5779 קנאות People say that sometimes חקת and בלק are together and sometimes they are separate, as are מטות and, מסעי but פנחס is always by itself because the קנאי is always by himself. קנאות is a word that is one of the most misused terms in Jewish life. Because if you look in the Mishna in סנהדרין צא ע"א you see that there are only four things that we say קנאין are פוגעין בו and the הלכה is אין מורין לו....
5780 Chessed Hashem to Connect We begin davening with the Pasuk מה טבו אהלך יעקב משכנתיך ישראל. This Pasuk appears in the Nevuah of Bilaam. However the Maharshal in Tshuvah 64 says not to say this Pasuk because he feels uncomfortable being that it was said by a Rasha such as Bilaam. But according to the understanding that the Pasuk is referring to בתי כנסיות ובתי מדרשות (סנהדרין קה) (which is why we say it when we walk into shul), it’s a powerful thing that even a Rasha like Bilaam recognized this attribute of Klal Yisrael and therefore all the more so of a reason that it should be included in our davening....
5780 There is a מנהג in כלל ישראל to put non-bearing fruit trees in shuls on שבועות because on עצרת the judgement for the upcoming year’s fruit tree is decided (מג"א או"ח ס' תצד ס"ק ה). There are two questions that can be asked. Firstly, if we are judged in regard to fruit bearing trees, why do we put non fruit bearing trees in shul? Secondly, why is it that on ט"ו בשבת which is ראש השנה לאלנות do we celebrate by eating fruit and not with trees, an on שבועות which we are judged for the upcoming year’s fruit do we celebrate by putting trees in shuls, it should be the opposite?...
5780 Zachor Confidence To Bounce Back The Mitzvah of זכירת עמלק is not just to incite the שנאה towards the people of Amalek but towards the evil aspect that which they represent, as the Maggid from Koznitz says that every Jew needs to eradicate the Amalek, that which it embodies and personifies, from within. There have been many enemies of the Jews in our history but we are only commanded to remember that which Amalek in order to not lose the שנאה over generations....
The two main mitzvos throughout the Yom Tov of Sukkos are the ארבעה מינים and the סוכה. In the Torah, the Mitzvah of ארבעה מינים is told to us first and a few Psukim later we are commanded to sit in the Sukkah. However, when it comes to מסכת סוכה, the opposite is the case as the first two chapters deal with the Sukkah and only from the third chapter and on does it deal with the ארבעה מינים....