Holidays 480 articles

“We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt” (Deut. 6:21). We were slaves to Pharaoh, not Pharaoh’s slaves. The former would be only a juridic-social description; the Jews belonged to Pharaoh legally,...

Is Hanukkah merely a holiday telling us a heroic story of battles won and political victories gained, like the American Fourth of July or the French Fourteenth of July? A political...

The gemara states that the mitzva of Chanuka lights is “a candle to each man and his house” (ner ish u’veito). No mention is made of lighting in shul. However, many...

The story of Hanukkah is typical of all our confrontations in the Galut, the Diaspora. In aristocracy, each family has a coat of arms, an emblem. What was the emblem of...

WHAT A MODEST, SPINNING TOP CAN TEACH US ABOUT MIRACLES We live in an age of miracles and wonder. Does that sound like a ridiculous statement to you – to characterize...

At Sukkot we fulfill the mitzva of taking the four species – etrog (citron), lulav (palm), hadas (myrtle) and arava (willow). While we must take all four kinds to fulfill the...

For most, it remains an enigma. We say it; it seems like it fits – but one suspects that we are essentially clueless (an admitted projection) to its Sukkos significance. I...

Jews live in calendar dialectics, oscillating between two Jewish New Years (Tishrei/Nissan) and two Judgment Days (Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur). Perhaps the greatest Jewish storyteller of all time, the Dubner Maggid, (Rabbi...

A Meditation on Sin and Repentance At the core of man is duality. Some might suggest contradiction. Regardless of how it is characterized, man’s essential duality creates tension in his life....

The Rema writes that a doubtful sin requires more thorough repentance than a certain one. The reason he gives is that a person tends to be feel less remorse over a...