13 Apr A SEFIRA MESSAGE
The Gemora calls our ancient sages Sofrim, people who know how to count. This seems to be an odd name for our great men who were endowed with encyclopedic knowledge,...
06 Apr SOME SEFIRA LESSONS
As we engage in the seasonal mitzvah of counting the sefira, and observe the national period of mourning for the tragic deaths of the 24,000 disciples of Rabbi Akiva, we...
23 Mar THE HAGGADAH ON MANY LEVELS
The annual holy narrative of the Pesach Seder is a multi-faceted experience with which we should familiarize ourselves so that we can get the most out of this rarified opportunity....
16 Mar BACK TO THE CHOMETZ
Wow!! It’s hard to believe: Purim has come and gone, and now we are facing a job that doesn’t pass so quickly: the purifying of the home for the Pesach...
09 Mar THE ESSENCE OF A YEHUDI
The Jewish People are known as Yehudim. The word Yehudim means ‘people who give thanks.’ Indeed, this is one of the fundamentals of our Jewish identity: namely that we are...
02 Mar REFLECTIONS ON THE COMMITMENTS OF PURIM
For us on the eastern seaboard, it has been quite a cold winter but, Baruch Hashem, Purim was wondrous with it all of its warmth and merriment. Reflecting on one...
23 Feb RAV MOSHE FEINSTEIN ZT”L ON HIS 35TH YAHRTZEIT: A MODEL FOR ALL OF US, AS REMEMBERED BY A TALMUD
It is hard to believe that this Taanis Esther will already be the 35th yahrzeit of the Rosh Yeshiva, H a G a o n , Rav Moshe Feinstein, Zt”l,...
17 Feb LISTENING TO OUR GEDOLIM: AN ANCIENT PURIM MESSAGE
Megilas Esther is an exciting repository of contemporary advice. This is revealed to us through Esther’s request to the sages, “Kavuni l’doros – Affix me for all generations.” Although Esther...
09 Feb THINKING WHILE WE PRAY MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE
We live in a world dominated by thoughts of the Covid-19 virus, its spread and the mass administration of vaccine. We also have a variety of routine medical tests –...
02 Feb YISRO’S ESCAPE HATCH
There is a wellknown controversy surrounding the chronological timing of when Yisro arrived to visit the Bnei Yisroel in the desert. It revolves around whether he came before Matan Torah,...