Category Archives: Holidays

Newsletter: Chanuka Thoughts

Chanuka Thoughts @@@@@@ Is Chanukah Significant? No miracle we experienced is as significant as the Chanukah miracle. Sukkos, Pessach, Purim and Shavuos do not compa Like Tweet Pin +1 @@@@@@ Is Chanukah Significant? No miracle we experienced is as significant … Continue reading

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The Tisha B’av Holiday

The Navi Zacharia was asked by the good Jews of his time if they should continue to fast on Tish’a B’av, as they had been since the destruction of the first Beis HaMikdash, for the second Beis HaMikdash was just … Continue reading

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Why Tisha B’av

Tish’a B’av is a hard day to relate too, for us the Churban is an abstract issue. The Medrash relates that Rebbe explained the pasuk “Bila Hashem v’lo chamal” 25 ways. Rav Yochanan explained sixty. The Medrash asks was Rav … Continue reading

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Actualizing Tisha B’av

I’m also inured to the Churban. Imagine a child who had been hit by a car and lost both legs. Tragic! Soon enough, however, say in about half a year, his classmates come by to visit and ask how he … Continue reading

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Love Vs Obligation

The Torah says that the Jews gathered under the mountain. Chazal interpret this literally; Hashem raised the mountain and held it over them and threatened; “If you accept the Torah, fine. If not, you die here”. However the Jews had … Continue reading

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What Torah Means To ME

We are grateful for the Torah. First thing on the list is that I wouldn’t have a job without it. That may sound like a joke, but it’s the plain truth. Why not be grateful for the Torah in a … Continue reading

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Why Do Mitzvos; Naaseh V’nishma

Many people perform mitzvos just because Hashem said so. Yet they celebrate Shavuos as “Zman Matan Torasenu”. The Torah never identifies Shavuos as the commemoration of the giving of the Torah. Why don’t they celebrate the YomTov just because the … Continue reading

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Shavuos And Matan Torah: Same Day?

Magen Avraham: We say in our t’fillah that Shavuos is “z’man matan torasenu”, the time of the giving of our Torah. Yet we calculate: The Jews took for themselves the Korbon Pessach four days before they actually sacrificed it. That … Continue reading

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On Goals and Means

There are goal and there are means. Never should the twain be confused. Perhaps someone opens a yeshiva or help organization. At some point he may find that his yeshiva is not needed, or his organization superfluous. Or maybe the … Continue reading

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How Chanuka affects us today

We spoke about what Chanukah means to us today, and how would our lives have been different without Chanukah. Without Purim we would have been long gone, killed by Haman and his chevra. But Chanukah seems different. The epoch of … Continue reading

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Why is Canuka different?

Rabbi Zevulun Shub shlit”a (Ramot, Jerusalem) spoke in shul and said quoted the Rambam who explains why we are to sin rather than die (if ti comes down to that!) for most sins, is because Torah is not a punishment … Continue reading

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Is it legal to create a new festival?

There are two facets to Chanukah; the gratitude we feel to Hashem for having saved us from the Yevanim, and the recognition of the miracle that occurred with the pach shemen, where one small flask of oil burned for eight … Continue reading

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The challenge of Chanukah

Normal people are conformists, even to the extent of going along with evil and co-operating with it. The Maccabbeim were an exception; they stood up and confronted evil, and refused to bow or accommodate it. Had we lived in the … Continue reading

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Afraid yet secure

How could it be that Mordechai would cry out so greatly and bitterly in the town square, and then yet say to Esther “If you will be silent, refusing to intercede by  Achashverosh for us, then we won’t be the … Continue reading

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An appreciation of suffering

R’ Eliezer was ill. The sages came to visit. Seeing him in his condition one of them exclaimed “You are more important to us than the sun, which helps us only in this world, whereas you help us in the … Continue reading

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The uniqueness in Chanukah

What is special about Chanukah? The Ri of Lionel, one of the Rishonim, said that Chanukah is the only Yomtov commemorating a miracle which occurred to enable our doing Mitzvos. (Even Paroh didn’t decree against the Mitzvos) The Greeks didn’t … Continue reading

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Why we eat before Yom Kippur

We spoke some more of Yom Kippur. There is a mitzvah to eat Erev Yom Kippur. Eating Erev Yom Kippur is even considered as having fasted double! What is the reason for this Mitzvah? One reason is that we should … Continue reading

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The happiest day of the year

The Mishna calls Yom Kippur the greatest of all Yomtovim, the happiest day of the year. The reasons given are that 1. It’s the time of atonement from sin, and 2. This is the day that the second Luchos, tablets, … Continue reading

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What to ask for on Rosh Hashanah

On the day of Hashem’s coronation here on earth, Rosh Hashanah, the day when He started acting as King, Hashem expresses the keenest interest in the world, and in making it a perfect place. That is why Din = judgment … Continue reading

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Why judgement is great

Rosh Hashanah is the Yom HaDin, the Day of Judgment. Hashem’s attribute of judgment, Din, has an ominous tone; strict enforcement of the letter of the law and no mercy. Yet there is another side to it too. The Gemarah … Continue reading

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