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Holidays
Essays on the weekly Torah portion, the holidays and Jewish thought.
Holidays Chanukah – Chanukah Menorah and the Mezuzah Where does one light the Chanukah Menorah? In many communities the custom is to light it near a window so that it can be seen from… Holidays BEIRACH – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 14) When we are ready to recite the Birkat Hamazon, as we do whenever we eat bread, the meal has come to an end. In the context of the… Holidays HALLEL – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 15) Although we have already recited half of the Hallel (the special Psalms of praise to extol G-d for His miracles) before the meal,… Holidays Introduction – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 1) The Seder, as its name suggests, is an orderly ritual; so orderly, in fact, that even before we start the Seder, an outline of its… Holidays KADESH – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 2) We open each Seder with recitation of the Kiddush, just as we do at the onset of every Shabbat and major Jewish holiday. During… Holidays KARPAS – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 4) The third step, Karpas, consists of dipping a vegetable in salt water. (Customs vary as to which vegetable is used. In some… Holidays KOREICH – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 11) The creation of a sandwich is attributed by some to an 18th century English aristocrat. As Jews, we know that it goes back at… Holidays MARROR – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 10) After we have internalized the dynamic and liberating force of G-dly awareness, it would seem that we should be able to revel in… Holidays MATZA – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 9) In the next step of the Seder, we recite a blessing that praises G-d for giving us the Mitzvah/commandment to eat Matzah. In other… Holidays MAAGID – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 6) The tone has been set. We know that we are holy. We know that we have the need to cleanse ourselves by allowing the holiness we… Holidays MOTZIE – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 8) After washing our hands, we begin the process of internalizing the message of spiritual freedom by eating the Matzah. However,… Holidays NIRTZA – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 16) Unlike the previous 14 steps, this last and final step does not manifest itself in any prayer or action. We have reached a point… Holidays RACHTZA – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 7) Before we partake of the Matzah, we wash our hands a second time. If washing the first time was about removing the impurities that… Holidays SHULCHAN OREICH – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 12) A “set table” is a reference to the festival meal that we are obliged to eat every Shabbat and Jewish Holiday. But the festive… Holidays TZAFUN – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 13) Following the meal, we eat the Afikoman (the larger half of the middle Matzah that we broke and then hid away in Yachatz). Tzofon… Holidays U'RCHATZ – 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 3) Washing the Hands After reciting the Kiddush, we wash our hands before dipping a vegetable in salt water, the next item of the… Holidays YACHATZ- 15 Steps of the Seder (Part 5) The fourth—yet still preliminary—step is the breaking of the middle Matzah. We break the Matzah at this point because it sets the… Holidays Response To 911 Our minds and hearts have been numbed. We have all become victims of history’s most heinous terrorists act. We are now grieving…