Every Jewish festival celebrates a moment in Jewish history except for the one festival about to come upon us, Shemini Atzeret. It does not celebrate an event that happened, nor is it a celebration of judgment and atonement. It is the only holiday with an eye toward the future. It is the festival of Jewish unity.
Every Jewish festival celebrates a moment in Jewish history except for the one festival about to come upon us, Shemini Atzeret. It does not celebrate an event that happened, nor is it a celebration of judgment and atonement. It is the only holiday with an eye toward the future. It is the festival of Jewish unity.
We can look at our fellow and just see their faults, or just see their strengths. The Torah enjoins us to see our fellow as golden.
The radical transition from the Yom Kippur solemnity to the Simchat Torah revelry can be dizzying, but it makes sense.
When you think of the Sukkah, you think of walls and sechach—a foliage roof. Yet, the name Sukkah is all
Wisdom is wasted on fools. If you give wisdom to a fool, declared our sages, he will sully it with
We can look at our fellow and just see their faults, or just see their strengths. The Torah enjoins us to see our fellow as golden.
The radical transition from the Yom Kippur solemnity to the Simchat Torah revelry can be dizzying, but it makes sense.
When you think of the Sukkah, you think of walls and sechach—a foliage roof. Yet, the name Sukkah is all
Wisdom is wasted on fools. If you give wisdom to a fool, declared our sages, he will sully it with
Every Jewish festival celebrates a moment in Jewish history except for the one festival about to come upon us, Shemini Atzeret. It does not celebrate an event that happened, nor is it a celebration of judgment and atonement. It is the only holiday with an eye toward the future. It is the festival of Jewish unity.
If the message of the Sukkah was to eschew the permanence of material life and embrace the holiness of the Mitzvah, it would require four walls. The fact that less than three walls suffice teaches us an important lesson about life. Synthesizing holiness and materialism. Bringing heaven down to earth.
If you are ill, you can be healed, but only if you visit the doctor. We can heal sin through repentance, but only if we stay in contact with G-d.
Why do we not confess on Rosh Hashanah, the day of judgment? Why do we not sound the Shofar on Yom Kippur?
In this essay, we will learn that repentance means regretting an action and seeking forgiveness. Teshuvah means to return. To pivot back to G-d. It is a moment in time that sets up the journey of life.
They hate us. They accuse us of destroying the world in many ways. Are they wrong to say that we have destroyed the world? Yes. Are they right that we can change the world for the better? Yes. G-d gave us that power. We would do well to hear it from our enemies if we refuse to hear it from G-d.
Is it discriminatory to say that we are not just a united nation; we are a nation of one, so interconnected that we are like a single person? Is it Okay to say that Jews are different from everyone else?
Why is shoplifting so terrible? What makes it worse than regular theft? It is not so much the act, but the arguments we make up in our minds to justify it. Left unchecked, our entire society can go down with the shoplifters.
Is money a blessing or a curse? That depends on how we use it and what it does to us. If it makes us better people and we use it as a resource to help others, it is a blessing. If it makes us self-absorbed it is a curse.
Every Jewish festival celebrates a moment in Jewish history except for the one festival about to come upon us, Shemini Atzeret. It does not celebrate an event that happened, nor is it a celebration of judgment and atonement. It is the only holiday with an eye toward the future. It is the festival of Jewish unity.
If the message of the Sukkah was to eschew the permanence of material life and embrace the holiness of the Mitzvah, it would require four walls. The fact that less than three walls suffice teaches us an important lesson about life. Synthesizing holiness and materialism. Bringing heaven down to earth.
If you are ill, you can be healed, but only if you visit the doctor. We can heal sin through repentance, but only if we stay in contact with G-d.
Why do we not confess on Rosh Hashanah, the day of judgment? Why do we not sound the Shofar on Yom Kippur?
In this essay, we will learn that repentance means regretting an action and seeking forgiveness. Teshuvah means to return. To pivot back to G-d. It is a moment in time that sets up the journey of life.
They hate us. They accuse us of destroying the world in many ways. Are they wrong to say that we have destroyed the world? Yes. Are they right that we can change the world for the better? Yes. G-d gave us that power. We would do well to hear it from our enemies if we refuse to hear it from G-d.
Is it discriminatory to say that we are not just a united nation; we are a nation of one, so interconnected that we are like a single person? Is it Okay to say that Jews are different from everyone else?
Why is shoplifting so terrible? What makes it worse than regular theft? It is not so much the act, but the arguments we make up in our minds to justify it. Left unchecked, our entire society can go down with the shoplifters.
Is money a blessing or a curse? That depends on how we use it and what it does to us. If it makes us better people and we use it as a resource to help others, it is a blessing. If it makes us self-absorbed it is a curse.
