Question: Do I make a brakha when receiving a COVID-19 vaccine shot or when it begins to be distributed in my city? If so, what brakha? Answer: We should start by noting that the question you are asking is a halakhic one regarding the specific formulaic blessing of the Barukh atah nature.…
In the Time of Coronavirus
Chanukkah celebrates religious maximalism. We increase the number of lights each night to show that we will not just make do with the bare minimum of one light per night. In doing this, we remember the miracle of the oil, where the Jews at the time sought out pure oil, although impure oil would have sufficed under the circumstances.…
In the Time of Coronavirus
The two primary paragraphs of Yizkor — the titular “Yizkor” and the well-known “El Maleh Rachamim” — are contrasting devotions. El Maleh Rachamim requests repose. The key word is Menucha, or rest. We ask that God grant our relative’s soul “fitting rest … a rest in the Garden of Eden … so that they rest in peace”. …
In the Time of Coronavirus
The Rabbis tell us that the mitzvah to dwell in a sukkah means that we are, for this week, to tzei midirat keva ve’sheiv bi’dirat aray –to leave our established, permanent abode and live in a temporary dwelling. In other years, I have understood the message to be that by living in a temporary dwelling we become aware that the normal stability and predictability of our lives – our established abode – is actually an illusion.…
Rav Mordechai Yehuda Leib Winkler (1845-1932, Hungary) was a student of the Ketav Sofer, the son of the Chatam Sofer and served as the Rabbi and Rosh HaYeshiva of Mád in Northern Hungary. His book of responsa, Levushe Mordechai, contains 1555 separate responsa addressed to 174 different locations (including 4 to the United States), testifying to his popularity and importance as a posek.…
by Dr. Yonatan Grossman
Posted on September 15, 2020
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by Rabbi Yitzchak Blau
Posted on September 15, 2020
A recording of this shiur is not available, but you can find the source sheet through this Sefaria link.…
by Rabbi Aryeh Klapper
Posted on September 15, 2020
Scroll below the video to follow along with the source sheet. …
by Nechama Price
Posted on September 14, 2020
To follow along with the shiur’s source sheet on Sefaria, please click here.…
by Rabbi Dr. Erin Leib-Smokler
Posted on September 14, 2020
To follow along with the shiur’s source sheet on Sefaria, please click here.…
by Rabbi Dovi Nadel
Posted on September 14, 2020
To follow along with the shiur’s source sheet on Sefaria, please click here.…