Torah essays to add meaning to your High Holiday experience “God Not Only Loves Us; He Needs Us!” – Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander “Rosh Hashana’s Mandate to Recreate the World” – Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Riskin “Throwing it All Away” – Rabbanit Sally Mayer “The Opportunity for Renewal” – Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum “A Different Path to …
Throwing It All Away Rabbanit Sally Mayer is the Rosh Midrasha of Midreshet Lindenbaum’s Maria and Joel Finkle Overseas Program When I was a little girl, I remember walking down to tashlikh at the stream not far from where my family gathered every year for Rosh Hashana. I loved the idea of saying a few …
God Not Only Loves Us; He Needs Us! Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander is President and Rosh HaYeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone Often, we look at the High Holidays as a two-holiday event consisting of Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. After all, it is only for these two holidays that we purchase High Holiday seats, adorn …
The Opportunity for Renewal Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum is the Director of OTS’s Beren-Amiel and Straus-Amiel Institutes, which train couples to work as emissaries in Diaspora communities across the globe One of the most beautiful things about Judaism is that we are given a fresh start every year. New beginnings give us hope and the energy …
Rosh Hashana’s Mandate to Recreate the World Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Riskin is the Founder and Rosh HaYeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone “And [Nehemia] said to them, ‘Go, eat delicious foods and drink sweet beverages, and send portions to whoever has nothing prepared, for [Rosh Hashana] is holy to our Lord. And do not be sad, …
A Different Path to Teshuva: Why We Read the Book of Yonah on Yom Kippur Rabbanit Chamutal Shoval, a graduate of OTS’s Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute of Halakhic Leadership (WIHL), is the Ohr Torah Stone Scholar-in-Residence in North America and a Talmud teacher at Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School A deep examination of the Book of Yonah evokes many …
Day One – Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Riskin Day Two – Rabbanit Sally Mayer Day Three – Rabbi Chaim Kanterovitz Day Four – Pnina Omer Day Five – Rabbi Yehoshua Grunstein Day Six – Rabbanit Atirat Granevich Day Seven – Rabbanit Billy Rabenstein Day Eight – Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander Download the booklet as PDF The …
The Flame and the Light Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel offer differing views on the kindling of the Chanukah lights. Beit Shammai’s reason for requiring a continual decrease from eight (Chanukah) lights to one is so that the various kindlings correspond to the bull (sacrifices) of the Sukkot festival, and Beit …
A Light that Gradually Diminishes; a Light that Gradually Intensifies Rabbanit Bili Rabenstein The Sages taught in a beraita: The basic mitzvah of Chanukah is to have a light kindled each day by a person, the head of the household, for himself and his household. And the mehadrin, i.e., those who are meticulous in the …
“If it was Extinguished, One is Not Bound to Relight it” Atirat Granevich The flickering lights in the Chanukiyah are truly heart-warming. These candles, melting away under the flames, draw our gazes and publicize the wondrous miracles that Hashem performed for us in those days. With this in mind, the halakha exempting us from relighting …
Chanukah: For All and For Us Rabbi Yehoshua Grunstein The private and public symbiosis of the Chanukah candles is vital in halakha: why are they lit in the home, but facing the outside? Both the Talmud and Rambam’s code illustrate to us the story that lead up to the catalyst of this mitzvah; the lightning …