The Story of a Good Vort
Several years ago, on the occasion of Purim, I cited in this column a story from Rabbi Paysach J. Krohn’s , The Maggid Speaks, that is often related by Rabbi […]
A. Surasky’s New Book on “Pirkei Avot”
The reading of Pirkei Avot on Sabbath is an old custom. It goes back to the period of the Geonim and may even predate it. The custom varies in different […]
A Reproduction of a Rare Warsaw Haggadah
For years now, the New York Office of the Diskin Orphan Home of Israel- the country’s best known educational institution for orphans, children from broken homes and poor families, as […]
The Order of Zemanim
On the Sabbath following Passover we started reciting Pirket Avot (The Ethics of the Fathers). Each Sabbath one chapter is said. Sefaradim, who recite Avot only until the Sabbath before […]
The Gaon Rabbi Jacob Pollack
Since we are now in the period of counting the Omer, the following excerpt is of particular relevance. The Gaon Rabbi Isaiah b. Abraham HaLevi Horowitz writes in his Shnei […]
The Custom of Eating Fish on Shabbat
The Midrash tells of a Roman Jew, a tailor by profession, who on the eve of Yom Kippur competed with the servant of the governor for the last fish on […]
They Wore Sackcloth (Marking the Three Weeks)
Two great rabbinic luminaries wore sackcloth under their garments as a sign of mourning for the destruction of the Temple and the Galuth of the Divine Glory. Not only one […]
Elul
Rabbi Yeshaya Horowitz writes in his Shnei Luchot HaBrith (Messechet Rosh Hashana, Amud HaDin): The ancients (Kadmonim) gave a sign (for the days of judgement and the period of repentance […]
A Difficult Line in A Tish’a BeAv Elegy
Among the Kinot we recite Tish’a BeAv in the evening after the reading of Eicha is one which begins with the words: “Ad Ana Bechiya Betziyon?” (How much longer will […]
Yetziv Pitgam
Last year, on the occasion of Shavuot, I wrote about Yetziv Pitgam, which is said on the second day of the festival after the reading of the first verse of […]