First Washing of Hands - Without a Blessing This is a different kind of washing because you wash without a bracha. Tonight I’m not going to focus on the halachic reasons as to why we wash, or why we wash without a bracha....
The Giving of the Torah is an expression of Chesed Elyon. That’s the chesed that was used to create the world. Remember, the purpose of creation was so God could do good to another. To do good to another is chesed. That was the...
Kadesh is a form of Kiddush that we usually say on Yom Tov, and the text is no different from any Kiddush that we would say on any Erev Yom Tov. Therefore, we have to find out what it is that makes this Kiddush...
Our ancestors were idol worshippers The Month of Redemption Notice that in this paragraph, we say that originally, the Jews were idolaters, and now G-d has brought us close to His service. This paragraph can also pertain to Diaspora Jews in exile. By...
I’m sure you all familiar with the famous answer to why we are dipping – so that the children will be curious and ask questions. But let’s examine this carefully. What is it that the children will ask? On all other nights we don’t...
This is the first step in the Seder. We remember that what God wants us to do is to take those things which are innate, not only as a Jew, but also as a human being, and learn how to use them. Therefore, every...
The Meshech Chachma explains in a different context that there is a powerful idea in the Kadesh itself. In a slightly different approach than the Or Hachaim, he says that there is something in us that led God to choose us over the other nations of the world. He bases it on the four terms used to describe redemption. “I will take them out;
I don’t want to spend time explaining how it works, but in Kabbalah, Karpas is a metaphor for Din, or judgment. (As is the salt, into which you dip.) Chazal explain the dipping into saltwater as an act of someone who is free or wealthy. It’s not like eating a donut, but having coffee with your donut so that you can dip the donut into
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Rabbi Yochanan taught: There are ten forms of prayer:
I have a constant problem with my word processing program. I always describe people as “who” and my spell-check always warns me to switch from “who” to “that”. Sometimes it feels as if
Yes, this is about Muktzah, but we must first take a slight detour. (I am trying to emulate my father zt”l) Actually we are studying our relationship with our things.
Holy means that we take our experiences and redirect them positively. And that is how we become “holy to God,” as we declare in the closing to the third paragraph. In response, God says, “[This is why] I, the Lord, your God, took you out...
“Bind them as a sign on your hand, and let them be tefillin between your eyes.” Tefillin are your wedding ring. When you wrap the tefillin around our hands, you say: “I will betroth you to Me forever, and I will betroth you to Me...
“Teach them thoroughly to your children and speak of them while you sit in your home, while you walk on the way, when you retire, and when you arise.” You have to create an environment for Torah study in every aspect of your life. When...
“Let these matters that I command you today be upon your heart.” That is, “upon your heart as if I commanded them to you this very day at Mt. Sinai.” This is a key idea in Judaism—every day should be “as if” the Torah was...