An Omer Meditation
Galilee Diary: New Grain
Driving across the Jezreel Valley these days, you can't miss the biblical echoes of the landscape. On Pesach we are to eat only cereal products made from the last year's harvest, baked with no leavening – and at the same time we are to clean out completely any remnants of any grain products from the old supply.
Galilee Diary: Old Time Religion
Rabbi Shimon fled to the cave to escape a death sentence for publicly criticizing Roman culture. According to folk tradition, during his twelve years of isolation, he engaged in mystical meditation and wrote the Zohar, the central work of Kabbalah.
Galilee Diary: Hearing Torah
On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt, on that very day, they entered the wilderness of Sinai. -Exodus 19:1
Galilee Diary: Standing at Sinai?
by Marc Rosenstein
(Originally published in Ten Minutes of Torah and Galilee Diary)
Lag BaOmer: Little Sleep, Lots of Smoke
Lag BaOmer was completely off our radar when we lived in the United States. We never had any real exposure to it until we made Aliyah, and now its approach is easily recognizable by kids walking down the street, schlepping huge pieces of wood, old furniture, sticks, and anything else that burns.
Lag BaOmer
Lag BaOmer is a break, a time out, a moment to recall an ancient plague that may or may not have occurred, and perhaps a moment for reflection.
Making Meaning of Tisha B’Av Through the Lens of Literature
When you have come into the land
that the Eternal your God is giving to you as a heritage,
and you have possessed it and settled there,
you shall take from among all the first fruits of the ground
that you bring forth from your land-
Tishah B'Av: Words and Visions
Rabbi Oren Hayon teaches: "Reading Deuteronomy is a very different experience from reading the rest of Torah.
The Modern Day Value of Tishah B'Av
During the summer months the Torah's calendar contains no holidays save the weekly blessing of Shabbat. However, post biblical historical realities bring us a most significant commemoration on Tishah B'Av, the Ninth of Av.