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October 20, 2009 – 8:50 pm | Comments Off on Noach: Mr. Perfect2,672 views

Noah or Abraham
We have a friend, who is committed to perceiving everything in life as absolutely perfect. He is a virtual Mr. perfect. He once shared with us that he wakes up every morning and exclaims “perfect, perfect, perfect.” I thought this a wonderful, if bizarre, way to start the …

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Articles in Simchat Torah

The First Simchat Torah After the Massacre

October 20, 2024 – 6:49 pm | Comments Off on The First Simchat Torah After the Massacre103 views
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Simchat Torah: The Anniversary of the Simchat Torah Massacre
October seventh, 2024, was not the first time Jews suffered a Simchat Torah Massacre. The first Simchat Torah massacre occurred in Fourteenth Century Cracow, and left a lasting impression.
According to multiple accounts, this pogrom occurred during the Simchat Torah festivities. King …

When The Torah Rejoices

October 5, 2023 – 2:28 pm | Comments Off on When The Torah Rejoices689 views
Torah-rejoices

Simchat Torah is usually understood as us rejoicing with the Torah. As we read the last passage of the Torah and immediately turn around to read the first passage, we rejoice over studying the Torah.
However, Simchat Torah has a deeper meaning. It is not only we who rejoice over the …

Simchat Torah: Why We Rejoice

October 7, 2020 – 2:41 pm | Comments Off on Simchat Torah: Why We Rejoice1,427 views
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On Simchat Torah, we rejoice and dance endless horas around the bimah. Why do we rejoice and why do we dance the hora in particular?
The obvious answer is that we rejoice because we read the concluding chapter of the Torah on this day. Concluding a book of the Torah is …

Simchat Torah: No Break

October 20, 2019 – 12:31 pm | Comments Off on Simchat Torah: No Break2,369 views
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On Simchat Torah we read the last passage of the Torah, but we don’t stop for even a moment when we finish reading the Torah. Instead, we turn around and start over immediately from the first verse. There are many celebrations on Simchat Torah, but they come before we read …

Simchat Torah: Pure Joy

October 2, 2018 – 10:04 pm | Comments Off on Simchat Torah: Pure Joy1,952 views
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For ten days we prayed, self examined, and repented. This introspection reached its zenith on Yom Kippur, when we set ourselves and our comforts aside and focused solely on G-d. We didn’t eat or drink, we rejected creature comforts, and spent the day wrapped up in supplication.
At this point G-d …

Re’e: The Missing Festival

August 4, 2018 – 11:47 pm | Comments Off on Re’e: The Missing Festival2,413 views
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The festival of Sukkot falls on the fifteenth of Tishrei, two weeks into the new Jewish year. Accordingly, the Torah tells us, in Exodus 34:22, to celebrate Sukkot at the turn of the year. However, there is a discrepancy. Eleven chapters earlier, Exodus 23:16 told us to celebrate Sukkot at …

Sukkot: The Prevailing Custom

October 23, 2016 – 12:50 am | Comments Off on Sukkot: The Prevailing Custom3,183 views
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A Custom Product
My earliest memories of the last day of Sukkot is of the market place set up in front of the large Synagogue of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Brooklyn, New York. All night long, the sidewalk at 770 Eastern Parkway was a teeming marketplace of willow sales.
“Five dollars a …

Simchat Torah: Festival Of Transformation

October 12, 2014 – 12:28 pm | Comments Off on Simchat Torah: Festival Of Transformation2,761 views
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The Million Dollar Question
Everyone wonders about this. Why do we rejoice with the Torah at the end of the High Holiday season if the Torah was given in the late spring, on Shavuot? Should we not dance and rejoice over the Torah on the day it was given?
The obvious answer …