President Herzog visits Rabbi Wein

A special Chag get-together of Rabbi Berel Wein and President Mr. Isaac Herzog speaking about his grandfather Rav Herzog ZT"L and giving a blessing in honor of Pesach.

Succot's Relief

The culmination of the great month of Tishrei occurs with the commemoration of the holiday of Succot. It provides a joyful relief and release from the intensity of the first two major holidays of the month, Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur.

Holiday Memories

I am taking the liberty of sharing some of my holiday memories with you. Nostalgia can be very alluring, but there is also always a modicum of hard-headed realism that memories of the past always evoke.

Elul

There was a time, not so far distant in the past, that it was said in Eastern Europe, that even the fish in the rivers trembled when they heard the announcement that the month of Elul had arrived. That certainly is not the case today.

Comfort and Consolation

The Jewish people has searched for some sort of physical and psychological response to the destruction of the Temple. The pain of centuries of humiliation, discrimination and violence cannot easily be replaced or erased even by the miraculous resurrection of the Jewish people and the state of Israel in our time.

An Open-ended Celebration

Of all the holidays of the Jewish calendar year, Shavuot is the shortest – celebrated only for one day. Many times, this holiday somehow leaves people feeling unfulfilled by what they had hoped to be a spiritual and joyful experience.

Lag Ba'Omer

All traditions do agree though, that on the 33rd day of the count of the Omer these disciples of Rabbi Akiva did stop dying. It is interesting that we have a semi-holiday, nbecause somehow the evil decree allowed by heaven to end so many lives, such as it was, would not continue.

Counting the Omer

We are now in the middle of the counting of the Omer, I have always been somewhat perplexed by the general explanation, that this count is meant to represent the longing of the Jewish people and their preparation for the acceptance of the Torah on Mount Sinai after their freedom from the bondage of Egypt.

Counting

Each of the 49 intervening days as well as the seven weeks that pass between the holidays is to be counted. It is clear, though, that the Torah is insistent on this count during the interim between these two major holidays of the Jewish calendar.

The Important Lesson of Pesach

Our entire fulfillment of the commandment of eating matzoh on Pesach is to reinforce our innate sense of belief and faith in the future and in our ability to realize our individual and national potential. Belief eventually leads to action and action leads to redemption.

Spring

I think that we can all agree that it is been a rather difficult winter that we have experienced over the past few months. Here, in Israel, it was a winter of political disarray, Corona issues and enforced lockdowns, and the usual, somewhat depressing, factors of winter – short days and long and often lonely nights. So, the advent of spring is certainly a harbinger of better times and brighter days to come.

The Tenth of Tevet

One day commemorates a variety of Jewish tragedies.

One day commemorates a variety of Jewish tragedies.

Shabbat Shoes

Havdalah

Chanuka

Succot

V'zot Habracha

Yom Kippur

Rosh Hashana

The meaning of Shavuot