Originally, different customs existed regarding the reading of the Torah on Shabbat. In Israel, the Torah was read in a three-year cycle, while in Babylon the custom was a yearly cycle. Eventually, the Babylonian custom became universally accepted, and to this day Jews throughout the world publicly read the entire Five Books of Moses in…
The most distinctive feature of the festival of Sukkot, and the mitzvah from which it derives its name, is the Sukkah, the “booth.” The Torah writes, You shall dwell in booths for a seven-day period; everyone included in Israel shall dwell in booths: So that your future generations will know that I caused the Children…
The Torah designates the tenth day of the seventh month (Tishrei) as the “Sabbath of Sabbaths,” the day that we call Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. In the seventh month on the tenth of the month you shall afflict yourselves and you shall not do any work…. For on this day He shall provide…
“For this mitzvah is not far from you; it is not in heaven that you shall say ‘Who will ascend for us to the heavens…’” (Deuteronomy 30:11) Nachmanides states in his commentary that this verse refers to the positive commandment of repentance. He cites two other verses as sources for this mitzvah: “…you shall return…
The Jewish calendar begins with the month of Nissan, the month in which the Jewish people were redeemed from Egypt, the month in which we celebrate Passover. The Torah designates the months by number only, not by name: this month is called the “first of months.” Nissan marks the beginning of Jewish history because the…
The central mitzvah of Rosh Hashanah, and the defining feature of this festival in the Torah is the sounding of the shofar. We begin to practice for this mitzvah by blowing the shofar every day of the month preceding Rosh Hashanah. A hollowed-out ram’s horn is blown to produce sounds known as tekiah, shevarim, and…
I was recently in China and visited the old Jewish community in Kaifeng. I bought as a souvenir a bright-blue, handmade,silk yarmulke with Chinese characters on it (which I don’t plan on wearing, its way to garish.) Walking around in a place where almost no one at all wears a yarmulke makes one more aware…
The people of the United States of American just celebrated July 4th, Independence Day, so I think that it is appropriate to reflect briefly on the blessings of the USA. Abraham’s relationship with God was rooted in a covenant, an agreement between two parties, each having obligations toward the other. Abraham and his descendants were…
We just observed the fast of the Seventeenth of Tamuz, which occurs exactly three weeks before Tishah B’Av and we are now in the middle of the period of mourning known as “The Three Weeks.” The Mishnah states: Five things happened to our ancestors on the Seventeenth of Tamuz: The First Tablets were broken, the…
This week our family just celebrated the marriage of our son, Pinchas to his bride, Mari. I would like to wish mazal tov to them and to all of us and you, because every marriage is a celebration for the whole Jewish people. In honor of the wedding below is an excerpt from my book,…