Rabbi Fischer – History Of Chanukkah
Shapell’s Darche Noam · Rabbi Fischer – History Of Chanukkah Download Sponsor a Shiur Select your Currency: $ USD ₪ ILS £ GBP If you are donating from Canada, click here. Otherwise pick your currency and your contribution will be tax deductable.
Rabbi F. Shuster: “Unleashing the Power of the Endangered Child”
Three of the questions Shapell’s Mashgiach Rabbi Fyvel Shuster related to in this week’s shmuze are: 1. Why is the yetzer hatov (good inclination) referred to, of all things, as a “yeled miskein (endangered child)”?! 2. Why does the Rambam refer to lighting Chanuka candles as a “very dear commandment”? 3. What can we learn […]
Rabbi F. Shuster: “Watch Your Head”
In this shmuze Rabbi Shuster discusses protecting our minds, and touches on the conflict between Yaakov and Esav and that of the Jews and the Greeks, as well as how to deal with exposure to modern culture. [sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://www.torahmedia.com/streamlinkdirect.php/47342/high/1109_154_H_Watch_Your_Head.mp3″] Download external=”0″]
Rabbi Y. Hirshfeld: “Chanuka – Moving From Chochma to Daat”
In a shmuze about Chanukah, Rabbi Yitzchak Hirshfeld shows that the antecedents of the Jewish and Greek ways of viewing the world can be found in the beginnings of the world – Adam and Chava eating from the Tree of Knowledge, and Noach’s parting words to Shem, Cham, and Yefet. [sc_embed_player_template1 fileurl=”http://www.torahmedia.com/streamlinkdirect.php/47326/high/1109_153_H_Chanuka_-_Moving_from_Chochma_to_Daat.mp3″] Download external=”0″]
Playing Checkers on Chanuka
A Chassidic Story The following story is told about the Holy Tzaddik Rav Nachum of Stefanesht, of blessed memory. One time during Chanuka he suddenly entered his beit medrash where there were a number of people sitting playing checkers. When they noticed that their rebbe was standing over them they became very afraid. He spoke […]
Chanukah and the Power of the Oral Torah
Seven and Eight Rabbi Yehoshua Hartman Darche Noam/Shapell’s senior lecturer Rav Yehoshua Hartman is one of the foremost experts on the writings of the Maharal. The following essay is adapted from the introduction of his just-published edition of the Maharal’s Ner Mitzva. Ner Mitzva The title of the Maharal’s book on Chanukah, “Ner Mitzva”, not […]
Compensating Kislev
Mrs. Menucha Chwat The Midrash (Shemot Rabba 52:2) reveals that the 25th of Kislev was not only when the rededication of the Temple took place in the times of the Chashmonaim, but was also the date when the Mishkan was completed by Moshe and the people of Israel. The actual dedication of the Mishkan, we […]
Chanuka on our Philadelphia Street
Rebbetzin Ruthie Karlinsky As a child growing up in Philadelphia, I remember well the long bus ride home from school in the dark December evenings. As we passed from one Catholic neighborhood through another, we would marvel at the array of gaudy holiday decorations, blinking lights, tinsel balls and life size reindeer. The amount of […]
Greek and Jewish Spirituality
Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky 1. The Greeks prohibited the observance of Shabbat, Brit Mila (circumcision), and Kiddush Hachodesh (court sanctification of a new month based on the new moon). Why did these three Mitzvot bother them more than the other 610 Mitzvot? 2. They also prohibited the study and dissemination of Torah Sheba’al Peh (Oral Torah) […]
Prayer, Miracles, and Chanuka
Two Aspects of the Chanuka Miracle Rav Shaya and Binyamin Karlinsky The following D’var Torah is an English translation of the Drasha that was delivered by my son, Binyamin at his Bar Mitzvah, and for our siyum of Masechet Ta’anit. (Rav Shaya Karlinsky) The Gemara in Ta’anit (2a) analyzes the verse from Kriyat Shma, “To […]
