{"id":57323,"date":"2025-03-07T17:28:04","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T17:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?p=57323"},"modified":"2025-03-12T14:54:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-12T14:54:38","slug":"epic-eponym","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/","title":{"rendered":"Epic Eponym"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Naaleh_logo\"<\/em><\/a>\u00a0Shiur provided courtesy of\u00a0<\/em>Naaleh.com<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein<\/span><\/p>\n

As we approach the holiday of Purim, we are tempted to ask, as Rabbi Friedlander does, how does the name Purim reflect the essence of the holiday, and why is the name in the plural? Further, why does the Megillah define\u00a0pur\u00a0<\/i>and tell us it is the\u00a0goral,\u00a0<\/i>when both words mean the same thing, a lottery? Or are they really exactly the same?<\/span><\/p>\n

We begin our discussion with Rabbi Bernstein’s explanations. First, citing the Vilna Gaon, he explains that Haman’s lottery was not randomly picking a number out of a hat, but a precise astrological system of pinpointing the most auspicious date for any endeavor. While Bnei Yisroel is not subject to the energies of the stars, to astrological influences, as we are under Hashem’s direct supervision, much of that supervision had been lost when the Beit Hamikdosh was destroyed; the Beit Hamikdosh had been the shelter through which Hashem protected us, much as a hut protects those within it from the sun, a prime astrological sign. Indeed, under natural circumstances, the thirteenth of Adar was the most propitious day to annihilate the Jews.<\/span><\/p>\n

Haman’s error was fundamental. He did not reason that He Who had created the forces of nature and of the stars could just as easily transform them. So the day that was indeed originally a day meant for Jewish tragedy was transformed into a day that would forever be a day of celebration for the Jews; it now had its new natural, astrological character. Hence, the plural\u00a0Purim<\/i>\u00a0signifies two lotteries, the original that Haman had counted on, and the second that transformed the lot of that day into holiday.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are told that the holy Yom Kippur is a day\u00a0ki Pur<\/i><\/b>im,\u00a0<\/i>a day like Purim. This commonality is most evident, suggests Rabbi Biederman, during the\u00a0Mussaf Kedushah<\/i>\u00a0[in the Sephardi liturgy]. When we recite that first word,\u00a0kesser<\/i>\/crown, we are aware that all the astrological signs Hashem created are under His sovereignty. As such, we are protected from any decrees against us as perhaps “written in the stars.” Purim similarly protects us, and Hashem reversed the astrological powers for our benefit. When we realize the power of this day, we may beseech Hashem for anything, from personal requests to national requests, and certainly for our final redemption with the coming of Moshiach. The most powerful time for our requests, suggests Rabbi Pincus zt\u2019l, is during Megillah reading, with additional opportunities throughout\u00a0tefillah<\/i>\u00a0and in\u00a0Birkat Hamazon<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do we attribute the outcome of a “lottery,” and of all that happens, to pure chance, or do we see in the outcome the hand of God? This is the eternal battle Amalek wages against Hashem. The\u00a0Sifsei Chaim<\/i>\u00a0reminds us that a\u00a0goral<\/i>\u00a0was in fact used several times in Tanach, whether for our Yom Kippur service to determine the sacrificial goat versus the scapegoat, or in the distribution of the land when we entered Eretz Yisroel with Joshua. While Haman was casting lots to determine astrological, or “lucky chance” dates for destroying the Jews, we see it as a\u00a0goral<\/i>, as all in the control of Hashem; \u2018Hu Hagoral\u2019 is a reference to Hashem, who is the Ultimate one in charge.\u00a0 That is the essence of the Megillah.<\/span><\/p>\n

This theme appears multiple times in the Megillah in the words of Mordechai Hatzadik and of Haman. Mordechai Hatzadik, in sending Esther Hamalka the message about the terrible edict, told her everything that had\u00a0karahu<\/i>, that had happened to him. With this word, Mordechai Hatzadik alluded to Haman, a descendant of Amalek, the nation that\u00a0karcha<\/i>, happened upon the Jews in the desert. Later, when Haman builds a gallows for Mordechai Hatzadik and rushes to get the King’s permission, the tables are turned on him. Instead of killing Mordechai Hatzadik, Haman is forced to bestow tremendous honor on Mordechai Hatzadik. In relating all this to his wife, he attributes it all to coincidence, to terrible circumstances, it all\u00a0korohu<\/i>, happened to him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mordechai Hatzadik, although he may not yet know how things will play out, recognizes that Hashem is writing the script. Haman, on the other hand, sees everything as haphazard, disorganized coincidence. The challenge of Purim is the challenge we all face throughout our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Understanding that everything that happens in our lives is coordinated by Hashem is the bedrock of having\u00a0emunah<\/i>\/faith in Hashem, and is one of the six constant mitzvoth, writes Rabbi Berkowitz. This is the underlying theme of Megillat Esther Hamalka and perhaps the main reason it is included in the canon of our Holy Writings. When we start inspecting our lives, our challenges, our decisions, the people we met “by coincidence” along the way, we may begin to notice a pattern that reinforces our faith that there is nothing random in this world. But then again, we may not yet notice, for we are still weaving the pattern of our lives, and the full picture is not yet clear. That is when we must believe that, just like the events in the Megillah, nothing in our lives is really haphazard.