Jacob and Esau One of the most fundamental principles of Judaism is the belief in human free will. No one is born righteous, and no is born evil; it is the person’s choice to be good or evil. Morality, reward and punishment, and indeed the entire purpose of creation, are all predicated upon free will. …
Washington Heights, where I teach regularly, is an extremely windy location. My bobby pin is greatly challenged holding my yarmulke onto my, fairly short, hair. Holding my yarmulke on, picking it up and chasing it down Amsterdam Avenue, has made me think about it a little more. The word yarmulke, is made up of two…
We have exceptionally good weather recently for this time of year, a phenomenon that some attribute to climate change and global warming. What is the Jewish attitude towards the global warming? I think that the question of climate change is an empirical question and therefore Judaism doesn’t really have an opinion about it. In addition, I…
Noah was told to put a “tzohar” in the Ark. Rabbi Mordechai Becher discusses whether this word means a “window” or a “light” and what the practical difference can mean for our own lives. View this video directly on Vimeo.
It is just after the festival of Sukkot and I am already feeling the onset of winter here in New Jersey. There is a Yiddish greeting that people say after Sukkot, “Gezunta vinter,” “Healthy winter” which obviously anticipates the coming of the cold. Winter generally gets very bad press in the world as a whole….
Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah The fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Sukkot, a seven day period for G-d. The first day shall be a sacred holiday when you shall not do any laborious work… The eighth day is a sacred holiday to you… it is a time of assembly when…
Five days after the solemnity and intensity of Yom Kippur, Sukkot, the festival of joy and happiness, begins. The Torah describes the festival as follows: On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the festival of Sukkot, a seven-day period for G-d: On the first day shall be a sacred holy day when you…
Why did the Torah specifically forbid leather shoes on Yom Kippur (rather than ban sitting in a comfortable chair, for example)? For a deeper insight into the meaning of this prohibition, we must examine what shoes symbolize in the Torah. The first place they are mentioned in the Torah is at the beginning of Moses’…
Rabbi Mordechai Becher takes us on a tour of the sounds of the shofar throughout history. View this video directly on Vimeo.
As we blow shofar in synagogue every morning of this month, and anticipate the grand shofar blowing on Rosh HaShanah, I would like to remind people of various times in history when blowing the shofar could not be taken for granted and represented much more than the (albeit wonderful and significant) fulfilment of a legal…