What do I need to bring to a wedding? Who escorts the bride and groom down the isle?
Finally, a short step by step birds eye view of the Jewish wedding.
When the Beis Hamikdash is rebuilt,
bimheirah beyameinu, the laws of tumah will affect us all, since we will be required
to be tahor in order to enter the Beis Hamikdash, to eat korbanos and maaser sheini,
and in order to separate challah and terumah.
In this week’s parsha, Hashem continues to afflict Pharaoh and the Egyptians with some of His plagues, and soon he will extricate us from Egypt on the wings of nesharim (singular nesher), a word usually translated as “eagles.” Clearly, this is meant to symbolize how Hashem will lift the Jewish people above all the difficulties of a mass exodus. Although the exact identity of the nesher is not significant to the extent of this great miracle, the curious among us would appreciate knowing exactly which bird Hashem is using for His metaphor?
The three weeks that begin on the night of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and continue until the Ninth of Av are days of national woefulness. The sages therefore advise being especially careful during this period, for it is a time designated for calamity.
The laws relating to Jewish converts are most astounding. Despite the criticism directed at the Jewish people on the grounds that Judaism is racist, the Torah teaches us that any non-Jew who earnestly seeks to join the Jewish people may do so.
According to most authorities, women are no less obligated to pray than men. Therefore, they must pray “Amida” in the morning and the afternoon (“Shacharit” and “Mincha”). The evening Amida prayer (“Maariv”), on the other hand, is voluntary.