Category: Chagim

(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.”...

If Seeing is Believing, What is Knowing?  He was a battalion commander with the rank of Major in an elite Golani (infantry) unit; in most armies, that would have meant he was commanding battles from a rear position; but in the IDF, commanders lead the way. That summer day in July of 2006 Major Roi Klein was the ranking officer in the field, in the Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil.  While leading his troops in heavy fighting he saw a Hezbollah terrorist lobbing a grenade towards his men. Urban warfare is often fought in extremely close contact, which usually means there is a very limited response time; life and death decisions are almost instantaneous. With no time to think, Klein instinctively threw himself on the grenade, absorbing the blast with his own body and saving the lives of at least five of his men. His soldiers would later share that the last words they heard him cry were not about the grenade, nor...

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...

In 2005, Steve Jobs delivered the Commencement Address at Stanford University. In it, he described how he had started Apple in a garage at age 20; and after ten years of hard work, built it into a 2 BILLION dollar company with 4,000 employees.  And then he got fired; and lost it all.  He had hired a guy the second year whom he thought would help him build the company, but after a year they started to see things differently and eventually they had a falling out, and the board sided with him and fired Jobs. At the time he was devastated and did not know what to do.  But he still loved what he did, so he decided to start over again; he did not realize it then, but as it turned out, it would be the best thing that ever happened to him. The heaviness of being successful had been replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, of starting...

Getting the Forgiveness You Want Yom Kippur Secrets About Yom Kippur—the Day of Atonement, the Torah tells us “the very day atones.” In fact, there are certain categories of misdeeds that are only atoned for on Yom Kippur. Let’s say you committed one of those offenses, but you regretted what you did.  You decided, “I don’t want to do this again. I am sorry that I did it.  And I promise that I will never do it again.” Even though this constitutes true regret, atonement and reparation happens only on Yom Kippur. There’s something metaphysical about the day of Yom Kippur that purifies and rectifies the past. There are certain transgressions that cannot be completely fixed or atoned for until you step into the day of Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is a mikvah in time. When you immerse in a mikvah—a purifying ritual bath—there can be absolutely nothing between your skin and the water, according to Jewish law. Before immersing in the mikvah, you...