This year’s parshat Ha’azinu is so close after Yom Kippur that I am posting it here today, erev Yom Kippur. May we see real change and real peace at the end of this year’s learning cycle. G’mar Tov! May we be written and sealed in the good book. This piece was originally published on Yeshivat…
Author: Blogging Across the Nation
Acharei Mot: Sacred Silence and Simple Linen
We do not know what, if anything, God and Aharon say as they stare at each other through the cloud of incense. But in that moment, we can imagine a silent agreement. Forgiveness is too flimsy a word for it: maybe because all has already been forgiven. Maybe because some things are too much to…
Esther, Queen of Theater
This piece have been published by my yeshiva, I am sharing it for your consideration, comments, and questions. Purim Sameach! “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and theirentrances,” As You Like It, William Shakespeare. It is common for both individuals and communities to pray…
What Kind of Darkness – Parshat Bo
The most amazing Torah phenomenon is the ability of every parshah to bring something new every time we read it.This time I want to talk about the plague of darkness: When we encounter a “natural phenomenon” that defies the laws of nature, how do we react? Do we marvel at the miracle, or do we…
My New Eggplant Love
Growing up in the cold climate of the Ural Mountains, I was not very familiar with eggplant. When I got down to the Caspian Sea for summer to the historic town of Derbent, eggplants were a staple of the diet for my family that lived there. However, being unfamiliar to me, they were not too…
Zionism and Mahloket. How will we manage this Rosh haShana?
Out of all biblical holidays Rosh ha-Shana may be the strangest one. It does not belong to the category of shalosh regalim, three pilgrimage holidays, when we are specifically commanded by Gd to commemorate the agricultural and spiritual milestones of the year by going to Jerusalem Temple: שָׁלֹ֣שׁ רְגָלִ֔ים תָּחֹ֥ג לִ֖י בַּשָּׁנָֽה׃ Three times a…
Can we really disagree constructively?
I have initially published this blog post on Times of Israel. It was a part of my requirement, but I am grateful I was pushed to write. Hopefully, I will keep going at this: We live in a time when it is extremely hard to listen to the opinions of others. The world around us…
Russian-speaking Jews and Judea
I have published these thoughts of mine here, but also posting them below since you are my primary blog audience: My friend, a Russian-speaking doctor living in Hebron says: the situation is bad, but we decided that even if only 10 dying families remain in Hebron, ours will be among them. There have been a…
Just a Verse. War.
This is not a poem. This is a cry. Gd!I am praying to You.Will I live, or will I die?I am thankful for what was, what is.Gd, If I have to die, Please do it with as little pain as possible.Gd!I am praying for my family.Please let them have as little pain as possibleIn their…
Back to the “Safety of the Land of the Free”
After I’ve returned from Israel a few days ago, I am still not sure if I can coherently express my feelings. Things that we’ve seen cannot be unseen, words that we heard cannot be unheard. The images of the tiny burned houses of the youth village of Kfar Aza are forever etched into my mind….
Bo
The Evolution of the Mezuzah I am posting the D’var Torah I wrote on the subject of mezuzah. It was originally published on the Yeshivat Maharat website as part of our weekly Pashat haShavuah page. Hope you will find it interesting. Parshat Bo has several commandments that lay the foundations of the Jewish faith at…
On the Road to my Favorite Place in Pain
Tomorrow, I am going to Israel. I have been there in times of joy. I have been there in times of pain when even the taxi drivers thanked visitors not deterred by the suicide bombings. This time it is different. The pain is never easy, but this time, the pain is unbearable. Every account, every…
Noshing Across the Nation 