The first time that I stayed up learning all night on Shavuos was when I was about 14 years old. We lived in Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia and attended a traditional shul, which, until that year did not have a Rabbi. The shul hired a young Rabbi, an American, Yeshiva University graduate, who had a profound influence on me. One thing that I recall clearly was Shavuos night ...
Read MoreRabbi Becher wants to know not only where is Mount Sinai, but should we care where is Mount Sinai? View this video directly on Vimeo.
Read MoreYour relationship with G-d is unique and this uniqueness is required by The Creation. View this video directly on Vimeo.
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During this period of social distancing, I was scrolling through pictures saved on my computer. I saw some photos of a trip that my wife and I had taken to Australia to visit my parents, A"H. As we were boarding the flight I handed our boarding passes to the stewardess, but it was not obvious that my son was standing with me, so she pointed to him and said, “Does he ...
Read MoreRabbi Mordechai Becher looks at the reasons as to why the Torah was given in the desert. View this video directly on Vimeo.
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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 obligated to practice circumcision, kindness and justice and to have faith in God. God in turn promised that Abraham’s descendants would maintain a special relationship with Him. They would be given the Land of Israel and would be a “blessing to all nations of the ...
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The Omer is counted for the final time on the 49th night. The following evening, the festival of Shavuot begins at sundown. Shavuot is the anniversary of the Revelation on Mount Sinai, when God communicated the Torah to the entire Jewish people and in so doing, revealed to them their national mission and purpose. In our prayers Shavuot is referred to as Zman Matan Torateinu, the Time of Giving of ...
Read MoreRabbi Mordchai Becher wonder what did the Jews do in the desert for 40 years?. View this video directly on Vimeo.
Read MoreWe will be celebrating the giving of the Torah this coming Sunday and Monday on Shavuos. So, here a few words about the actual physical artifact of the revelation, the Torah Scroll. Forty years after the Exodus from Egypt, when the Jewish people were finally preparing to enter the Land of Israel, Moses wrote down everything that God had told him on Mt. Sinai and in the desert. He wrote ...
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