J Blog

This Shabbat - the Shabaat before Pesach is called “Shabbat Hagadol” - the Great Shabbat. There are numerous explanations as to why the Shabbat before Pesach is called Shabbat Hagadol. According to some, it was because God inhibited the Egyptians from harming the Jews after they were told that the Jews were going to slaughter a lamb as a sacrifice, the lamb being revered by Egyptians as deity. Others teach that the Shabbat got ...

Bridging Traditions: Demystifying Differences Between Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews Rabbi Haim Jachter / Maggid Book / OU Press 2022 Reviewed by Rabbi Barry Gelman Rabbi Haim Jachter is uniquely qualified to write Bridging Traditions: Demystifying Differences Between Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews. Rabbi Jachter, who is Ahskenazi, and who studied and trained in Ashkenazi yeshivot, has led a Sephardic congregation for over twenty years. By ...

וְהַצָּר֜וּעַ אֲשֶׁר־בּ֣וֹ הַנֶּ֗גַע בְּגָדָ֞יו יִהְי֤וּ פְרֻמִים֙ ...

On Wednesday, August 7th, 1974, a 24-year-old Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out onto a steel wire strung across the 130-foot gap between the tops of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York — close to 1,350 feet above the ground. After a 45-minute performance he was asked, "Weren't you afraid that you were going to die?" While conceding, he replied, "If I die, what a beautiful death, to die in the exercise of your ...

וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֥ה לֵּאמֹֽר׃ God spoke to Moses, saying: צַ֤ו אֶֽת־אַהֲרֹן֙ ...

Recently at the ERJCC.... While this is not a classic Dvar Torah, in a very real sense, this story is what Torah is all about. Two weeks ago, just about as Rabbi David Rosen’s class on the Jewish denominations was about to begin at the J, two women walked in to the Kehillah room to join. Pleasantries were exchanged and Rabbi Rosen taught the class. Once the class ended many of the “regulars” engaged the two newcomers in ...

There were 100 sockets used in the construction of the Mishkan - the traveling Temple that accompanied the Israelites while traveling in the wilderness. The sockets served as a foundation for the beams that made up the walls of the Mishkan. Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter of Gur, founder of the Gur Hassidic dynasty draws a comparison between the 100 sockets and the practice of reciting 100 blessings per day. תניא ...

Temperatures in Houston... Can change at the drop of a hat.It’s natural to adjust with changing temperatures. However, sometimes we adjust our habits without even realizing we are doing it. For example, many times if the weather is hotter, we drink more water. This also means that as the weather gets chillier, we tend to decrease water intake as well. While yes, it is true that we need to increase consumption in hotter temperatures, it is ...

Recently, I have been taking fewer pictures. I found that whether I was attending a gathering of friends, a family trip, or a simcha, I spent so much time capturing the moment that I was not “in” the moment. Bear in mind that this is not easy for me. I am constantly worried that I will not have memories of the event when I want to recall them. Rabbi Yakov Nagen shares a wonderful story from the Zen tradition that confirmed for me ...

Beyond A Code of Jewish Law: Rabbi Avraham Danzig's Hayei Adam Simcha Fishbane / Academic Studies Press 2021 Reviewed by Rabbi Barry Gelman “In 1801 and again in 1818, Rabbi Abraham Danzig published his comprehensive code of Jewish law, the Hayei Adam. This work was the first such publication to become popularly accepted by Jewish laymenn (and subsequently by learned Rabbis) since the publication of Rabbi Yosef Karo’s Shulhan ...