Shiur provided courtesy of Torah Anytime

How does learning the Zohar cause us to merit the final redemption? Why does the gemara say the world was desolate after Rebbi Akiva’s students died – they weren’t the only talmidei chachamim alive at the time? Why did they die between Pesach and Shavuot? Why do we celebrate when they stopped dying – they […]

The tradition of kabbalah from the Arizal, his disciple Rav Chaim Vital, and how kabbalah was handed down through the generations via Rav Yisroel Saruk and the Rama MiPano. Download the mekorot here Shiur provided courtesy of Torah Anytime

Physicists teach us that the movement of time is constant through space.  It moves on and on with the precision and consistency of the finest timepiece.  Tick, tick, tick.  At times reassuring.  Other times maddening.  Tick, tick, tick.  We measure our lives by these perfectly precise segments.  Tick, tick, tick.  Sixty to a minute.  Sixty […]

The Chatam Sofer questions why the yahrtzeit of R’ Shimon bar Yochai warrants a holiday – we generally don’t celebrate a yahrtzeit! He then enumerates four historical events occurred on Lag BaOmer. Download the source sheet here Shiur provided courtesy of Torah Anytime

What does the Gemara mean that Rabbi Akiva’s students “לא נהגו כבוד זה לזה” and that losing those 12,000 pairs of students caused the world to be desolate? How did Rabbi Akiva’s 5 new students act as a tikun for the 24,000 students who passed away? Download the mekorot here Recorded at OU Israel’s L’Ayla […]

What is the difference between the Zohar, composed by R’ Shimon Bar Yochai while hiding in the cave, and the other sefarim on the Chumash written beforehand?

Is it possible that all 24,000 of Rabbi Akiva’s students committed the exact same sin? Why do we mourn over these students if they didn’t even learn from their rebbe’s most famous teaching?

Historically, the period between Pesach and Shavuos was meant to be a period of great joy and anticipation, for our redemption from Egypt was the precursor to the ultimate goal of receiving the Torah on Shavuos and symbolically consummating our relationship to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Yet the period has changed to become a period of […]