Female LessonParashat HashavuaSeries'LibraryPiskei Din (Hebrew)Test YourselfTechnically, we must hear the Shofar 9 times on Rosh Hashana, for the Torah uses the word "terua" 3 times in reference to RH, & each terua is preceded & followed by a tekia sound. But exactly what sound is intended? Is it a wailing tone, such as women would cry when they lamented? Is it a kind of sigh (or kretsch), as one might repeatedly emit in a state of acute sorrow? Or is it a combination of both sighing and lamenting? So, Rav Avahu ruled we sound all 3 of these shofar tones, & to differentiate between them we call the wailing sound "terua;" the sighing sound "shevarim;" & the combination of the two "shevarim-terua." To resolve all doubt as to the original terua sound, we sound all 3 possibilities, each preceded & followed by the straight tekia.Some suggest that the sound of the terua is a form of ululating, a variable shout traditional to the Middle East & still widely done, both at happy occasions (e.g. a wedding) or sad events (e.g. funerals, lo aleynu).
DO WE DESERVE REDEMPTION? “Blood, Covenant, and Return”- Parshat VaEra
Are we today so much greater than say the Rambam's generation? Why is G-d returning us to Israel & doing so many salvations and victories over Hamas, Hizballah, Syria and Iran in recent years, even if we haven't done Teshuva & seemingly don't deserve it?
The class deals with how to cleave and strengthen the G-dly trait of "Truth", the need to pray for Teshuva, the importance of returning that which was wrongly taken before saying Viduy, and other aspects of Teshuva.
Rav Kook explains why that which is learned on Shabbat is considered so much greater than that studied during the week, and why creativity is that much greater on Shabbat, for better or for worse!
The class deals with not "resting on one's laurels", and that not a few people who lived their entire lives idealistically, "lost it" upon getting older. Similarly the importance of not focusing on luxuries but on the necessities of life.
Seemingly 'Strange' Rabbinical Decrees- Not What You Thought!
Rav Kook suggests a very innovative and important "eye-opening" way to understand some of the rabbinical decrees which are particularly difficult to understand!