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Teshuva in Responsa IX
Rosh Hashana Joy
[caption id="attachment_911" align="alignleft" width="262" caption="Smile!"][/caption]“This day is holy to God your Lord. Don’t mourn, nor weep.” For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send...
Tags: Ezra, Joy, Mishlei, Nechemiah, Rosh Hashana
Royal Messages 100 and One
“One cannot compare someone who has reviewed his studies one hundred times to someone who has reviewed them one hundred and one.” (Chagigah) Rabbi Yechezkail Levenstein zt”l explained that the latter is not someone who simply reviewed his studies one extra time. It describes someone who...
Tags: Elul, Malchuyot, Rosh Hashana, Torah
Rosh Hashanah Prayers: Hashem Melech
"God is King. God was King. God will be King forever." Once I heard Rabbi Zweig's lecture on the Portion of the Week for the first time, I decided that I would make him my Rebbi. The next morning I was waiting outside his home to...
Tags: Elul, Prayer, Rosh Hashana
Meloch Al Kol HaOlam Kulo: Heaven & Earth
This picture of Pena, Portugal reminds me of how I often picture God’s Palace, high above the earth. Yet, our prayers speak, not of the glory of the heavens, but of God’s Presence here on earth: “Reign over the entire universe in Your glory; be exalted...
Tags: Elul, Rosh Hashana
Needing God: Na’aman VI
‘So Naaman returned to the man of G-d’ and it doesn’t even mention Elisha by name, 'man of G-d', because its not Elisha the person, it is whom Elisha and what he represents. Naaman in his entire production; ‘he came and stood before the navi...
Tags: Elul, Haftarah, Individual Providence, Kings, Repentance, Rosh Hashana, Tazriah, Yom Kippur
Elul Abundance
“I am to my beloved and my beloved is to me.” (Song of Songs 6:4)
Royal Messages: A Living Relationship
We find only three names that are composed of the Hebrew word for “king”, Melech. These are Malchiel (Genesis 46:17, Numbers 26:25, and I Chronicles 7:31) meaning “Eil is my King”, given to a grandson of Asher;
Timeless Faith
“He recalled (Zachar) His kindness and His faithfulness to the House of Israel; all ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our Lord.” (Psalm 98:3)
Tikkunim VIII – Solutions
It may be that Elul is a time of Tikkun, but many of us feel overwhelmed by how much we have to repair, and the magnitude of some of the issues we want to address. We begin in a state of weakness. The Talmud speaks...
Tags: Elul, Repentance, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur
Tikkunim IX – Finding The Right Remedy
The Talmud teaches us that one form of Tikkun is to define the right solution to a specific situation. We must begin the Tikkun with confidence that we have found the perfect remedy for this problem: Our Rabbis taught: How did the Israelites inscribe the Torah?...
Tags: Elul, Isaiah, Mishlei, Rosh Hashana, Tehillim, Vaetchanan
Unetane Tokef: The “Favela Effect”
I look at this aerial photograph of some Favelas in Rio de Janeiro and I recognize a certain haunting feeling that pops up every so often when I pray: Imagine living there. Can there ever be a sense of true privacy? Would I be able...
Tags: Elul, Judgement, man & God, Prayer, Rosh Hashana
Two Forms of Teshuva: Part Six
Continued From An Unedited transcript of a Shiur: Reuven’s teshuvah is a re-examination of his being. It’s a change of his essence. The impetuous man has to become a thoughtful man. The one who sinned pachas kamayin,
Two Forms of Teshuva: Part Six
Continued From An Unedited transcript of a Shiur: Reuven’s teshuvah is a re-examination of his being. It’s a change of his essence. The impetuous man has to become a thoughtful man. The one who sinned pachas kamayin,
Teshuva in Responsa VI
In a Responsum (no. 37) on penance, The Rema considers the case of a man who inadvertently pressed the trigger of a gun he was holding, killing his servant.
Teshuva in Responsa VI
In a Responsum (no. 37) on penance, The Rema considers the case of a man who inadvertently pressed the trigger of a gun he was holding, killing his servant.
Machines In The Garage
The garage was calling. We store our succah there and, for some reason, my wife doesn’t rely on my having returned all the parts to their proper place. I have to work my way through the boxes and spider webs and make sure that our...
Tags: Elul, Repentance, Rosh Hashana, Shofar
Mirrors
“Rabbi! I know you’ll think I’m crazy but there is a conspiracy against me! I went to the barber yesterday, and as soon as he began cutting, white hairs fell all over the cloth covering me. I asked why he was dumping some old guy’s hair...
Tags: Elul, Repentance, Rosh Hashana, Shofar
Elul: Compassion for My Inconsistencies
Calliope abandoned me on this morning’s walk, and I am grateful. Her music plays too many of her beautiful ideas in my head to recall when I am back in front of my computer. I am grateful for her peaceful absences as I am for...
Tags: Elul, Judgement, Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur
Seeing It For What It Is
We found it! An actual footprint of a huge monster! Just look! It is a real photograph! It is an aerial picture of Fraser Island Dune, Australia. Did I fool you? I admit to being taken aback for a second or two. We can’t always believe our...
Tags: Elul, Rosh Hashana
Royal Messages: Dreams of Mountains
“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7)
Sound Bites: Divine Influence
“I am sending to take Nebuchadnezar king of Babylonia, My servant, and I am placing his throne above these stones that I have covered, and he will spread his tent – Shafriro – over them.” (Jeremiah 43:10)
Royal Messages: Human & Angelic Song
What is the ultimate song of a human being declaring God as King? The Shema, as it says (Chullin 91b): Israel mentions God’s Name after only two words; “Shema Yisrael, Hashem.” The angels can only mention God’s Name after three
Elul: The Desire To Return
The special quality of these days, to kindle our aspirations to return to Hashem, has its roots in the first Elul Israel experience as a nation, when people were steeped in intense repentance over the sin of the Golden Calf.
Teshuva in Responsa VII
In a Responsum on the Kaddish (no. 203), the Benjamin Ze’ev discusses the following problem. There were two apostates, one murdered by bandits, the other dying in his bed and buried by Christians. The son whose father had
Teshuva in Responsa VII
In a Responsum on the Kaddish (no. 203), the Benjamin Ze’ev discusses the following problem. There were two apostates, one murdered by bandits, the other dying in his bed and buried by Christians. The son whose father had
The Only Shabbat
My friend was looking for a Shidduch for his daughter. He heard of a wonderful young man who was studying in a Yeshiva in Connecticut, and spoke to the young man’s teachers. He wasn’t satisfied with the reports, which were all effusive in praise, so...
Tags: Shabbat, Spiritual Realm, use of the world