The days between Tu B’Av and Sukkot have always been considered the wine pressing season in the Land of Israel. The farmers would be out in the vineyards harvesting the grapes which would then be brought to the winepress to begin the wine production. The Mishna...
In Parshat Nitzavim, we find the warnings of what will happen to the Jewish people when they are disloyal to God as well as the eventual benevolence that God will shower upon them when they repent. As part of the warnings, we read in Dvarim 29:22 that the land will be...
In the process of Tshuva (repentance), we slowly work on making amends from Rosh Chodesh Elul to Slichot, to Rosh HaShana, to the Aseret Ymei Tshuva (Ten Days of Repentance) to Yom Kippur and finally to Hoshana Raba. In the journey of aliya, immigrating to Israel, as...
Mazel Tov to Isaac and Amy Halickman and family on the upcoming Bar Mitzvah of their son, DanielImmediately before Moshe passed away, he renewed the covenant between God and B’nai Yisrael which was originally established with Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. In...
In Parshat Nitzavim (Devarim 30:2-3) we read: “You will return to HaShem, your God and obey Him exactly as I am commanding you today, you and your sons, wholeheartedly and with your whole being. HaShem, your God, will turn your captivity and will be merciful...
Rosh HaShana and September 11 coincide this year.Those of us who were living in New York City seventeen years ago can probably recount every moment of how the day unfolded. I remember taking my son, Dov to two year nursery school. It was the first day that the parents...
In Memory of Shimon Peres z”lThe Haftara for Parshat Nitzavim, the seventh of the prophecies of consolation seems to describe exactly what took place in Jerusalem today, on the morning of Shimon Peres’ funeral (Yishayahu 62:1-2):For Zion’s sake, I...
In Parshat Nitzavim, Moshe gathers the entire community together on the last day of his life and initiates them into the covenant of God.We read in Devarim 29:9-10: “You are standing today all of you before HaShem your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders...
In Parshat Nitzavim (Devarim 30:15-16) we read: “See, I have placed before you today life and good, and death and bad. For which I command you this day, to love God, to go in His ways and to guard His commandments and His statutes and His laws; and you will live...
Parsha Points- Nitzavim- Vayelech 5771 Sponsored by Midreshet Devora in Honor of Rut Abreu, the First Student from the Dominican Republic to Spend a Year of Torah Study in Jerusalem In Parshat Nitzavim, Devarim 30:11-14 B’nai Yisrael are...
In Parshat Nitzavim we read two psukim that should be familiar to us (Devarim 30:4-5) from the second paragraph of the Prayer for the Welfare of the State of Israel: “Im Yehieh Nidachacha Biktze HaShamayim, MiSham Yikabetzcha HaShem Elokecha, Umisham...
In Parshat Nitzavim we read the words (Devarim 30:3): “God will bring back your returnees and will be merciful toward you; and He will return and gather you from all the peoples that God has dispersed you there.” This pasuk describes the end of the...
Parshat Nitzavim states, Devarim 30:11-12: “For this mitzvah which I command you today, it is not too hard for you neither is it far off- Lo BaShamayim Hi- It is not in Heaven…” According to Ramban and Joseph Albo in Sefer HaIkkarim, the...
Eleven months out of the year we recite “Birkat HaChodesh”, the blessing of the new month on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh (the beginning of the new month). However, this Shabbat, the Shabbat before Rosh HaShana we omit this special blessing. Why? Shem...
Parshat Nitzavim (Devarim 29:9-10) begins with the words: “You stand, this day all of you (kulchem) before God; the heads of your tribes, your elders and your law officers, every person of Yisrael; Your small children, your wives and your convert who is within...