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is it that the Iron Dome in Israel successfully intercepts almost all the incoming missiles, a much larger percentage than it does in other countries where it is deployed? As a scientist in Israel told a young kollel man, it is the power of Torah and Hashem’s intervention that guided the drones more than the technology.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Avi Feiner makes a remarkable observation about the very name of this joyous holiday. Purim is joyous because it gives us a sense of the joy of the Messianic era. How?<\/span>\u00a0 In the sequence of Hebrew letters that spell out Purim-\u00a0<\/span>\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8<\/span><\/b>\u05d9\u05dd<\/span>. The letter\u00a0vov<\/i>\u00a0in Hebrew is often grammatically a connecting letter, acting as either “and” or as a dash. Rabbi Feiner suggests that this letter\u00a0vov<\/i>\u00a0in Purim is filling in the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Let us put in the entire sequence: …<\/span>\u05e4\u00a0\u05e6\u00a0\u00a0 \u05e7<\/u>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>\u05e8<\/span>\u00a0. The intervening letters, represented by the dash, spell\u00a0<\/span>\u05e7\u05e5<\/span>, the term that usually refers to the Messianic era, the end of time. This allusion to the final redemption fills us with joy, for “Then our mouth will fill with laughter and our lips with song.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Rabbi Strickoff suggests that the holiday is called Purim because it was this lottery that produced the positive result of uniting the Jewish people. It is along these lines that the\u00a0Tallelei Chaim<\/i>\u00a0turns our attention to our first reference to Amalek as our enemy. That encounter occurred in Rephidim\/<\/span>\u05e8\u05e4\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd<\/span>. The Gemarra\u00a0 points out that the reason Bnei Yisroel were vulnerable was because their hands\u00a0<\/span>\u05e8\u05e4\u05d5<\/span>\/became weak in the [study, work] of Torah. Therefore the Megillah sometimes writes Purim with the extra\u00a0vov<\/i>\u00a0as\u00a0<\/span>\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd<\/span>\u00a0and sometimes without it, as\u00a0<\/span>\u05e4\u05e8<\/span><\/b>\u05d9\u05dd<\/span>\u00a0to remind us of our initial encounter in\u00a0<\/span>\u05e8\u05e4<\/span><\/b>\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd<\/span>\u00a0when our faith wavered and we asked, “Is Hashem within us or not?” The enemy is Hashem’s tool. It is when we show weakness in our faith that Hashem sends us an agent and a challenge to bring us back to Him.<\/span><\/p>\n

The fact that Purim is in the month of Adar\/<\/span>\u05d0\u05d3\u05e8<\/span>\u00a0is further significant in that it alludes to the\u00a0Aleph<\/i>, the King of the world, being a resident, a\u00a0<\/span>\u05d3\u05e8<\/span>\u00a0in our world. But let us not confuse the\u00a0<\/span>\u05d3<\/span>\u00a0with the\u00a0<\/span>\u05e8<\/span>. In Hebrew, the name of each letter is significant. both\u00a0daled<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0reish<\/i>\u00a0mean “poor.” But the difference is that\u00a0daled\u00a0<\/i>can also be read as\u00a0delet<\/i>\/door. A poor man who leaves the door open for help from Hashem is much different from the poor man who feels he is in control, and not God. Amalek’s mission was to erase Hashem from the world. The power of the\u00a0daled<\/i>\u00a0who has faith and opens the door, coming before the\u00a0reish\u00a0<\/i>is what empowers Hashem’s presence, the\u00a0Aleph<\/i>,\u00a0<\/i>to descend to the world and confound Amalek. We have to see this idea played over and over throughout our lives, in the plural in Purim.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as the salvation of Purim is concealed within the regular intrigue of palace politics, so is salvation hidden in the unwinding the scrolls of history. The story is told of the hidden miracle of Operation Solomon, when Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to safety in Israel. Whether or not the United Stated would become involved and write the appropriate recognition of the Ethiopian regime was up for a vote in President Bush’s cabinet. This was a condition Ethiopian president Mengistu demanded if he was to allow the Jews to emigrate. With the vote even, the final, deciding vote was up to Colin Powell. Why did he vote to support the Ethiopian Jewish airlift? Because as a child, he and his siblings were trapped in a burning building, doomed to death. A passerby ran in and saved the children. When they wanted to reward the passerby, he said he is an Ethiopian Jew who does not get paid for doing mitzvoth. Colin Powell’s decisive vote so many years later was General Powell’s returning the mitzvah. We generally do not see Hashem’s hand in action in the present, only in retrospect.<\/span><\/p>\n

