The Order of Zemanim
On the Sabbath following Passover we started reciting Pirket Avot (The Ethics of the Fathers). Each Sabbath one chapter is said. Sefaradim, who recite Avot only until the Sabbath before […]
The Gaon Rabbi Jacob Pollack
Since we are now in the period of counting the Omer, the following excerpt is of particular relevance. The Gaon Rabbi Isaiah b. Abraham HaLevi Horowitz writes in his Shnei […]
The Custom of Eating Fish on Shabbat
The Midrash tells of a Roman Jew, a tailor by profession, who on the eve of Yom Kippur competed with the servant of the governor for the last fish on […]
They Wore Sackcloth (Marking the Three Weeks)
Two great rabbinic luminaries wore sackcloth under their garments as a sign of mourning for the destruction of the Temple and the Galuth of the Divine Glory. Not only one […]
Elul
Rabbi Yeshaya Horowitz writes in his Shnei Luchot HaBrith (Messechet Rosh Hashana, Amud HaDin): The ancients (Kadmonim) gave a sign (for the days of judgement and the period of repentance […]
A Difficult Line in A Tish’a BeAv Elegy
Among the Kinot we recite Tish’a BeAv in the evening after the reading of Eicha is one which begins with the words: “Ad Ana Bechiya Betziyon?” (How much longer will […]
Yetziv Pitgam
Last year, on the occasion of Shavuot, I wrote about Yetziv Pitgam, which is said on the second day of the festival after the reading of the first verse of […]
The Hillula of Rabbi Moshe Isserles (Lag Ba’Omer in Cracow)
Rabbi Moshe Isserles, the great codifier, author of additions to Rabbi Yosef Caro’s Shulchan Aruch, reflecting the laws and customs of Ashkenazi Jewry, lived and taught in Cracow, where he […]
Two Festival Customs
The Mishna (Yoma 5:1) tells us that when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, “He came out by the way he entered.” Just as he […]
Azharot
On the festival of Shavuot, the Oriental and Sephardic communities recite Azharot. This is the name given to the liturgical compositions or Piyyutim which enumerate the 613 commandments of the […]