Judaism

Confession

Parsha Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser

Did Mar Ukva crave the cheese so much that he couldn’t wait until the next day? On the other hand, there is no obligation to wait 24 hours before eating dairy. Why did Mar Ukva compare himself to vinegar, i.e. wine that has spoiled and has lost its value?

A Sedra That Skips & Mitzvah #613

In Print Phil Chernofsky

Hak-hel was (and will be again) a major event meant to unify the people and the Shevatim (tribes) to which they belonged. It also honors the Torah before all of Israel.

Q & A: Elul & Tishrei – The Gateway To Repentance (Part II)

In Print Rabbi Yaakov Klass

Question: What is the proper means of teshuvah, the repentance that one should engage in during Elul as we approach the Yomim Nora’im (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur)? Zvi Unger Via E-mail

Yom Kippur: Flying Amongst Angels

In Print Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

If the soul and body are complete opposites, how do they manage to coexist as one? One would expect them to repel each other, like two opposite sides of a magnet.

Succession Plan

Parsha Raphael Grunfeld

What Moshe was saying was that once G-d has forbidden him to do something, then even if he was physically able to do the forbidden thing, he was spiritually unable to bring himself to do so.

Draining Evil

In Print Rabbi Dani Staum

Our main argument for forgiveness is that our sinful behaviors do not define us; they are an aberration, an external infection as it were.

If one is a very poor faster, how should they think about their avodah/connection...

In Print Jewish Press Staff

Whatever the case, we know that the most important thing is doing the right thing, accepting and fulfilling G-d’s commands and commandments, working on ourselves by adopting the guidance of Torah and halacha. And this is what we should think if we have to stay home on Yom Kippur, as all of us must do at some point.

Parshas Vayelech

In Print Rabbi Yaakov Klass

Rosh Hashana: The Art of Standing

In Print Jonah S.C. Muskat-Brown

Rosh Hashana is very much a gray zone because it’s the day on which we stand between what was and what can be. It’s the day on which we judge, and are judged, for how great our future can look tomorrow.

Rav Kook’s Shofarot of Redemption

In Print Rabbi Shimshon HaKohen Nadel

For Rav Kook, the call of this ideal shofar represents redemption through holiness; An awakening to return to our ancestral homeland out of great love and faith, and a desire to bring about the Redemption, fulfilling our destiny in the Land of Israel.

The Shofar Dilemma

In Print Rabbi Meir Orlian

One may wear another person’s tallis for davening, even though it is not a requirement, because you thereby fulfill a mitzvah.

Daf Yomi

In Print Rabbi Yaakov Klass

Olas Shabbos B’Shabbato ‘An Offering of Appeasement’ (Zevachim 7b)

Michlalah Chesed Journals

In Print Rabbi Hanoch Teller

At 18, many girls might be expected to spend their time scrolling through their phones or shopping in malls. The chesed program provides these teenagers with a purpose beyond themselves, transforming them into compassionate, mature young women who value the art of giving.

Standing Before the Breath: Nitzavim, Rosh Hashana, and the Refusal We Choose

Parsha Raemia A. Luchins

The shofar doesn’t sound to restore order; it sounds to rupture it. It doesn’t call us to purity; it calls us to have strategic clarity. It doesn’t ask us to return to innocence; it asks us to return to alignment. To choose life in systems that often don’t.

From Teshuvah to Shofar: Making Rosh Hashana Count

In Print Phil Chernofsky

Nitzavim has only 40 pesukim – the second shortest sedra, pasuk-wise. Only its sometimes partner Vayeilech has fewer (30).

Q & A: Elul & Tishrei: The Gateway to Repentance (Part I)

In Print Rabbi Yaakov Klass

Question: What is the proper means of teshuvah, the repentance one should engage in during Elul as we approach the Yomim Nora’im (Days of Awe)? Zvi Unger Via E-mail

Understanding Musaf on Rosh Hashana

In Print Eliezer Meir Saidel

In order to enable free will, HaKadosh Baruch Hu hides Himself in His Creation. When I say hide, I mean behind a concept, for example The Laws of Nature. By hiding behind this "concept," HaKadosh Baruch Hu enables a person to see Him, or not.

Mercy In All Possible Universes

Parsha Avraham Levitt

Hashem is Hashem in the supernal realms in which He plans Creation as an ideal to be embodied, and He is Hashem in the physical world that He created and which we have inhabited since the first Rosh Hashana.

Collective Responsibility

Parsha Raphael Grunfeld

The only way to appease one’s conscience when giving in to one’s most extreme desires is to violate all the prohibitions of the Torah, even those that do not give one any pleasure.

Leontine Names

In Print Rabbi Reuven Chaim Klein

The earliest instances of Lavi as a first name that I know about are all found in the halachic responsa of the Algerian Sage Rabbi Yitzchak bar Sheshet (1326–1408), also known as the Rivash.

The Hidden Shofar

Parsha Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser

Before the recitation of the berachos preceding the blowing of the shofar, the shofar is placed on the bimah and covered with a tallis. If the ba’al tokei’a has more than one shofar, and/or other congregants have brought their own shofaros, they too are covered with the tallis on the bimah.

The Most Powerful Weapon for Elul

Parsha Rabbi Moshe Meir Weiss

The protection of our charity extends to our children and grandchildren.

The Rambam’s Personal Anguish and Resilience

In Print Rabbi Simcha Feuerman

Goodman points out the Rambam is clearly hinting at his own suffering from his life – sea-voyage, or service of kings, indeed perhaps even a self-rebuke in the line they complain of the decrees and judgments of G-d. We are left speechless regarding the Rambam’s emotional courage, self-honesty, and humility.

Rosh Hashana: The Three Stages of Teshuvah

In Print Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

We have brief moments of inspiration, but they soon fade into oblivion, only to be resuscitated for a few more days the next year in the hopes that somehow this year might be different.

Judge Me Not

In Print Rabbi Dani Staum

We take it so for granted that we judge, that it doesn’t even occur to us that it’s not our place to always decide matters relating to other people’s lives.

Is It Proper to Attend a Rosh Hashana Davening in a Different Nusach From...

In Print Jewish Press Staff

There is certainly a value in preserving one’s family nusach, minhagim, and even niggunim. Those, too, are compelling aspects of the mesorah. Fidelity to the past is not only comforting, but familiarity with the davening also enhances the spiritual experience.