Our Fruit Tree and Vegetable Kingdom Role Models: Tu B’Shvat 2021
On Tu B’Shvat we celebrate our generous and magnificent fruit trees that selflessly nourish the world for no other reason than that it’s what they are designed to do.
Tu B’Shvat Through the Years
Tu B’Shvat Through the Years
Tisha B’Av — A Potent Meditation
Av is the month that includes the most fateful day in the Jewish calendar, Tisha B’Av, which is distinguished by its extremely fallen state and yet its extremely great potential.
Shavuot through the years
Shavuot Through the Years Shavuot teachings over the years.
The Four Questions
The hagada is transmitting lights and instructions on many levels. There is information about history and many deep secrets about how the universe works and what freedom really means.
Rosh HaShana Through the Years
A bounty of teachings on how to prepare for Rosh HaShana and how to direct one’s intentions on the day itself. Teachings about teshuva, prayer and shofar.
Tisha B’Av Teachings Through the Years
Tisha B’Av Teachings Through the Years Tisha B’Av teachings over the years (2007-present).
Turning Wisdom into Oral Torah
Our Written Torah is fixed and final. Its sequence of letters, spacings, stories and commands is sacred and static. A scribal error of even a single letter invalidates the entire scroll. Its authority derives from its constancy. Our Oral Torah is the opposite—it is always changing and expanding. Not a second passes that does not leave it enriched by some new insight discovered in that moment somewhere on the planet. The Oral Torah lives and evolves.
Pesach Through the Years
Pesach Through the Years Pesach teachings over the years (2003-present.)
Solemn Joy, Sweet Sorrow
When Tisha B’Av—the day for mourning the woes of our nation—falls on Shabbos—our day of spiritual delight when it is generally forbidden to mourn.
Sifra, Sefer, Sippur
The Torah is really three in one: the Torah of Bereshit, the Torah of Sinai, and the Torah of souls. Our job is to unify these three Torot with every word we speak and breath we take.
A Kabbalistic Kavanna for Eating Matzah at the Seder
Pesach 2021 / 5781 by Sarah Yehudit Schneider Matzah on Pesach is a powerful remedy that penetrates to the soul’s depths and heals ancient wounds.
Purim 2021: Who is Charvonah…
Charvonah is a seemingly insignificant character in the Purim story. He is one of the king’s attendants who appears at the beginning with those who convey the kings fateful summons to Vashti and then again at Haman’s demise. It is here, in this second mention, that he delivers his single line:
Shavuot through the years
Shavuot teachings over the years (2008-2016).
Pesach Through the Years
Pesach Through the Years Pesach teachings over the years (2003-present.)
Purim Through the Years
Purim Through the Years Purim Teachings Through the Years (1988 – Present).
Tu B’Shvat through the years
Tu B’Shvat Through the Years Tu B’Shvat teachings over the years (2007-present).
Chanukka through the years
Just as eyes are windows to the soul, so the Chanukka lights are windows into the soul of the chag.
Fifteen Stages of the Pesach Seder
The Fifteen Stages That Form the Backbone of Our Pesach Ritual and trace the soul’s journey from conception, birth, childhood, maturity and, finally, enlightenment.
The Shame Behind Causeless Hatred
Baseless Hatred is what caused our exile, and yet for two thousand years we haven’t managed to fix it. Why?
Symbolic Resonance Permeates the Seder
Pesach 5778 / 2018 We start the seder by pronouncing the fifteen steps that comprise the ritual which marks the birthday of our peoplehood.
From Eden to Purim: Simcha shel Mitzvah
Purim 2018 / 5778 To succeed in our mission we must become connoisseurs of pleasure. That was our failing, and it remains our front of tikun.
From Eden to Purim: Simcha shel Mitzvah
Purim 2018Sarah Yehudit Schneider The Talmud asks: “Why did the Jews of that generation deserve extermination? Because they derived pleasure [נהנו] from the feast of that wicked one [Achashverosh].” [TB Megila 12a] The Talmud doesn’t say “because they ate” – this the Jews could justify by claiming they were subject to royal decree and would […]
All the Creatures Pray for a Fruitful Harvest
Tu B’Shvat 2018. All the trees of the field did not yet exist on the earth, and all the wild plants had not yet sprouted… for there was no human to work the ground.
A Chanukka Meditation from the Zohar
Those who seize this occasion to meditate on the Chanukka lamps will be changed by it, says the Zohar.