On Friday, May 16, Jews around the world will celebrate Lag Ba’omer. Lag Ba’omer is a joyous day. In Israel, thousands flock to Miron, the burial site of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, the second-century Talmudic sage who passed away on this day.
Rabbi Shimon was the first to publicize and record …
Shortly before his passing, Moses translated the Torah into all the extant languages of his time. The Torah could now be read and understood in Egyptian, Hittite, Assyrian, Aramaic, etc. This was considered a good thing. Many years later, the Greek King Ptolemy commissioned seventy-two Jewish sages to translate the …
Edicts and Rewards
Judaism is replete with divine edicts and commands, some of which we understand, many of which we don’t, but all of which we are required to fulfill. Judaism certainly emphasizes providing for G-d what is important to him, but does it also look out for our best interests? …
A Simple MeditationRabbi Levik of Bardichev once interviewed a long list of candidates for the position of Shofar blower. (One who sounds the ram’s horn during the service on Rosh Hashana.) The rabbi passed over many illustrious scholars and profound meditators in favor of a fairly unsophisticated young man.
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No Break
If you have ever seen a Torah Scroll you know that it contains paragraph breaks. Some paragraphs are longer than others, but at the end of the paragraph there is usually a break, especially at the end of a portion. There are very few portions that are not preceded …
These past two days have been the most difficult for our people in the last fifty years. It was Simchat Torah, a time for rejoicing, yet it was a time of horror. Nearly a thousand members of our family were brutally murdered, more than a hundred were taken hostage, and …
