Category Archives: Uncategorized

Regular Tefilla, badly translated as “prayer”, is pre-programmed for us three times every day. Of that small minority of us who actually take advantage of this opportunity, surely less than half can even roughly understand/translate what we’re saying, and even … Continue reading →

Chol HaMoed, the intermediate days of Pesach (and Sukkot) are filled with a unique, semi-Kedusha, holiness. Strangely, it’s a period of time where most men do not engage with their special relationship of teffilin. I wonder how to achieve that … Continue reading →

I had hoped to publish these thoughts before Pesach, but computer problems prevented me from getting any work done at all in the last three weeks. Der mentsh trakht un got lakht; Man plans and God laughs. But even this … Continue reading →

There hasn’t been a lot to feel good about this just-past Chanukah as Corona infections, hospitalizations and deaths are, world-wide, once again peaking. Despite the imminent roll-out of both the Pfizer and now the Moderna vaccines, it was difficult, to … Continue reading →

Approaching candle-lighting time here in Jerusalem, it’s almost Shabbat and Shimini Atzeret/Simchat Torah (we celebrate both on one day here). First thing this morning, I awoke to learn than a former rabbinic student of mine had suddenly died. It was … Continue reading →

Here in Jerusalem, for example, we’re in the midst of an almost total civilian lockdown. Not only has the traditional Arba Minim Shuk, the various open markets where we can purchase our etrogim and  lulavim been prevented from opening, and … Continue reading →

Much of my Torah study focus these past years has been Zohar. One of its major themes describes (in great detail and from almost unlimited perspectives) how The Creator, through an incredibly complex process, reduced and reconfigured the Infinite Light, … Continue reading →

No one alive has ever had a year quite like this past one. To be sure, there remain a diminishing number, among our people, who survived the unimaginable horrors of the Shoah, and elsewhere in the world those who survived … Continue reading →

The Talmud, Sanhedrin 4:5 teaches of one who saves a life that he is as if he saved an entire world, Olam Maleh, עולם מלא. Although halachically, this leaves many questions open, it does make the point that each of … Continue reading →

Unique among Jewish Special Days, Tisha B’av lacks any aspect of celebration. Nonetheless, it is a day which many of us, especially those of us living today in Israel, feel a strong compulsion to at least acknowledge. Furthermore, in our … Continue reading →