At the 25th Anniversary of the Jewish Music Institute in 2010, Chief Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks extolled the value of Jewish music: “To me, music is the most spiritual form of expression that exists. Music is absolutely essential to Jewish spirituality,” he says. “Words are the language of the mind—but music is the language of the

(Courtesy of Ohr HaTorah) On Purim night, Congregation Ohr HaTorah organized a communal siyum on Masechet Megillah and completed the Masechta not just once, but twice as a group. Each participant, or chavruta pair, preselected a daf to learn on Purim night following Megillah reading and break-fast. Almost 100 people

Introduction

In this article I will attempt to show the intimate connections between seemingly insignificant procedures in shul during davening on the one hand, and the service performed in the Beit Hamikdash (BHM) on the other. Because of length constraints on this

(Sponsored Content) The Biale Rebbe is returning to Teaneck. He will be staying at the home of Mr. and Dr. Sahba and Faranak Azar beginning Monday, March 28. Although the Rebbe has been visiting annually for some years now, every year his visit inspires stories of miracles seen and experienced firsthand as a result of his

In Parshat Tzav, part of Aaron and his sons’ inauguration was giving a korban (sacrifice) for sinning. Although this seems proper, when a person stops to think about it, it makes you realize that everyone makes mistakes. Aaron and his sons were of such high stature that when we see them giving a sin offering we grasp the idea that even

In Parshat Ki Tisa, Moshe asked Hashem the age-old question: “Please make your ways known to me so that I can understand You.” The Gemara in Brachot (7a) explained that Moshe wanted to know why good people seem to suffer at times and why bad people seem to prosper at times. From our perspective, the world may not always seem to be

This time, it was from love. Indeed, not always did the Jewish people embrace the Torah with endearment and self-motivated interest, but instead approached it from a state of pressure and no choice. It was only until the aftermath of the story of Purim that they finally accepted the Torah willingly and wholeheartedly (see GM Shabbat

New Dirshu “Chaburas HaShas Iyun” Program Announced at Melava Malka Siyum on Seder Moed

“You think you are in Stamford, Connecticut, but you are not! There is a law that an embassy of a country is considered that country’s sovereign territory.

One of my friends had a car whose speedometer was broken for quite a while. I often asked him, “Why don’t you get it fixed? Don’t you need to know how fast you’re going?” He said he relied on his own sense of speed. A few months later, I noticed he had fixed the speedometer. “Yes, I got pulled over for speeding. I

When Moshe hears that Amalek is attacking Israel, he does not gear up for battle, but sends Yehoshua: “And Moshe said to Yehoshua... go to battle against Amalek” (Shemot 17:9). Why did he not go out to fight himself?

Our Sages discussed this in the Mechilta, saying that because Moshe sent Yehoshua to

Our parasha begins: “וַיִּקְרָ֖א אֶל־משֶׁ֑ה” “And [Hashem] called to Moshe.” Usually we read that Hashem “spoke” to Moshe. When did we see Hashem calling to Moshe? It was at the burning bush (Shemot 3:4). There the Torah uses the word “Vayikra.” It was also there that Moshe engages in a conversation with

How fitting or unfitting is it that Parshat Vayikra is matched up with Parshat Zachor? It seems from a glance to be two things that have nothing to do with one another—one about giving sacrifices and another remembering horrid people whom we should kill. Where is the connection? Nowadays we do not have korbanot (sacrifices), and instead