The true praise is when all of us are unified. This is describing what all are already doing in response to a miracle. We are supposed to be doing more. Part of Hallel is the recognition that He is above all forms of Hallel. This is signified...
The Talmud teaches that there is actually a better Hallel than our Hallel! The title of this other Psalm of Hallel is Hallel Hagadol – The Great Hallel. Why is it considered the Great Hallel? Rabbi Yochanan explains that because the Psalm develops from one...
Hallel as Sanctification Rabbi Daniel HaBavli derives the Biblical obligation to sing Hallel from a different verse: “You shall not profane My holy Name, and I shall be sanctified amongst the Jewish people. I am God Who sanctifies you.” (Vayikra 22:32) The prohibition against profaning God’s...
“In Your behalf, my heart has said, ‘Seek My Presence’, Your Presence, God, do I seek.” (Verse 8) “My soul thirsts for the Lord, for the Living Power, when shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalm 42:3) For what do you thirst? I do not...
The Chafetz Chaim had an interesting approach to the Talmudic statement that “Whoever forgets the Torah he has studied has forfeit part of his eternal life.” (Chapters of Our Fathers 3:8) It is commonly understood to refer to someone who does not constantly review what...
The Vilna Gaon (Commentary to Proverbs 10:7) teaches that “Zecher” refers to positive accomplishments. The very nature of Zichronot is to see the ever-expanding effects of the good we and our ancestors have contributed to God’s creation....
Why does the Shehechiyanu – the blessing we recite over a new fruit – of Rosh Hashana seem more important than any other? While I’m at it, I also wonder why we seem stricter about men going to the Mikvah
“It is as difficult for God to provide for all our immediate needs as it was for Him to split the Sea.” (Pesachim 118a) Just as the Splitting of the Sea was a miracle of the totally unexpected, so too, our needs are provided from a...
Confessions: Introduction Ashamnu Bagadnu Author Info: Learn & discover the Divine prophecies with Rabbi Simcha Weinberg from the holy Torah, Jewish Law, Mysticism, Kabbalah and Jewish Prophecies. The Foundation Stone is the ultimate resource for Jews, Judaism, Jewish Education, Jewish Spirituality & the holy Torah....
I was depressed. I had just received a verbal beating from a Canadian goose (From The Mouths of Birds). He may have been right, but I couldn’t allow the conversation to end as it had. I walked right into the flock of geese feeding on the...
I stepped over a worm on my morning walk and heard a strange voice say, “I bet you think you’re a Tzaddik!” I looked all around me and didn’t see anyone. “Down here!” I looked down and there was one of the hundreds of Canadian Geese...
“We will do and we will hear,” was not a one time statement, shouted out in a moment of passion. It is a description of how we will observe every Mitzvah/Concept that we perform. We do the Mitzvah and we listen for the message and...
1. There is a difference between ‘sacrificing” what I want in order to please someone else and loving someone so much that I desire whatever he or she wants. The former is the usual ingredient of compromise in a relationship: Compromise implying that each party...
Although the first tablets were also given in an ambience of Divine Grace (cf. Rashi Devarim 9:18 who describes this period as days of goodwill), Hashem’s goodwill at that time came not so much in response to Israel’s petition to draw close to him but...
Even when one is involved in matters of this world, if his sole desire is to cling to Hashem this yearning [not only leaves a profound impact on the individual] but also elevates the entire material world. The term ratzon, ordinarily translated as grace or will,...