“BE-ZOT YAVO AHARON EL HA-KODESH” “WITH THIS SHALL AARON ENTER INTO THE HOLY PLACE” (LEVITICUS 16:3) A DISCOURSE OF THE STAROSELYER REBBE Rabbi Aharon Halevi Horowitz of Staroselye (1766-1828), was the eminent disciple of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of Habad Hasidism. Rabbi Aharon studied under the master for thirty years. The Alter Rebbe […]
The Third of Ellul: Yahrzeit of Rav Kook The third day of Ellul marks the 82nd anniversary of the passing of the Gaon and Tsaddik, Rav Avraham Yitshak Hakohen Kook (1865-1935). One of the Rav’s remarkable deeds that the general public is unaware of, was the Rav’s concerted effort to reestablish the great spiritual teachers […]
“BE-ZOT YAVO AHARON EL HA-KODESH” “WITH THIS SHALL AARON ENTER INTO THE HOLY PLACE” (LEVITICUS 16:3) A DISCOURSE OF THE STAROSHELYER REBBE Rabbi Aharon Halevi Horowitz of Staroshelye (1766-1828), was the eminent disciple of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of Habad Hasidism. Rabbi Aharon studied under the master for thirty years. The Alter Rebbe […]
In Honor of Yom Yerushalayim. The Holy One, blessed be He, sought to make Hezekiah the Messiah, and Sennacherib—Gog and Magog. The Attribute of Judgment remonstrated with the Holy One, blessed be He: “Master of the World, If You did not make David, King of Israel—who recited several songs and praises before You—the Messiah, then […]
Pinchas Peli (aka Hacohen) (1930-1989), a fourth-generation Jerusalemite, was born in Batei Mahseh in the Old City. He received a traditional yeshiva education and was ordained as a rabbi. Later, in the United States, Peli received a doctorate and went on to become a professor of Jewish thought in various universities in Israel and abroad. […]
Rav Kook wrote that there is a level of divine inspiration referred to in the kabbalistic literature as “Giluy Eliyahu be-Orah Sekhel” (“The Revelation of Elijah by Way of Intellect”). In a letter to Rabbi Nahman Greenspan of London, Rav Kook writes: “The content of the Revelation of Elijah occurs in several forms: by way […]
Now that the dust has begun to settle on the freshly dug grave of Leonard Cohen (1934-2016), and we are hopefully past the hullabaloo, past the media circus which witnessed (in Leonard’s own words) “all the lousy little poets coming round,” we may begin to examine with some sobriety the literary legacy of this celebrated […]
Hallel from Heaven and Hallel from Hell – “Just as the praise of the Holy One ascends to Him from Heaven, so it ascends from Hell.” – (Midrash) What do poet Paul Celan, novelist Aharon Appelfeld, and religious legalist Meshulam Rath share in common? Two things. First, they all emerged from Tchernowitz (today Chernivtsi, Ukraine), capital of […]
By Bezalel Naor In the year 5710/1950, in honor of the tenth of Shevat, the yahrzeit of his paternal grandmother Rebbetzin Rivkah, Rabbi Yosef Yitshak Schneersohn, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, composed and distributed a ma’amar (discourse) to be studied on that day. As Divine Providence would have it, the tenth of Shevat (which fell on a […]
Said Rabbi Ishmael ben Elisha: One time I entered to offer incense in the inner sanctum, and I saw Akatriel, Yah, Adonai Tseva’ot sitting upon an exalted throne, and He said to me, “Ishmael, my son, bless me.” I said to Him: “May it be Your will that Your compassion conquer Your wrath; and Your […]