by Rabbi Joshua Maroof | Apr 19, 2009 | Uncategorized
Another approach to the question of why the Torah established the seventh day of Pesah as a full-fledged holiday is expressed in many traditional sources and is widely known; namely, the seventh day is, according to the Midrashim, the day on which Hashem split the Sea...
by Rabbi Joshua Maroof | Apr 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
Why does the Torah require us to celebrate the Seventh Day of Pesah as a distinct holiday with a prohibition of work, festival prayers, etc.? This seems like a reasonable question (albeit in retrospect) since the Torah provides no explicit account of its purpose.Over...
by Rabbi Joshua Maroof | Apr 14, 2009 | Uncategorized
As I have discussed in several earlier posts, the two seven-day festivals instituted by the Torah, Pesah and Sukkot, both address elements of our physical existence. Pesah changes our staple food from conventional bread to matsah. Sukkot alters our dwelling from a...
by Rabbi Joshua Maroof | Apr 8, 2009 | Uncategorized
In principle, it would be prohibited to prepare food on Yom Tov for consumption on Shabbat. To circumvent this restriction, the Rabbis instituted Eruv Tavshilin. Whenever a holiday falls out on a Friday – or, as in our case, Thursday and Friday – we take a...
by Rabbi Joshua Maroof | Apr 7, 2009 | Uncategorized
There has been much recent discussion, in the J-Blogosphere and elsewhere, of the rare and fascinating Birkat Hachamma or “Blessing of the Sun” that will be performed Wednesday morning. The very fact that this blessing is recited only once in a generation...
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