Rabbi Mordechai Becher’s VLog – The Fantastic Forest of Faith – Parshat Terumah 5776
Rabbi Becher explains who planted a forest of Acacia wood in Egypt, which gave hope to the Jewish slaves. View this video directly on Vimeo.
The Thirteenth Month
This week we will be marking the beginning of the month of Adar One, which is the additional month added to a Jewish leap year, making it 13 months. Measuring and marking the passage of time is a universal human preoccupation. At least forty different calendars are in use around the world today. The most…
Rabbi Mordechai Becher’s VLog – The Goring Ox and Jewish Philosophy – Parshat Mishpatim 5776
Rabbi Becher explains the connection between a socio-path ox and the oneness of G-d. View this video directly on Vimeo.
Justice! – Mishpatim 5776
Last Shabbat we read the Ten Commandments in synagogue, and this coming week we will be reading the Parsha of Mishpatim, judgments, detailing many of the laws that govern commerce, society, business and human interactions. I believe that that there are some important lessons in this juxtaposition. The Ten Commandments were inscribed on two tablets….
Shevat and the Land of Israel – Beshalach 5776
Now that we are in the month of Shevat I would like to continue my theme of the laws of the land of Israel. The seventh year of the agricultural cycle, is known as Shmittah, the Sabbatical year. In Israel, no new crops are planted and only maintenance work is done on crops and trees…
Agricultural Ethics – Bo 5776
This month, Shevat, is when we celebrate and mark the agricultural laws of the Land of Israel. Israel is a holy land and its agricultural products are considered holy, and therefore have special laws that apply to them. The most well-known is the obligation (Biblical when most Jews live in Israel, Rabbinic nowadays) to separate…
Rabbi Mordechai Becher’s VLog – The Names of G-d and Pride in Self – Parshat Va’eira 5776
The Torah lists many of G-d’s names in the beginning of this parsha. Rabbi Mordechai Becher explains one of them. View this video directly on Vimeo.
The New Moon — A Minor Festival – Va’eira 5776
This Shabbat we will be saying special prayers in the synagogue to announce and bless the new month in the following week. We do this because the concepts and lessons contained in the Jewish calendar are so central to our beliefs that it is necessary to teach and emphasize them regularly. The calendar is a…
Rabbi Mordechai Becher’s VLog – Don’t Just Look Straight Ahead – Parshat Shemot 5776
Rabbi Becher explains how Moses managed to see the burning bush, but when Rabbi Becher was a student in Yeshiva, he didn’t notice the answer to his question on the Gemorah. View this video directly on Vimeo.
The Eisodus and the Exodus – Shemot 5776
We begin reading the book of Exodus this week, which has as its central theme the events surrounding the redemption of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. G-d intervened in history, punished the Egyptian slave-masters and took His people Israel out of Egypt with miracles and wonders. With the Exodus, G-d created the physical…