Apr
12
April, 12th 2024
Dear Hebrew Academy Community:
The commemoration Yetzi’at Mitzrayim, the Exodus from Egypt, is not limited to Pesach. We include the phrase זכר ליצאת מצרים –a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt—not…
Apr
5
April, 5th 2024
Dear Hebrew Academy Community:
Every once in a while we hear news of a terrible event which takes place just at a moment of great joy. We hear—we pray that such an event will never affect us or our…
Mar
29
March, 29th 2024
Dear Hebrew Academy Community:
Rav Soloveitchik, as recorded by Rabbi Avishai David in his Darosh Darash Yosef, noted that one of the reasons we always read Parashat Tzav during the weeks before…
Mar
22
March, 22nd 2024
Dear Hebrew Academy Community:
I try not to send year-old Dvar Torah messages, but this pre-Purim message is worth sending again.
If there were one line in the Talmud which most Jewish educators…
Mar
1
March, 1st 2024
Dear Hebrew Academy Community:
Throughout Vayakhel and Pekudai, the two Parshiyot which describe the construction of the Mishkan we are told again, and again, and again that each piece was…
Feb
23
February, 23rd 2024
Dear Hebrew Academy Community:
Ein Yaakov, a collection of Aggadic material compiled by Rabbi Jacob ben Solomon ibn Habib (Spain and Salonika, 1460–1516), records the following rabbinic discussion:…
Feb
16
February, 16th 2024
Dear Hebrew Academy Community:
The following is a Dvar Torah that my son, Rabbi Noam Stein, wrote for his school several years ago.
Many people, certainly many adolescent students, experience an…
Feb
9
February, 9th 2024
Dear Hebrew Academy Community:
The conclusion of this week’s Parasha is somewhat difficult to understand. God commands Moshe to “ascend to Hashem.” Moshe gathers the people and tells them “all the…
Feb
2
February, 2nd 2024
Dear Hebrew Academy Community:
The Gemara in Massechet Shabbat (88a) offers a very puzzling interpretation of what at first glance seems to be a rather simple statement about Ma’amad Har Sinai.…
Jan
12
January, 12th 2024
Dear Hebrew Academy Community:
Something rather strange happens very near the beginning of this week’s Parasha.
As we all remember from last week’s Torah reading, Moshe’s initial approach to Pharaoh…
