Parashat Ha Shavua Commentaries

On the seventeenth of Tammuz the tablets were broken by Moses when he saw that the Jews had made the golden calf; the daily offering was nullified by the Roman authorities and was never sacrificed again; the city walls of Jerusalem were breached; the general Apostemos (probably Antiochus Epiphanes) publicly burned a Torah scroll; and Manasseh placed an idol in the Sanctuary. (Ta’anit 26a-b). Read more...

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 “A season is set for everything, a time for every experience under heaven… A time for weeping and a time for laughing.  A time for mourning and a time for dancing” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3:4).  Read more...

Why is the festival of Shavuot called "the time of the giving of our Torah" and not the time of the receiving of our Torah?  Because the giving of the Torah happened at one specified time, but the receiving of the Torah happens at every time and in every generation.                                                             – Rabbi Meir Alter of Ger  Read more...

Each year as Yom Yerushalayim approaches, I am flooded with memories and questions. Permit me to share both with you. I was in Jerusalem on the day of its reunification and I went to the Western Wall with more than 100,000 Israelis but 6 days later to celebrate Shavuot and what seemed then like Israel’s miraculous victory. Read more...