Who wins a lottery and who doesn’t are decisions that appear random but are really not so. Nevertheless, they are beyond our understanding, above our heads, so to speak. Therefore they are referred as the\u00a0kesser<\/i>, the crown of Hashem, writes Rabbi Wolfson\u00a0<\/span>zt\u2019l<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bnei Yisroel and Hakodosh Boruch Hu are intimately connected. As we say in our Yomim Noraim liturgy, “…You are our Portion. We are your heritage, and You are\u00a0goraleinu\/<\/i>our Lot.” Although we recognize our special relationship with Hashem, writes the\u00a0Chida<\/i>, we do not flaunt that relationship; we hide it within the idea of a chance\u00a0pur<\/i>\/lottery. We know Hashem’s saving us makes no sense and it is just a manifestation of His love for us. But that love must be carried forward, adds Rabbi Pincus. We reflect God’s love by extending it to others, by sharing our food through\u00a0mishloach manot<\/i>\u00a0and by giving gifts — not charity — to the poor.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Slonimer Rebbe, the\u00a0Netivot Shalom<\/i>, gives us a chassidic slant to the joy we experience on Purim. On this day we have the ability to enter Hashem’s chambers that is not formally, normally permissible [as Esther Hamalka entered Ahashverosh’s chamber] and ask Hashem to reverse a decree against us. Even if the decree has already been sealed, as the decree against the Jews, we have the ability to reverse it. First, if we increase the love among our fellow Jews, Hashem will view us with increased love. Further, if we can be joyous and love Hashem even when He sends us pain and challenges, then Hashem will reciprocate with overwhelming love for us even when we “pain” Him with our behavior. It is the energy of the love and connection to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that has the power to overturn what has been decreed, whether it appears natural or random.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our faith in Hashem must never waver. When life and history appear dark, we must remember that Hashem, although unseen, is in control. Purim teaches us this lesson. We came closer to Hashem through those challenges, and we have come closer to Hashem in the pain of our current challenges. We pray that just as Hashem orchestrated our salvation through hidden channels then, may He already be in the process of our current salvation, and may it be speedily, in the very near future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Freilichen Purim!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Shiur provided courtesy of\u00a0Naaleh.com Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein As we approach the holiday of Purim, we are tempted to ask, as Rabbi Friedlander does, how does the name Purim reflect the essence of the holiday, and why is the name in the plural? Further, why does the Megillah define\u00a0pur\u00a0and tell us it is the\u00a0goral,\u00a0when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":883,"featured_media":57326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[348],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-purim","post_format-post-format-video"],"yoast_head":"\nEpic Eponym - Jewish Holidays<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Epic Eponym - Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0Shiur provided courtesy of\u00a0Naaleh.com Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein As we approach the holiday of Purim, we are tempted to ask, as Rabbi Friedlander does, how does the name Purim reflect the essence of the holiday, and why is the name in the plural? Further, why does the Megillah define\u00a0pur\u00a0and tell us it is the\u00a0goral,\u00a0when […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jewish Holidays\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrthodoxUnion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-07T17:28:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-12T14:54:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/AdobeStock_502334791-scaled.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1182\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shira Smiles\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shira Smiles\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/\",\"name\":\"Epic Eponym - Jewish Holidays\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/AdobeStock_502334791-scaled.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-07T17:28:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-12T14:54:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/84065b7b3d27f42f00516fb0a6db2604\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/AdobeStock_502334791-scaled.