Articles in Yearly Cycle
Ki Tisa: Humble Pride
The Perfume of Art
G-d instructed Moses on the art of making anointment oil with which Jewish kings and priests were anointed. The ingredients included spices of the finest sort: 500 shekel weights of pure Myrrh, half of it, 250 shekel weights, of fragrant cinnamon, 250 shekel weights of fragrant cane …
New Year Greeting 5773
I wanted to write a Rosh Hashanah greeting and was casting about for a new spin, something that would make this year’s greeting stand out, when I realized that it’s not the greeting that should stand out, but the year.
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Simchat Torah: On Foot
The Odd Celebration
Simchat Torah is a festive holiday. We carry the Torah scroll around the Bimah (Torah reading table) and dance the night away. The reason for this great joy is the completion of our annual cycle of Torah reading.[1] Every Shabbat we chant a portion from the Torah and …
Sukkot: Can We Top Yom Kippur
The Nature of Return
It happened once on the day after Yom Kippur that Rabbi Yosef Yitzchack Shneerson, the sixth Rebbe of Chabad asked his father, Rabbi Sholom Ber, “what now?” How do we top the pinnacle of holiness that we experienced on Yom Kippur? His father replied, “Now the work …
Rosh Hashanah: L’chaim – To Life
Annual Allotments
On Rosh Hashanah, the anniversary of the world’s creation or more specifically the creation of humanity, the creator sits in judgment of the world He created. Every year He judges anew, are we worthy of another year? Does His little project, the one we call the universe, deserve a …
The Nine Days: Suffering Leads to Growth
Why Nine?
Life isn’t a coincidence. Everything has meaning, it’s all “Bashert” [providential]. In 350 BCE and again in 69 CE, during the days leading up to the destruction of the Temple, our ancestors suffered greatly. The Babylonian forces and later the Roman Legions ransacked Jerusalem and brutalized the inhabitants. Every …
Shavuot: How To Celebrate An Anniversary?
Ani-Very-Sorry
Shavuot is the anniversary of the day we received the Torah. Almost every year before my anniversary my friends ask, so what are you going to do for your anniversary? I submit that a much better question would be what is your anniversary going to do for you? And if …
Why Doesn’t G-d Make Miracles Anymore?
A Holiday for Every Miracle
Almost every miracle in Jewish history has a holiday. It is an ingenious way of keeping history alive. Jewish children don’t need a history lesson to tell you when G-d gave the Ten Commandments or when our ancestors left Egypt. They don’t need to learn it, …
