Jewish Holidays

We thank Hashem that we personally have found solace and refuge in our true home and hope that the entire nation in exile will move from the exile to Eretz Yisrael.

We are supposed to learn Torah in such a manner that it is a continuation of that sacred encounter. Apparently, if too much explicit stress would be put on the one event, we might not see our involvement in the study as a continuation of the process that only began on Har Sinai.

Why do we continue to praise and commemorate the activities of Rabbi Akiva and Bar Kokhba generation after generation? Was not their war on the Romans a reckless step, a lost cause that brought nothing but tragedy and hardship upon the Jewish people?

: When David ben Gurion announced the establishment of the state, was he acting realistically? We were but a nation of tattered refugees gathered together from the four corners of the earth, surrounded by millions of Arabs with imposing armies.

Today, we have the good fortune of observing two important landmarks in the midst of the Omer counting, landmarks which reflect national progress on the one hand, and spiritual deficiency on the other - Israel's Independence Day and Jerusalem Day.

The end of the seder is a transitional period. We leave the intense study of y’tzi’at Mitzrayim behind and move on to the time where it will again just be mentioned. Perhaps the taste that lingers is a message. Take some of the intensity and the depth of the seder experience and have it linger on as long as it can.