Leil Selichot (Prayers for forgiveness in preparation for the High Holidays) for Hebrew Year 5780 ocurrs after nightfall on Saturday, 12 September 2020. Selichot or slichot (Hebrew: סליחות) are Jewish penitential poems and prayers, especially those said in the period leading up to the High Holidays, and on Fast Days. In the Ashkenazic tradition, it begins…
Category: post
Various Categories of Atonement
The month of Elul, which we currently find ourselves in, is a time for repentance, forgiveness, and atonement, as we have already discussed. Let us now discuss various categories of sin, which are more severe than others, and how to completely erase these sins. The Four Categories of AtonementThe Baraita (Yoma, 86a) tells us that…
TORAH: NITZAVIM-VAYELECH
TORAH: NITZAVIM-VAYELECH By Rabbi Avraham Greenbaum Torah Reading: NITZAVIM: Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20 VAYELECH: Deuteronomy 31:1-30. DECLARING THE END FROM THE BEGINNING “Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying ‘My counsel shall stand and all My pleasure I shall do’ ” (Isaiah 46:10). Parshas NITZAVIM is always…
Parashat Nitzavim / פרשת נִצָּבִים
Mekhilta d’Rabbi Yishmael 12:6:1(Exodus 12:6) “And it shall be to you for a keeping”: Why does the taking of the Pesach precede its slaughtering by four days? R. Matia b. Charash says: It is written (Ezekiel 16:8) “And I passed by you and I saw you, and behold, your time was the time for love”:…
The Gospel of Q
The following translation has been committed to the public domain and may be freely copied and used, changed or unchanged, for any purpose. Q is the designation given to a hypothetical sayings source that many scholars believe was incorporated into the Gospels of Luke and Matthew. Though some notable scholars have questioned the theory, others…
“One Who Hears is Like One Who Recites”
In the previous Halachot we have discussed the laws of blessings of thanksgiving, such as the “Ha’Gomel” blessing, which require several conditions in order to recite them. Now we shall explain the law of “one who hears is like one who recites”. Our Sages teach us in Masechet Sukkah (38b) an important rule that applies…
Zecharyah 7-8
7 And it came to pass in the shnat arba of Daryavesh HaMelech, that the Devar Hashem came unto Zecharyah in the fourth of the chodesh hateshi’i (ninth month), even in Kislev; 2 And Beth-El had sent Sar-Etzer and Regem-Melech, and their men, to make entreaty for favor before Hashem, 3 And to speak unto the kohanim which…
You shall not despise
Ki Tetze21:10 If you go out to war against your enemy and the L-rd yourG-d delivers him into your hand, and you capture itscaptivity,If you go out to war – This [ 4‘If’] teaches us that Scripture is herespeaking of a permitted war “and you capture its captivity – to include Canaanites from outside EretzYisrael,…
Maran zt”l’s Tefillin-Checking
The month of Elul is meant as a time of self-introspection for the entire Jewish nation. It is therefore customary to pay attention to which Tefillin and Mezuzot need checking and to have them checked at this time. The Rambam writes: “If one writes Tefillin by himself or buys them from an expert or from…
Parashat Ki Tavo / פרשת כי־תבוא
Parashat Ki Tavo is the 50th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Deuteronomy 26:10 – 29:8 Summary Parshat Ki Tavo In this parashah, Moses tells the people that when they come into the “land of milk and honey” (“Ki Tavo” means “when you enter”) and have settled there, each of them…
Shining Light on Your Best Self
Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Re’eh 10.3 If the Heavenly proclamation is discernible, why doesn’t anyone hear it? Genesis 1:31 (31) And God saw everything that God had everything, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. בראשית א׳:ל״א (לא) וַיַּ֤רְא אֱלֹהִים֙ אֶת־כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֣ר עָשָׂ֔ה וְהִנֵּה־ט֖וֹב מְאֹ֑ד וַֽיְהִי־עֶ֥רֶב וַֽיְהִי־בֹ֖קֶר י֥וֹם…
Repentance Among the Nations
Repentance Among the Nations of the World Question: Yesterday, we discussed the concept that repentance is a novel idea Hashem granted to the Jewish nation. Does the concept of repenting for one’s sins not apply to the other nations of the world as well? Answer: The Midrash Tanchuma (Parashat Nitzavim) states: “When the Jewish nation…
Yeshua Centered Judaism 
You must be logged in to post a comment.