Chanukah occurs during the 8 darkest days (the last days of the month) of the darkest month of the year. Why do they break ground on the Second Temple on the last week of Kislev, the darkest time of the year? Recorded at OU Israel’s L’Ayla Rosh Chodesh Women’s Event

This shiur provided courtesy of The Tanach Study Center In memory of Rabbi Abraham Leibtag  Understanding Magid: A Biblical Perspective – Expression of Gratitude  or  Recognition of Destiny Should Passover be understood as our ‘holiday of freedom’ – a special time set aside to thank God for taking us out of slavery? Certainly, the popular song of “avadim hayinu… ata benei […]

Is it simply by chance that Chanuka occurs on the 25th of Kislev?  Most students would answer with a definitive ‘YES’.  After all, doesn’t the word ‘Chanuka’ evolve from the popular acronym, CHANU be-CHAF HEH – they rested [from battle] on the 25th (of Kislev)?  Presumably, then, had the battle ended (and/or had the miracle […]

Why do we fast on Tisha B’av?  The primary answer, of course, is to remember the destruction of the Bet HaMikdash and Yerushalayim. Yet, according to the Navi Zechariah, not only Tisha B’av, but all four of the fast days (in which we remember Yerushalayim) will one day take on an added dimension. In the […]

When the Torah wishes to inform us of the ‘historical’ reason for a holiday, it certainly knows how to do so. Take for example the two other pilgrimage holidays – “chag ha’matzot” & “succot”: Even though these holidays are also presented from their ‘agricultural’ perspective (see Shmot 23:14-17), the Torah  informs us of their historical […]

This shiur provided courtesy of The Tanach Study Center In memory of Rabbi Abraham Leibtag We are all familiar with the historical reason for celebrating the ‘seventh day of Passover’ – for (according to the Midrash) the miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea took place seven days after Bnei Yisrael left Egypt. Yet, […]

This shiur provided courtesy of The Tanach Study Center In memory of Rabbi Abraham Leibtag Are the ‘Four Sons’ really in the Bible? When we quote that Midrash at the Seder, we certainly get that impression, for the Haggada quotes a pasuk from Chumash as the source for each son.  However, when you take a […]

This shiur provided courtesy of The Tanach Study Center In memory of Rabbi Abraham Leibtag How could an observant Jew say, let alone sing, that -‘it would have been enough’- even had God not given us the Torah? And how could a Zionist say, let alone sing, that -‘it would have been enough’- even if […]

This shiur provided courtesy of The Tanach Study Center In memory of Rabbi Abraham Leibtag Our recitation of the thirteen ‘middot ha-rachamim’ [God’s thirteen attributes of mercy] is certainly the focal point of the ‘selichot’ prayers and the highlight of ‘ne’ila’ on Yom Kippur.  But how are we to understand this recitation?  Is it a […]

This shiur provided courtesy of The Tanach Study Center In memory of Rabbi Abraham Leibtag Parshat Shekalim Just a short ‘vort’ on Parshat Shekalim (Shemot 30:11-16) which we read for maftir this week. A ‘Base’ and a ‘Crown’ What did Bnei Yisrael do with the money collected for the “machatzit hashekel”? From the commandment at […]