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 [...]
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 [...]
Chashmal thus becomes the codeword for embracing paradox by skirting back and forth between opposing perspectives and admitting the truth that’s present in each. This kinetic approach to [...]
Purim 2019 / 5779 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Based on R. YYYY Safrin of Komara’s Commentary on Esther called Ketem Ofier (4:1 – 5:4) Mordecai charges Esther to go before the king, and plead for her [...]
Purim 2018 / 5778 Sarah 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 [...]
Purim, 5777 / 2017 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Based on the teachings of R. Tsadok HaKohen[1] “To the Jews there was light—אורה…” (the feminine form of the word indicating the Oral Torah, as opposed [...]
In those days, when Mordekhai sat by the king’s gate, two of the king’s eunuchs, Bigthan and Teresh, Guardians of the Saf (Threshold), were angry, and sought to lay hand on king Ahasuerus. [...]
PurimBurst 2012 / 5772 Sarah Yehudit Schneider HaShem said to Israel: “When the Temple was destroyed you cried out, ‘We are orphans. Our father has abandoned us…’ (Lam. 5:3). As sure as you live, [...]
PurimBurst, 2011/ תשע”א by Sarah Yehudit Schneider1 The descendents of Haman study Torah in Benei Brak, and R. Shmuel bar Shilat is [is the most illustrious] among them.2 (TB San. 96b [Ein [...]
PurimBurst, 2009 / 5569 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Esther inspired affection in the eyes of all who saw her… (Megillat Esther 2:15) What was the secret of Esther’s extraordinary (even supernatural) [...]
PurimBurst 2008 (based on Pri Tsadik, Ohev Yisrael and Heichal HaBrocha) Sarah Yehudit Schneider “Let the king and Haman come to the banquet.” The Talmud asks, “Why did Esther honor Haman with an [...]
PurimBurst, 2007 / 5567 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Based on the teachings of R. Isaac Luria as presented in Kabbalistic Writings on the Nature of Masculine and Feminine.[1] “This opposite this [...]
PurimBurst, 2006 / 5566 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command…and the king was very angry, and his anger burned in him…And Memucan answered,…”Vashti, the [...]
PurimBurst, 2005 / 5565 Sarah Yehudit Schneider When Mordecai conveyed to Esther… “If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance shall come to the Jews from another place, and you and [...]
PurimBurst, 2004 / 5564 Sarah Yehudit Schneider And [Mordecai] brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. (Esther 2:7) וַיְהִי [...]
PurimBurst, 2003 / תשס”ג Sarah Yehudit Schneider Then the King conferred with His sages (חכמים), experts in reading the times, for such was the King’s practice, to consult with the masters [...]
PurimBurst, 2002 / 5762 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Inspired by R. Tsadok HaKohen, Pri Tsadik, Adar [ו]; R. R. M. Luria, Ora v’Simcha, (p. 97-99) Letters were sent…to all the kings provinces…to [...]
PurimBurst, 2001 / 5761 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Inspired by R. Tsadok HaKohen (רסיסי לילה לב, נב) And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his grace and favor more [...]
PurimBurst, 2000 / 5760 Sarah Yehudit Schneider And it was in the days of Achashverosh…when the king sought to display the richness of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent [...]
PurimBurst, 1999 / 5659 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Many of the peoples of the land became Jewish, for the fear of the Jews was upon them…the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, though [...]
PurimBurst, 1998 / 5758 Sarah Yehudit Schneider In the same way that a prophet reads the secrets that lie in the cracks and crevices of the souls of Israel [both their failings and their glories] [...]
PurimBurst, 1997 / 5757 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him… [...]
PurimBurst, 1996 / 5756 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Remember, HaShem, the offspring of Edom…the ones who say [about Jerusalem], “Destroy, Destroy to its very foundation”…Praiseworthy is [...]
PurimBurst, 1995 / 5755 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Why is this holiday called Purim? Why is it called after the lots cast by Haman to determine how best to kill the Jews.[1] All other festivals [...]
PurimBurst, 1994 / 5754 Sarah Yehudit Schneider There is a real place that exists right now, on an inner plane, in the mind’s eye of the Creator, where Israel is a righteous nation, and every Jew [...]
PurimBurst, 1993 / 5753 Sarah Yehudit Schneider Sin fragments consciousness, and narrows it. It tunnels vision and disrupts the passage from inner beauty to outer form. Any act whose intention [...]