by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Mar 16, 2017 | Lifeline
In this week’s reading, we learn about the episode of the Golden Calf. Moshe took a day too long to come back down off the mountain, and many assumed that he must have died, that he was never returning to earth. And so they made a new leader for themselves, and...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Mar 10, 2017 | Lifeline
What is the miracle of Purim? The great majority of Jewish holidays were mandated at Sinai: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, Pesach and Shavuot. Most of the Rabbinic enactments are fast days, times of mourning. So the one other (happy) holiday...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Mar 2, 2017 | Lifeline
Have you heard “Mitzvah” translated as a “good deed?” That’s incorrect, and this week’s reading proves it: not every good deed is a Mitzvah! A Mitzvah is something we are Commanded to do, from “Tzivui,” a command. When...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Feb 16, 2017 | Lifeline
Why are Jews hated? It comes from this week’s reading. “Why is it called Mount Sinai? It is the mountain where hatred [Sinah] descended upon the nations of the world” [Shabbos 99a]. The Medrash says that G-d offered the Torah to various other nations...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Feb 9, 2017 | Lifeline
Even after all of the miracles that happened on behalf of the Jews while they were still in Egypt, what happened at the crossing of the sea was that much greater. In the Passover Haggadah, we compare the plagues which afflicted the Egyptians in Egypt to what happened...
