In Sichot Beavodat  Hashem, Rabbi Eliezer Meizlish quotes the idea that every year before daybreak of Shavuot Hashem asks our souls, “Who wants to accept the Torah?” At that moment, the souls of Bnei Yisroel respond again, “Naaseh venishma – we will do and we will listen.” Every year we reaccept the Torah as we […]

The approaching holiday has several names in addition to Shavuot. The Hebrew name, whether of a yom tov or a person or even an object, conveys its essence. In this shiur, we will be focusing on two of the alternate names of Shavuot, Chag Habikurim – the holiday of the first fruit offering, and Atzeret […]

The Gemara in Maseches Shabbos says an example of notrikon (acronym) is the word Anochi.  The letters of the word anochi stands for anah nafshi kesivas yehavis.  Rashi explains that anah nafshi means ani b’atzmi, that Hashem is saying I myself wrote and gave the Torah. The Chasam Sofer (in his drashos for Rosh Hashana) […]

To launch the new Koren-Sacks Shavuot machzor, Rabbi Sacks delivered a keynote shiur in London on 7 June 2016 to a packed room in Finchley United Synagogue. Co-hosted by Koren Publishers and the London School of Jewish Studies, Rabbi Sacks talked about the similarities between Ruth and Tamar, and what we can learn from their […]

In the delightful book, “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery there is a scene in which the Little Prince takes credit for the sunrise itself, glorying in his work in bringing about the new day.  We find this scene charming because we recognize in the Little Prince the innocence and astonishment of childhood.   The […]