12 Oct Spilling Wine
I. Spilling Wine Rav Moshe Isserles (Rema, 17th cen, Poland; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 396:1) records a custom to spill Havdalah wine on the ground. He explains that the basis of...
Shabbos Times for Dec 08, 2023 | 25 Kislev, 5784 | Parshas Vayeshev | Candle Lighting Time: 4:10 PM | Havdalah (72 min): 5:40 PM
30 Sep Arts & Crafts on Chol Hamoed During Coronavirus
Children are off from school and the schools are warning parents to avoid risky situations. Some are in quarantine. Many of the regular Chol Hamoed attractions are closed and those...
21 Sep Is the Akedah Ethical
It seems that every few years, someone argues that the message of the Akedah, the binding and near-sacrifice of Yitzchak (Gen. 22), is something other than that we should follow...
14 Sep When Shabbos is Shofar
This year, we do not blow shofar on the first day of Rosh Hashanah because it is Shabbos. To prevent people from carrying a shofar where there is no eruv...
07 Sep Trapped by the Sermon
Many rabbis use the Yom Tovim sermons as an opportunity to showcase their talents and to showcase crucial ideas and themes. Considering the large crowd, rabbis may spend months preparing...
31 Aug Can You Sue Your Rabbi?
I. Respect If a student believes that his rabbi has committed a financial wrong against him, can the student call him to a religious court? Perhaps the respect due to a...
24 Aug A Derashah During a Plague
The 1848 (5608-9) cholera epidemic has become famous in Jewish history because it was the moment when the 37-year old Rav Yisrael Salanter first took on a leadership role. Rav...
18 Aug Why Does Teshuvah Work?
As Elul arrives and Rosh Hashanah approaches, we need to start thinking about teshuvah, about how we can build positively on all the events of tumultuous past year so that...
11 Aug When the Chazzan Shleps
I. Chazzanim Shlep Rabbinic literature is full of rabbis complaining about chazzanim (cantors) who sing too much, whether to enhance the prayers from their perspective or to show off their voices....
04 Aug Saying a Wicked Name
I. The Hungarian Apostate Are you allowed to say the name of someone wicked or should you avoid saying it? Mishlei (10:7) says, “The memory of the righteous shall be for...