Two Infamous Medieval Disputations
Presented by Rabbi Steven Weil as part of the World of Western Mediterranean Jewry Series.
Tisha B’Av: Holiday of Distance
According to Rav Wolbe the theme of Tisha B’Av is the concept of “Po” – here. God should exist here in this world. However, this is something we can’t comprehend without...
Parashat Devarim & Tisha B’Av: Torah and the Land...
Torah and the Land of Israel These are the words that Moshe spoke to all Yisrael, on the far-side of the Jordan, in the wilderness, on the plain opposite Suf, between...
Seudah Hamafseket on Shabbat-Erev Tisha b’Av
Normally, the last meal eaten before the Tish’ b’Av fast is supposed to be a spare meal eaten in solitude, since the mourning of Tish’a b’Av begins already the day before....
The Power of Tisha B’Av: An Analysis of Kinot...
The personal losses of the churban – The Death of the Righteous: The Tragedy of the Deaths of Yoshiyahu HaMelech, The Children of Rabbi Yishmael, and the Ten Martyrs – Presented...
The Event That Irrevocably Changed the Destiny of Ashkenazic...
In Tisha B’Av Kinah 25 we mourn the loss of the Jews of the Rhineland, the center of Judaism, including Speyer, Worms, & Mainz in the First Crusade. OU Tisha B’Av...
A Fair Maiden or a Demon? The 26th and...
Jeremiah encounters a being, symbolic of the Jewish nation, she appears to be both a fair maiden and a demon: An explanation of the 26th and 27th Kinot.
The 10th Kinnah: Mishmaros Kehunah & The Valley of...
The Impact and Loss of Each Distinct Kehillah Rabbi Weil discusses the 10th Kinah which discusses the loss of the mishmarot kehunah and it’s parallel to Yad VaShem’s Valley of Communities.
The Millennial Generation: Kinot 22 & 25 – The...
A Watershed Moment in Ashkenazic Jewry. The first crusade, like the death of the students of Rabbi Akiva would have wiped out the entire mesorah, had it not been for Rabbi...
Kinah 11: The Man Who Could Have Stopped the...
Who was Yoshiyahu and how could he have stopped the churban? He, like Moshe, built up the Jewish nation from nothing (Torah-wise) but he made 1 fatal flaw.
