On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, we traditionally eat foods whose names carry a positive symbolic connotation. Just as we taste foods as positive symbols at the festive table on Rosh Hashanah, so we can find good signs in the year’s number too. As Rosh Hashanah 5773 (ה’ תשע”ג) approaches, let’s take a look [...]
Tag Archive 'Jewish calendar'
Three Reasons to Honor your Parents
Posted in Uncategorized on Aug 7th, 2011
The name of this month, Av, means “father.” This is the month to connect to our parents (father and mother) and honor them. “Honor your father and your mother…” is the fifth of the Ten Commandments. The sages teach that God placed the honor of one’s parents even before His own honor. Why is honoring [...]
Seeing Inside
Posted in Rectifying the Sense of Sight on Jul 10th, 2011
In Hebrew, the idiom “to see someone’s face” can mean either to appease him or to fight him. After winning the wrestling bout with Esau’s archangel, Jacob says, “for I have seen the angel of God face to face and my soul has been saved.” Several of the traditional commentaries explain that seeing face to [...]
Mouth to Mouth
Posted in Uncategorized on Mar 25th, 2011
Both Purim and Pesach commemorate the redemption of the Jewish People. Both begin with the letter pei (פ), which means “mouth.” Informing Miriam and Aaron of the unique level of their brother Moses’ prophecy, God says: “I speak to him mouth to mouth.” The phrase “mouth to mouth” alludes to the two redemptions of Purim [...]
Cheshvan: the Sense of Smell
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
The Biblical name of the month of Cheshvan is Bul, from “flood.” May we merit this month to a flood of the knowledge of God. This Shabbat we read in the Torah the story of the flood, which purified the earth. The higher and lower waters are Torah and science. Every month is associated with [...]
Short and Sweet
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
In Kabbalah, the left line is “short” at the bottom but “sweet” at the top – short and sweet. “Short,” 390 = 15 times 26. “Sweet” = 546 = 21 times 26. Each is a product of two of God’s Names. The month of Tishrei is the Jewish “honeymoon.” Until the end of Sukot we [...]
Sukot and the Four Stages of Joy
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 24th, 2011
Sukot is “the time of our joy” – our joy in God and God’s joy in us. God loves all of His creation but He calls Himself “the God of Israel.” Joy is the experience of mother – “the mother of children is happy.” A mother nurtures her children, so joy nurtures love, fear, and [...]
Rosh Hashana 5771
Posted in Tweets from the year 5771 on Feb 23rd, 2011
Wishing you all a good and sweet year. This coming year, 5771, is a year of “conscious determination,” a year of mind over matter, a year of “living Torah” for all of humanity. The Zohar says, To rectify a nation rectify its head. Rectify means to identify with. Abraham is the head of our nation. [...]