This past week, Jewish communities throughout the world, as well as many non-Jewish communities, marked April 8th, Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, with meaningful commemorations. Our great Torah scholar, Maimonides, lists “remember what Amalek did” and “do not forget what Amalek did” as two separate but closely related Torah mitzvot, incumbent on every Jew. Neither command has any designated time or place to be fulfilled. In fact, they can be accomplished every day, at any time.

Why was the Shabbat before the first Pesach and every Shabbat that precedes Pesach thereafter known as “Shabbat Hagadol,” the Great Shabbat? What was significant about that Shabbat that we commemorate it every year? Click to find out.

There have been many memorable movie one-liners over the years. One comes from Clint Eastwood in one of his Dirty Harry movies. At the end of one particular movie, when the villain is finally disposed of, Inspector Callahan coolly reminds us, “A man has to know his limitations.” In this week’s Torah reading, פרשת כי תשא, God makes a similar comment to Moshe.

“They shall make for Me a sanctuary and I will dwell among them.” This verse from Parshat Terumah presents us with a question. What does it mean to create a sanctuary for God?