THIS WEEK’S TORAH PORTION

Do not underestimate the greatness of repentance. There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who do not need to repent. Nitzavim (נצבים | Standing) Torah: Deuteronomy 29:9-30:20 Haftarah: Isaiah 61:10-63:9 Gospel: Luke 24:1-12

Parshas Ki Savo

Note: The Shabbos Torah Reading is divided into 7 sections. Each section is called an Aliya [literally: Go up] since for each Aliya, one person “goes up” to make a bracha [blessing] on the Torah Reading. Following the last two Parshios that focused on Justice and the value of individual rights, Moshe directed the nation’s…

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Rosh Hashanah

Laws and Customs of Torah Reading The custom among the communities hailing from Aram Soba (Aleppo) is to sing special Pizmonim (hymns) on Rosh Hashanah when the Torah is taken from the ark. Some have the custom to sing, “Ozrenu Kel Hai,” a song that relates to the period of Aseret Yemeh Teshuva (Ten Days…

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Matthew 24

1. And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. [To shew him the buildings of the Temple.] “He that never saw the Temple of Herod never saw a fine building. What was it built of? Rabba saith, Of white and green…

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Torah Logic Essentials

Free Online Course on the Ways of the Talmud 6 Rules for Being Exacting in the Text 4 Rules to Define the Text 5 Reasons for a Commentary The Proper Approach to the Text How to Analyze the Text How to Abstract the Commentary

“Confessions of a Tzaddik”

I have to confess, I’m great. Certainly an unusual sentence, but no more jarring than the phrase Chazal use to describe the ceremony at the beginning of this week’s parshah. When offering ma’aser, a special formula is to be recited; this recitation is referred to by chazal with the term vidui ma’aser (see Sotah 32b;…

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Parashat Ki Tavo / פרשת כי־תבוא

Parashat Ki Tavo / פרשת כי־תבוא Next read in the Diaspora on 05 September 2015. Parashat Ki Tavo is the 50th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. Torah Reading: KI TAVO, Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8. Haftara: Isaiah 60:1-22. Our parshah, KI TAVO, puts the seal on Moses’ detailed exposition of the commandments…

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Parshas Ki Seitzei

Note: The Shabbos Torah Reading is divided into 7 sections. Each section is called an Aliya [literally: Go up] since for each Aliya, one person “goes up” to make a bracha [blessing] on the Torah Reading. In the course of history mankind’s most ignoble times have been during war and conflict. It is almost as…

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Parashat Ki-Teseh

Parashat Ki-Teseh begins with the exceptional law of “Eshet Yefat Toar,” which deals with the case of a soldier who encounters an attractive foreign woman while fighting a war, and desires her. The Torah allows the soldier in such a case to marry the woman after fulfilling certain conditions. The commentators explain that the Torah…

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Separation of Easter computation from Jewish calendar

The feast of Easter is linked to the Jewish Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, as Christians believe that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus occurred at the time of those observances. As early as Pope Sixtus I, some Christians had set Easter to a Sunday in the lunar month of Nisan. To determine which lunar…

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