USHPIZIN – Aramaic for guests. Seven nights of Succos. Seven exalted, spiritual guests. We welcome the holy neshamaos of the raya mehemna, the faithful shepherds, leaders of our people, to our succahs. Avrohom, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Yosef,...
In our Yom Tov prayer text, Sukkot is called “our festival of joy.” The primary theme of Sukkot is joy. What exactly is the connection between Sukkot and joy? A number of weeks ago, we read in...
The Torah reading on Simchas Torah contains the well known pasuk [verse]: “The Torah was commanded to us by Moshe, a Morasha [inheritance] to the Congregation of Yaakov.” [Devarim 33:4] There is an interesting teaching in the Talmud Yerushalmi:...
A Tale of Two Jews In the world of yesteryear, in a small village near Karlin, Belarus, lived two Jews. One was a Chassid—a pious follower of the great spiritual master Rabbi Aaron of Karlin. The other was...
Hashem’s Visit Rebbe Bunim of Pshischa zt’l told the following parable: Someone’s home was very dirty, and although he tried to clean it many times, he was never successful. So he thought of a plan. He invited the king to visit his home, and the...
The Mishna in Maseches Yoma (1:5) says that in preparation for the Yom Kippur Service, the elders of the Beis Din transferred the Kohen Gado lto the elders of the Kohanim, who brought him to the attic of...
Last week we cited the siddur of Rav Shabtai Mei’Racksho, the Mateh Efraim, and the Chida. The all concur that the twice daily saying of L’Dovid Hashem Ori is a powerful segulah to emerge victorious in judgment, to cancel...
Many of us find Teshuba to be a difficult, grueling process. We often feel too intimidated to even begin thinking about Teshuba and changing who we are. And yet, ironically enough, the Torah indicates that Teshuba is...
The story is told that Rav Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev once summoned all of the Jews to assemble in the town square the next day because he had an announcement of the greatest importance to make. He ordered...
Dear Rabbi and Shira, Help. I’m not sure what to do. I’m a newly married guy and just spent Yom Tov with my in-laws. All in all things went pretty well....