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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Pulse of the Parsha – Nitzavim-Vayeilech 5786 | Michigan Mussar: When the Goyim Get It
Parshas Nitzavim predicts that when Am Yisrael is exiled, the goyim will explain why. On accepting the truth from any source — except when the source is a Michigan attorney general who gets it badly wrong.
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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…
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Pulse of the Parsha – Ki Savo 5786
Trembling and the Table In chapter 34 of Moby Dick, Herman Melville describes two dining rooms aboard Captain Ahab’s whaling ship, the Pequod. At Ahab’s table, the officers sit in near-paralyzed silence: “They were as little children before Ahab… their intent eyes all fastened upon the old man’s knife… I…
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Rebbetzin’s Reflection Ki Savo
The joy of grounded gratitude After generations of waiting, Bnei Yisrael finally entered Eretz Yisrael. This was a dream for generations. The parsha starts with Bikkurim: The farmer brings his first fruits and declares: “הִגַּדְתִּי הַיּוֹם לַה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ כִּי בָאתִי אֶל הָאָרֶץ…” “I declare today… that I have come to…