…about the universe, the human condition, and the laws, both natural and moral, under which we live. Each is about creation (Shabbat, a reminder of it, Rosh Hashanah the anniversary of it), Divine sovereignty, justice, and judgment, together with the human condition of life, death, mortality. So on Yom Kippur we face justice and judgment. On Succot/Shemini Atzeret we pray…
…in a similar way that Shemini Atzeret is connected to Succot). We also refer to Shavuot in our prayers as Zeman Matan Torah (the Time of the Giving of the Torah). While there are no rituals associated with Shavuot in the Torah, there are several beautiful and meaningful customs that have developed to help us celebrate Shavuot. These include Tikkun…
…to beginning their lives as newlyweds. But when their wedding was just ten days away, the attacks of Shemini Atzeret happened, and their entire world changed. Within hours, Yonatan and his brother Daniel were called to duty. Yonatan was shot in the leg, the bullet narrowly missing important arteries and bones. It was a severe injury but he will, please…
…essence of becoming a holy people lies in our nuanced approach to life’s challenges. We don’t adhere to rigid, black-and-white rules; instead, we navigate our decisions with a blend of ethics (kings), emotion (prophets), and discernment (priests). Okay, so some of the mitzvot we follow in the Torah are very clear. For example, in parshat Shemini, we learned the halachot…
Transcript I don’t know about you, but when I sit in a succah I think to myself: that’s how our ancestors lived. Not just in the desert in the days of Moses, but for most of twenty centuries of exile, not knowing from one year to the next whether they’d still be there, or be forced to move on, as…
The great moment has come. For seven days – beginning on the 23rd Adar – Moses had consecrated Aaron and the priests. Now, on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, the time has arrived for Aaron to begin his service, ministering to the people on behalf of God: It came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called to Aaron and his…
Have you ever felt inadequate to a task you have been assigned or a job you have been given? Do you sometimes feel that other people have too high an estimate of your abilities? Has there been a moment when you felt like a faker, a fraud, and that at some time you would be found out and discovered to…
…on and they weren’t able to celebrate Succot. So on the 25th of Kislev, they celebrated the rededication of the Temple by keeping an eight-day festival the way Succot is an eight day festival with seven days of Succot, plus Shemini Atzeret. (Nobody had ever heard of Simchat Torah by then, Simchat Torah is a very late edition to the…
…became the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:1-14). Why circumcision? Why was this from the outset not just a mitzvah, one command among others, but the very sign of our covenant with God and His with us? And why on the eighth day? Last week’s parsha was called Shemini, “the eighth [day]” (Lev. 9:1) because it dealt with…
…have a look, in parshat Emor, there you will see it’s the only parsha in which every Yom Tov is called Shabbaton. Succot, the first day of Succot is called Shabbaton. Rosh Hashanah is called Shabbaton, Shemini Atzeret is called Shabbaton, and two days, Shabbat, and Yom Kippur, are called Shabbat Shabbaton. So in Emor, when you see a word…