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/AdobeStock_502334791-scaled.jpeg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1182,\"caption\":\"Close up top view past god biblical law mail notice page pray read space. Closeup age male arm hold nib inkwell scribe draw art diary teach notepad card author human man boy dark black wood desk table\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Epic Eponym\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/\",\"name\":\"Jewish Holidays\",\"description\":\"Learn about Jewish holidays\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/84065b7b3d27f42f00516fb0a6db2604\",\"name\":\"Shira Smiles\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/torah\/files\/Shira-Smiles_avatar.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/torah\/files\/Shira-Smiles_avatar.jpeg\",\"caption\":\"Shira Smiles\"},\"description\":\"Mrs. Shira Smiles is a highly sought-after international lecturer, a popular seminary teacher, and an experienced curriculum developer. She is well-known for her unique teaching style, which seeks to bring understanding of Torah texts through analysis of relevant sources, while making the lessons learned from every verse relevant to her students' lives. Mrs. Smiles teaches at Darchei Bina Seminary. In addition, she leads a number of women's study group classes in Beit Shemesh, Yerushalayim, and Modiin. Mrs. Smiles also trains Torah teachers in special workshops all over the world. Mrs. Smiles gives a weekly shiur that is broadcast around the world via satellite hookup, has a direct teleconference shiur with students in LA, and has over 300 audio shiurim. Her first book is called Torah Tapestries. Photo courtesy Daryl Tempkin Photography\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/author\/shira-smiles\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Epic Eponym - Jewish Holidays","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Epic Eponym - Jewish Holidays","og_description":"\u00a0Shiur provided courtesy of\u00a0Naaleh.com Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein As we approach the holiday of Purim, we are tempted to ask, as Rabbi Friedlander does, how does the name Purim reflect the essence of the holiday, and why is the name in the plural? Further, why does the Megillah define\u00a0pur\u00a0and tell us it is the\u00a0goral,\u00a0when […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/","og_site_name":"Jewish Holidays","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OrthodoxUnion","article_published_time":"2025-03-07T17:28:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-12T14:54:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1182,"url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/AdobeStock_502334791-scaled.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Shira Smiles","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shira Smiles","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/","name":"Epic Eponym - Jewish Holidays","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/AdobeStock_502334791-scaled.jpeg","datePublished":"2025-03-07T17:28:04+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-12T14:54:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/84065b7b3d27f42f00516fb0a6db2604"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/AdobeStock_502334791-scaled.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/files\/AdobeStock_502334791-scaled.jpeg","width":2560,"height":1182,"caption":"Close up top view past god biblical law mail notice page pray read space. Closeup age male arm hold nib inkwell scribe draw art diary teach notepad card author human man boy dark black wood desk table"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/epic-eponym\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Epic Eponym"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/","name":"Jewish Holidays","description":"Learn about Jewish holidays","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/84065b7b3d27f42f00516fb0a6db2604","name":"Shira Smiles","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/torah\/files\/Shira-Smiles_avatar.jpeg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.ou.org\/torah\/files\/Shira-Smiles_avatar.jpeg","caption":"Shira Smiles"},"description":"Mrs. Shira Smiles is a highly sought-after international lecturer, a popular seminary teacher, and an experienced curriculum developer. She is well-known for her unique teaching style, which seeks to bring understanding of Torah texts through analysis of relevant sources, while making the lessons learned from every verse relevant to her students' lives. Mrs. Smiles teaches at Darchei Bina Seminary. In addition, she leads a number of women's study group classes in Beit Shemesh, Yerushalayim, and Modiin. Mrs. Smiles also trains Torah teachers in special workshops all over the world. Mrs. Smiles gives a weekly shiur that is broadcast around the world via satellite hookup, has a direct teleconference shiur with students in LA, and has over 300 audio shiurim. Her first book is called Torah Tapestries. Photo courtesy Daryl Tempkin Photography","url":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/author\/shira-smiles\/"}]}},"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/883"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57323"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57388,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57323\/revisions\/57388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/holidays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}