And the men got up from there, and they looked down upon the face of Sodom, and Avraham walked with them to send them off. Bereishis 18:16 A fascinating kuntrus entitled Omer HaShikcha, gathers “forgotten” halachos, those found in...
What is the joy of Sukkos all about? When Bnei Yisrael traveled through the desert, Hashem provided three miraculous gifts to sustain them: manna descended from heaven, fresh water flowed from Miriam’s well, and the ananei ha’kavod -...
Sukkot is called Z’man Simchateinu – “the time of our joy,” and indeed, the dominant theme of this holiday is simchah – joy. In the times of the Bet Ha’mikdash, a festive celebration called the Simchat Beit...
The Torah reading on Simchas Torah contains the well- known pasuk: “The Torah was commanded to us by Moshe, a Morasha [inheritance] to the Congregation of Yaakov.” [Devorim 33:4] There is an interesting teaching in the Talmud Yerushalmi: Everywhere we...
We all know that the Sukkah covering, called schach, commemorates the “Ananei HaKavod,” the Clouds of Glory that sheltered and protected our ancestors during the forty miraculous years we spent wandering in the desert after the Exodus from Egypt....
Everyone knows that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are days of judgment; therefore, we do teshuvah and daven a lot on them. The Kabbalah sefarim reveal that Hoshana Rabbah is also a day of judgment. But since Shas and poskim hardly mention the judgment...
What foods should one eat at the seuda ha’mafsekes (last meal) on erev Yom Kippur? Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 608:4) writes that on erev Yom Kippur, one should eat light foods that are easily digestible,...
The Gemara (Yoma 87a) tells that the great sage Rav was once insulted by the local butcher. Over the next several months, Rav waited for the butcher to apologize, but he never did. Finally, on Erev Yom Kippur,...
Yom Kippur. As children, we had the z’chus to daven with Zeide and Mama, our grandparents z”l. Kol Nidrei night. Year after year, Zeide would speak to the members of his shul, always delivering the...
The Last Wish On Rosh Hashanah night, the Kazaks captured the rabbi, the cantor, and the president of the synagogue, and granted them a final wish before they would be put to death. The Rabbi: All year round I...