“A Little Alcohol to Increase the Happiness” — Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s insights about Purim  Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

“In all of my 46 years, this was the first time I ever heard a Purim megillah reading,” says Kiryat Tivon resident Elad Alon, one of 67,482 Israelis who participated in “Megillah BaKehilla,” an initiative of Ohr Torah Stone’s Yachad Program. Through this year’s partnership with the Tzohar Rabbinical Organization, …

“Are we obligated to get drunk on Purim?” — Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s insights into the Purim Holiday Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

(Scroll down for photos) As part of this year’s “Megilla BaKehilla” initiative, OTS’s Yachad Program ran 148 community-oriented Megillah readings throughout Israel with the participation of 22,000 Israelis. Each reading was punctuated by questions and answers, singing and dancing, animated presentations and dramatic pantomime, …

Taanit Esther and the Message of Purim By Rabbi David Brofsky Unlike the other “minor” fasts that are enumerated and discussed by the Talmud (Taanit 29a), Taanit Esther is not mentioned anywhere in the Mishna or Talmud. In fact, the earliest reference to Taanit Esther appears in the eighth-century geonic work Sheiltot DeRav Aḥai (Parashat Vayak’hel …

On Rosh Chodesh Adar, Ohr Torah Stone’s  Jacob Sapirstein High School for Boys in Ramot, Jerusalem, ran a Purim carnival for 150 children with disabilities and limited mobility from the “Kav L’Chaim” organization. This is the ninth year in a row that the pupils have partnered with Kav L’Chaim. “We view these informal …

Young women from the Darkaynu Program packed mishloach manot at OneFamily, to be delivered on Purim to injured and bereaved victims of terror.