This week’s Torah portion Emor, אמור, contains within it the section of the “moadim,” מועדים. How exactly to translate the term “moed,” מועד, to convey its proper significance, is not so simple.

Just a few weeks ago we were gathered around a festive table with our family and friends. Our purpose was to retell the events surrounding our Exodus from Egypt. The Haggadah recounts the story of five great rabbis having a Seder together in Bnai Brak, a city in Israel. They were discussing the Exodus from Egypt all night until close to sunrise. What did they have so much to talk about? One clue is found from this week’s Torah reading.

[maxmegamenu location=primary-menu] Yom HaZikaron, the Day of Remembrance, which we marked this week, marks a sad and difficult day in our homeland, מדינת ישראל, the land of Israel, the land of the ברית, the eternal covenant between Hashem and our forefathers and...

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.