Every Passover we sing a beautiful song towards the end of the Seder. The refrain of the song is “Dayenu”, which means “it would be enough for us”. The song enumerates the great miracles performed for the Jewish people from the Exodus until their entrance into the Land of Israel and after each one proclaims […]
I recently was searching for a spot in the Mamilla parking lot in Jerusalem. Empty parking spots were scarce, and the traffic in the lot was building. I let a driver merge into the lane in front of me seconds before a spot opened up. The driver quickly moved into position to snag the spot, […]
The command to observe the Shabbat is almost always prefaced by the statement, “you shall do your work for six days etc.” Why the need for this prologue related to the regular week? Why doesn’t the Torah just tell us about the actual day of Shabbat? One possible reason is that the Torah is making […]
Chametz is prohibited on Pesach. What is it? One of the five grains (wheat, rye, oats, spelt, barley) mixed with water,and left idle for more than 18 minutes. As long as the dough is worked (kneaded), it cannot become Chametz. Our sages teach that Chametz represents haughtiness and ego (Guy-vah). On Pesach we destroy our […]
The theme of Purim and the Megillah is Hester Panim, the hiding of the Divine. God’s name does not appear in the Megillah. The miraculous salvation of the Jews doesn’t seems might like a coincidental chain of events that happen to come together in just the right way to produce the successful results. God is […]
This morning, Taanit Esther, they left out Tachanun and Avinu Malkeinu at the small Chassidic “Shtieble” where I occasionally daven. We usually skip these prayers on holidays, but today was a fast day? The character of Taanit Esther is unlike other fast days. Taanit Esther is actually part of Purim. On Purim we celebrate our […]
Here’s a short summary of the mitzvot (and minhagim) of Purim: 1. Monday is the Fast of Esther 2. Mitzvah: Monday night and Tuesday, we hear the Megillah read 3. It’s customary, before the reading of the Megillah at night, to doante the “half shekel”. They’ll usually have actual silver coins in shul. You donate […]
On the Shabbat preceding Purim (tomorrow morning) we read a special portion of the Torah called “Parshat Zachor”, which speaks about the obligation to wipe out the memory of Amalek. It is a Torah commandment to hear this portion read in the synagogue every year. Our Sages teach that the numerical value of “Amalek” is […]
I heard a beautiful dvar torah at the Chabad center in Eilat on parshat Terumah, in the name of the Lubavitcher Rebbe ZT”L, that I’d like to share. Why does the Torah spend so much time discussing the building of a mishkan that would only be relevant in the wilderness? The Torah is teaching us […]