Category: Yamim Tovim
-
Pulse of the Machzor – Simchas Torah 5787: Why Are These People Dancing with a Book?
•
A similar version of this article was published in this week’s edition of the Jewish News. Someone who unwittingly wanders into an Orthodox synagogue on Simchas Torah night may wonder what they have stumbled into. Men of every age dance in tight, sweaty circles around the Torah scrolls, singing the…
-
Rebbetzin’s Reflection Simchas Torah
•
As we approach the end of our Chagim season, I think about the meaningful time we have spent in shul, the quality time we’ve enjoyed with family and friends, the festive meals, and the unique feeling of this time of year. We still look forward to what for many is…
-
Rebbetzin’s Reflection Sukkos
•
Survival to Celebration The abrupt mental and physical transition from Yom Kippur to Sukkos deserves explanation. On Rosh Hashanah, we stood before Hashem and asked to be written in the Book of Life. We had the ten days of repentance culminating on Yom Kippur, when we revisited the initial request…
-
Pulse of the Machzor – Shabbos Shuva 5787: Nothing Is Neutral at the Defense Table
•
Last week, when London-based Revolut, among the most popular of Europe’s digital “neo-banks,” was duped into handing over sensitive customer data to a scammer impersonating a government agency, the company was immediately thrust into crisis.[1] Standard business operations were frozen as executives scrambled into emergency war rooms to contain extortion…
-
Pulse of the Machzor – Rosh Hashanah 5787 | Paradoxical Piety: Passion and Prayer in Pre-War Vilna
•
According to satirical news site PreOccupied Territory, a terrorist was recently thwarted when the synagogue service put him to sleep.[1] “The soporific[2] effect of a snail’s-pace Torah reading combined with a droning Rabbi’s address to spare a congregation from disaster this past Saturday morning, when the would-be attacker drifted off…
-
Rebbetzin’s Reflection Rosh Hashana
•
The Head of the Year I recently asked a group of growth-oriented women what Rosh Hashana brought to mind. The answer, almost across the board, was menu planning, how to elevate our Yuntif tables to make it special. We spend a lot of time on Rosh Hashana eating and davening…
-
Rebbetzin’s Reflection Nitzavim
•
The Heart of the Matter Parshat Nitzavim is traditionally read on the Shabbos immediately preceding Rosh Hashanah. In a parsha consisting of only forty pesukim, the Hebrew word for heart (lev—לֵב) appears an astonishing eleven times and is heavily concentrated within the pesukim of teshuva (Devarim 30:1–10), where it appears…