Hineni. Here I am. Most of what we recite in synagogue on the High Holidays utilizes the first person plural: We praise you. God, save us because we have sinned. We pray as a community and we express ourselves collectively. But the Hineni prayer, a meditation traditionally recited by the cantor prior to the Musaf…
Tag: Yom Kippur
Three Questions Posed to Hillel
Aseret Yemeh Teshuba- The Three Questions Posed to Hillel The Gemara in Masechet Shabbat (31a) tells a remarkable story of two men who wagered a large sum of money to be awarded to the one who could get Hillel angry. Hillel, the leading Rabbi of his time, was known for his extraordinary patience, and the…
Holy of Holies
With the approach of the holiest day of the year, an insight on the Yom Kippur service performed in the Temple by the High Priest: incense. The incense offered up in the Temple was usually on the Inner Alter, which parallels the inner dimension of the heart–i.e., our Divine soul, which is constantly bound to…
Yom Kippur He is here!
He is here! The King of The Universe is in the Field! We have heard the blast of the “Horns” and have been awakened to the cleaning and preparations of our hearts and minds. As the scripture says, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Messiah Yashua- Philipians 2:5 and in Psalms…
Erev Yom Kippur
The Mitzvah to Eat on Erev Yom Kippur The Torah (Vayikra 23) states: “And you shall oppress yourselves on the ninth of the month at night,” meaning that the obligation to fast on Yom Kippur begins from the night of the tenth of Tishrei. Our Sages (Berachot 8a) inquired about the language of the verse,…
The sacrifice of Yom Kippur
The sacrifice of Yom Kippur is separate and distinct from all the other sacrifices offered during the year. While the others reconciled the sinner on a day to day basis with God, Yom Kippur is the day that God would forgive all the sins of all the people in every generation – in essence this…
Parsha Summary – Parshas Haazinu
Parshas Haazinu 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. 1st Aliya: Moshe begins by describing the presence of Hashem in nature as being as evident as…
The Greater the Talent the Greater the Responsibility
The Greater the Talent the Greater the Responsibility In the year 5733 (1973), Maran zt”l served as the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. On Shabbat Shuva (the Shabbat preceding Yom Kippur), many Yeshiva students gathered in the central Bet Midrash where Maran zt”l delivered the following address which we shall paraphrase: When one stands in…
Yeshua Centered Judaism 
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