Eikev 5781-2021
“Worshiping G-d with All One’s Heart”
(Updated and revised from Eikev 5762-2002)
In this week's parasha, we read the verse advising worshipers to pray to G-d with "all their heart." But, much of traditional Jewish prayer is fixed and rigid, and seems to be bound by so many rules and requirements that there is hardly an opportunity for worshipers to express their own personal feelings and needs. And, yet, it is the structure and the rigor of the traditional prayer formula that makes certain that our prayers not become self-centered and entirely focused on only our own needs and desires.
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Shemot 5776-2016
"By What Right Does Moses Kill The Egyptian?”
The commentators are perplexed by Moses’ extremely aggressive response to the Egyptian who was beating the Hebrew. By what authority did Moses take the life of the Egyptian?
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Lesson 18
Today we take a few minutes to review some of the letters and vowels we've learned in previous lessons. We're also introduced to the term "Short Vowels".
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Lesson 16 & 17
Today, we learn how to read the letter Gimmel as well as a new vowel which makes an Oo sound like in the word Spoon.
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Lesson 12
Today we learn to read the first of the five Final Letters of the Aleph-Bet, the Mem Sofit. It's a mate to the letter Mem, which we learned in Lessons 5 & 6.
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Lesson 10 & 11
In Lesson 7 we met the letter resh. Today we are introduced to resh's look-a-like letter, the daled. We'll also learn how to read the cholam vowel which makes an "Oh" sound.
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Lech Lecha 5768-2007
"The Battle of the Four Kings Against the Five"
Parashat Lech Lecha goes into great detail regarding the battle of the four kings against the five, raising questions of its significance. By studying the details of this battle, we learn many moral lessons, once again confirming that the Torah is primarily a guide for moral and ethical living, and not a book of history.
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Eikev 5762-2002
"Worshiping G-d With All One's Heart"
In this week's parasha we read the verse advising worshipers to pray to G-d with "all their heart." If that's the case, we need spontaneous and emotional prayer, rather than traditional Jewish prayer's fixed and rigid structure. Jewish prayer seems to be bound by so many rules that there is hardly an opportunity for worshipers to express their own personal feelings and needs. And yet, it is the structure and the rigor of the traditional prayer formula that makes certain that our prayers do not become self-centered and entirely focused on only our own needs and desires.
0 Comments10 Minutes