Shavuot – The Forgotten Holiday

by | May 31, 2020

For the PDF version click HERE Years ago, a Reform Rabbi friend of mine, bemoaned that “Shavu’ot is the forgotten holiday of the Reform Movement”, because it is only one day, usually falls in the middle of the week and has nothing tangible to “capture” people’s...

The Deep Meaning of Creation – 5777

by | May 27, 2017

Rabbi Yedidya Noiman Rosh Kollel Montreal   The Deep Meaning of Creation   The Gemara in Sanhedrin (97b) teaches us the special importance of the reception of the Torah (Matan Torah). ‘Tana DeVei Eliyahu: The world will exist 6000 years- two...

So Who Needs Gemara Anyway? – 5776

by | Jun 8, 2016

Emanuel Elstein Former Shaliach in Washington (2003-4) and Memphis (2010-12)   So Who Needs Gemara Anyway? We often see discussions in Halacha as technical, boring and tedious. The rabbis look at some verses and can’t agree how to interpret them, so we end up...

!None of us Actually Celebrated Shavu’ot

by | May 27, 2015

Ten years ago, a reform rabbi friend of mine, bemoaned to me that “Shavu’ot is the forgotten holiday of the Reform Movement”. He explained that: 1. It was only one day. 2. It usually came out in the middle of the week. 3. There is nothing tangible to “capture” people...

Shavu’ot in Eretz Yisrael

by | Jan 13, 2015

Even though the Torah does not explicitly establish the connection between Shavu’ot / Atzeret and Matan Torah, in our collective memory the two are inextricably intertwined, as the Anshei Knesset HaGedola affixed in the prayers of the festival of Matan Torah....

Chag HaShavuot: What Are We Commemorating?

by | Jan 13, 2015

The festival of Shavuot is an enigma relative to the other yamim tovim! Shavuot is lacking some of the essential features that appear in all of the other holidays. There are several questions that immediately become apparent: Why is the name of the festival not...