G-d In Our Hearts And Minds
Because G-d-consciousness is central to the Torah, it commands us to create and interact with objects that remind us of Him.
Ideals Lost And Found
The first stage is a gift, a spiritual high. It’s there to help you experience the goal, the destination. It’s a taste of what you can and hopefully will ultimately accomplish, but it’s not real. It’s given as a gift and is therefore an illusion.
Hanukah: Our Nation’s Message
Chanukah Sameach
Striving Higher
My family has been blessed to spend our summers at Camp Dora Golding in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, where I am part of the camp administration. The drawback was that as a shul rabbi it wasn’t easy to be away from my kehilla for two months.
Is It Proper To Re-Gift?
Surely a gift that is given absolutely without any provisions one should have no qualms in re-gifting to another if it is not to one’s taste. But, as mentioned, take care not to give to someone who you think might give it back to the original party.
The First Impression
After Yosef reveals himself to them and they get over their initial shock, the Midrash says – they wanted to kill him! Kill him? Just a few hours earlier they were intent on rescuing Yosef, and willing to pay any price to do so. Now that he is standing in front of them, they want to kill him?
Rabbi Sacks (zt’l): A 6th Chanukah Message: THE LIGHT of WAR and THE...
Jewish law rules that if we can only light one candle – the Shabbat light takes precedence, because in Judaism the greatest military victory takes second place to peace in the home.
The Little Namesake
I asked her about the baby’s name, and she said, yes, they had named him after Daniel in the Tanach, but they had also thought of my late husband Dan when naming him. She sent me several photos and videos from the bris. I was overcome with emotion as I watched the segment where the baby received his name.
Intense Heat
Throughout Chanukah, Mr. Lichter and Shmuli lit in the glass case outside their door. On the last night of Chanukah, the flames burned brightly and warmed the winter night. The family was inside, enjoying latkes and jelly doughnuts, when suddenly they heard shattering outside.
Daf Yomi
Awaiting Elijah / ‘Semicha… Is Performed By Three’ (Sanhedrin 13b)
Looking Forward – Parshat Miketz
There’s short term and long term, and we must always take the long term into account.
Israel’s Inventive Capture Of The Negev
Israel’s innovative, young commander of the Negev campaign was Yigal Allon. In order to break the Egyptian hold, he would have to get his troops to the south undetected. This was a significant challenge as the only surfaced road was bordered by several Egyptian strongholds.
Q & A: Forgetting Al Hanissim On Chanukah
Question: If one forgot to recite Al Hanissim on Chanukah, does he have to repeat the Shemoneh Esrei or Birkat Hamazon?
Moshe Jakobowitz
Brooklyn, NY
Echo Chamber
Certain truths can never be fully grasped without exposure to a perspective beyond oneself.
Infallible Pharoah?
We know Yosef never forgot his father. Even though he no longer lived next to him, his father was an ever-present influence wherever he went and whatever he did.
The Status Of A Fetus In Halacha (Part VI)
It appears that killing a rodef is not only a complicated halacha, but only bidieved (a secondary choice). We are therefore left with a fundamental question: Why are we allowed to, or supposed to, kill a rodef?
The Author Of Our Lives
Joseph is the center of attention whenever he is, as it were, onstage, and yet he is, time and again, the done-to rather than the doer, an object of other people’s actions rather than the subject of his own.
From Sephardic Vienna To Israeli Tel Aviv: Tefilat Bnei Tziyon
The siddur had a number of versions from the outset – one of which was meant for schoolchildren – and at least one of which appears to have had an attached translation into Ladino, all sold in New York stores during WWI.
One Day Of Prayer
The Targum Yonasan Ben Uziel explains that the dream of the Royal Butler actually alluded to the redemption of the Jewish people. This being so, Yosef understood that the redemption could only come about if he, Yosef, would be released from prison.
Gratitude
Today, amid the suffering caused by the war, we can sometimes feel callous if we take our minds off those most affected. However, a lesson of Chanukah is that there remains space for gratitude, even in the face of ongoing grief.
Insights Into Chanukah
The reward for fulfilling the mitzvah of Ner Chanukah properly is great indeed. It is something we strive for every day. It is, comprehensively speaking, the goal of all our toil.
Abominable Bread
Where grains abound, so does baking knowledge and Egypt was also the first baking superpower. Much of our modern baking science is derived from the ancient Egyptians.
Yosef And The Battle For True Beauty
Before Adam sinned, he looked nothing like you or I do today... The Midrash says that he wore kosnos ohr (skin of light). When you looked at Adam, you didn’t see his body but saw Adam himself, i.e., his neshama.
A Guy Named Chanukah
As an interesting aside that only etymologists like myself could appreciate, the name Juanacita itself sort of has a connection to Chanukah. This is because that name derives from the name Juan/John, which is a Latinization of the Hebrew name Yochanan.
True Story
A story can be true in the sense that all the details are technically factual. Yet the way it’s conveyed may not be the way it happened.
What Should Our Attitude Toward Gift-Giving On Chanukah Be?
In the secular society gift-giving on Chanukah was influenced by the Christian holidays. If the gift-giving mimics the non-Jewish world, it is definitely not proper. If, however, it is done to promote the joy and family spirit of Chanukah and done in modest manner, there doesn't seem to be a reason to forbid it.
A Hellenist Left Standing
The twenty-fifth makes her remember,
Because it's Kislev - not December.
She almost fell, like Hellenists of old.
The twenty-fifth makes her remember,
Because it's Kislev - not December.
Once she, too, chose tinsel, not the gold.
Mazel Tov Times Two
When the shidduch Josh was in the middle of didn’t work out, he turned back to Moishy to hear about his sister. Eventually the couple met and realized that yes, it really was a match. When Josh and Sari got engaged, Moishy was the happiest of all.
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