Rabbi's Message

In the משנה תורה/Mishneh Torah, in הלכות שופר וסוכה ולולב/Hilchot Shofar, Sukkah, and Lulav/Laws of Shofar, Sukkah, and Lulav, the רמב”ם/Rambam addresses these three ritual objects in precisely this order: 1) שופר 2) סוכה 3) לולב. As I have been thinking about why these three are grouped together, and why

Yom Kippur (יום כיפור) is one of the most—if not the most—ritualized days of the Jewish year. In the days of the Beit HaMikdash (בית המקדש / The Temple), the day was filled with deeply planned and choreographed rituals led by the Kohenim (כהנים / Priests), and primarily by the

We’re just about there. The year is coming to a close and a new one is beginning in its place. As Jews, the New Year is indeed a time for revelry and celebration, but it’s also an intense time of reflection and prayer. We look to the past in order

Last week I wrote about the שופר/Shofar, its shape, and the animal it comes from. I mentioned that we will not sound the שופר this year on the first day of ראש השנה/Rosh Hashana because it falls on שבת/Shabbat. What I forgot to explain was the reasoning behind this rule.

The שופר/Shofar is the essence of the holiday of ראש השנה/Rosh Hashana. Many of us can recall from childhood the moments when we watched and listened in amazement to the sounds of the שופר. The תלמוד/Talmud in tractate ראש השנה, teaches two very important lessons about the שופר and also