Category: Chagim

I still don’t know how he made it into Infantry Officer’s course, but I do know how difficult it was for him. Overweight, and far from being an athlete, the physical challenges he would clearly have to overcome seemed insurmountable. How would he run up a 3 km mountain with a gasmask in the time allotted (Bocha nafchah)? How would he pass the Bar-Or 2km run test? How would he manage the morning runs for what seemed endless miles? And most of all, how would he get through Wingate and the Ason teva or ‘freak of nature’ run and obstacle course?  Two thirds of the way through the course we started training for the Ason teva course and I stopped wondering about him and started worrying how on earth I would make it through myself. Every time we practiced it, after coming up soaked out of the river I could not seem to get up the 6-meter rope fast enough; between...

Wonder Bread Tapping the Transformational Power of Faith During the seven days of Passover we are required to eat only Matza-- unleavened bread that looks somewhat like a cracker and is made of just water and flour. The Matza reminds us that we were slaves to the Egyptians who treated us as if we were subhuman and fed us brittle and tasteless unleavened bread. The Matza is therefore referred to as the “bread of affliction.” However, Matza also reminds us of how we left Egypt in an astounding record time, faster than it takes dough to leaven into bread. How can Matza be both a sign of our painful affliction and our joyous freedom? The Zohar, the Kabbalah classic, refers to Matza as the “Bread of Faith.” In other words, when we eat the Matza, we are internalizing the message of faith that it embodies. That message is -- know that even if you hit rock bottom and feel far and alienated from G-d, G-d is right there to help you and free you from...

(Why) Does G-d test us?  Yom Kippur; the Jewish day of Atonement; we must have needed a lot of atonement that year, because over those dark days of October in 1973, over two thousand of our boys would be the sacrifices the Jewish people offered to atone for … what, exactly?  The position on Mount Bental had a commanding view of the entire Northern Golan Heights, and the Syrian forces that overran the Israeli positions on the Yom Kippur afternoon were well aware that capturing this position was critical to a successful advance in the Golan Heights.  After an overwhelming and unabated Syrian artillery barrage that forced the small contingent of Israeli soldiers manning the position to take cover deep in the underground bunker, the men in the bunker suddenly heard shouts and dialogue in Arabic above their bunker, and realized their position had been captured.  Seven men, including one who was seriously wounded from the artillery barrage managed to barricade themselves inside...

Purim: Secrets Behind the Purim Mask Purim celebrates the salvation of the Jews from the wicked Haman's scheme to exterminate all the Jewish men, women, and children living in the Persian empire in the year 357 B.C.E., which essentially meant all the Jews in the world. Some of the commandments of Purim, such as hearing Megillat Esther, which recounts the Purim story, and enjoying a festive meal, are obvious ways to commemorate this deliverance. Other commandments and customs have no apparent connection to what happened on Purim. Why are we required to give charity to the poor, send two food items to a friend, and get so drunk that we do not know the difference between Haman, the villain, and Mordechai, the righteous hero of the story? (This last commandment, I understand, is very rigorously kept in college dorms all year round.) What is behind the customs to dress up in costume and to eat hamentaschen, delicious, sweet tarts named literally, "Haman's...

A few weeks ago I joined about 35 students from Yeshivat Orayta for a week in Poland. We had a remarkable guide named Rav Yitzchak Rubenstein who shared the following story with us: The Nazis understood the power of hope. They always left the glimmer of a possibility that it might get better, perhaps because it often kept the Jews from risking it all in rebellion. (In the army they teach you in Officer’s course to always leave the enemy an avenue of retreat; you don’t want him to feel he has to make a last stand….) In the ghetto, this meant that work was life. If you had a job (and the papers to prove it) that was deemed vital to the Nazi war effort, you were exempt from the transports to the East; no one really believed it was desirable to be on board one of those transports…. Before the war there were 250,000 Jews in Lodz, which was 40% of...

Sukkot and Simchat Torah Celebrating Wholeness, Spontaneity and Anticipation Off to a Right Start The holiday of Sukkot reminds us of the huts of the Israelites as they wandered for forty years in the desert after their miraculous Exodus from Egypt . It would stand to reason, then, that Sukkot should be celebrated right after the holiday of Passover. However, the Talmudic sages explain that since Passover is in the spring, living in the sukkah would not be anything special. It is common to be outside during the warm months of the year. After Yom Kippur, however, when it starts to get cold, people generally take shelter inside. We go outside, only because G-d commands us to do so. Leaving our homes precisely when we are not naturally inclined to do so, internalizes one of the important lessons of Sukkot-G-d is our only true shelter, and we must trust in Him. We often transgress the will of G-d, because we mistakenly think we...

Passover - In the Name of Love Passover commemorates the miraculous exodus of the Jews from Egypt. After 210 years of oppression and cruel servitude, an entire people leave in astounding record time, faster than it takes dough to leaven into bread. We celebrate this event with a festive meal and ceremony called the Seder, during which we recite the Haggadah—the telling of this wondrous historical episode. The Exodus from Egypt, however, is not just another milestone in the history of the Jewish people. In fact, every holiday is actually a memorial to the Exodus. Even Shabbat is referred to as a “Zechar L’Yitziat Mitzraim,”a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt, although it has no apparent connection to the Exodus. In addition, every Jew is obligated to see himself as if he personally had left Egypt and to recount it every day. The first of the Ten Commandments is: “I am YHVH your G-d Who took you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”...