanied by great ceremony and beautiful chants. It is also an “interactive” ritual, since numerous…
My Father, Our Father
Many well-known Jewish songs are based on words from the Bible. While a vast majority of them are based on Tehillim (Psalms) one of the most famous is almost a direct quote from Genesis:…
Spiraling From Adam
“The Chosen People,” as the Jews are sometimes known, has been misunderstood by some as an indication that Judaism disdains those who are not Jewish. This, of course, is not true. Adam,…
Fences
The Bible commands the owner of a home with a flat roof to put up a ma’akeh - a fence - around the roof, so that blood will not be on the owner’s hands (Deuteronomy…
The Alarm Clock
New beginnings are always difficult. For those who are not “morning people,” every day is a new beginning, and we must be thankful to whoever invented the alarm clock, which keeps us from…