Teaching It to our Children
Last week, we spoke about the recurring themes of Passover in every generation: freedom from slavery under G-d, those who would hate us, and Divine Protection. There is another aspect to the concept of "In Every Generation," also found in abundance in the Haggadah:...
In Every Generation
The development of the new Torah.org enables us to provide a range of new content, especially introductory material. The Sabbath prior to Pesach is called Shabbos HaGadol, the Great Sabbath, because the Jews were shown that their redemption had begun -- they were...
A Time of New Beginnings
Our Torah reading begins this week with laws regarding purity after giving birth, after a woman brings a new life into the world. We will also celebrate Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of a new Jewish month. The word for month itself, Chodesh, shares the root of Chadash,...
Follow the Leader
Our Sages tell us that a person must “make” a Rav for himself [Chapters of the Fathers 1:6], to find a Rabbi and teacher who can provide advice. This is the Jewish path, a tradition given from teacher to student throughout the generations.
Humble Enough to Err — and Admit It
This week's reading begins the third book of the Torah, VaYikra, or Leviticus. The word VaYikra means "called," as in G-d Calling to Moshe. Looking at the text, we find that the aleph, the letter at the end of VaYikra, is written in small text. Rashi says that there...
All In This Together
This week, Rabbi Mordechai Dixler, our program director, shared with me a collection of Torah thoughts and concepts from Rav Avraham Elimelech Biderman of Bnei Brak, Israel. In a few short paragraphs Rav Biderman tied together our reading (Pikudei, the last portion in...
