by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed
The Census The Torah portion of ‘Bamidbar’ is replete with numerical accountings of the Tribes of Israel. Seemingly, one could ask: Why does the Torah need to ‘waste’ so many verses calculating the exact numbers of each and every tribe, and afterwards, mention the entire amount of people? And as if that was not enough, … Read more
Israeli Author Yoram Kanyuk and the ‘Nakba’ On the day that the Arabs and their supporters from the left ‘celebrated’ their audacious lie about the ‘nakba’, which in essence is the cry of the robbed Cossack who complains about his unsuccessful attempt to violently plunder the Land of Israel and murder the Jewish nation who … Read more
“Since the Land is Mine, No Land Shall be Sold Permanently” Parshat Behar The Prohibition of Relinquishing Land to Ememies The Mitzvah of Settling the Land The mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel requires the Jewish nation to conquer the Land of Israel, as it is written: “And you shall dispossess the inhabitants of … Read more
The Mitzvah of Settling the Land of Israel When the State of Israel was established, on the fifth of Iyar, 5708, the Jewish people were privileged once again to be able to fulfill the mitzvah of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael (Settling the Land of Israel). Even before the declaration of statehood, every Jew who lived in … Read more
Overwhelming Tragedy An individual possesses the ability to grasp the short range significance of events and to understand those aspects which affect his own personal life. Yet, even this process takes time. Only after enough time has passed is one able to analyze properly what has befallen him. When a massive, sweeping event occurs – … Read more
The Significance of the Counting The date of the Shavuot Festival is unlike the dates of the other Jewish Festivals – unlike Passover, which falls on the fifteenth of Nissan, and unlike Succoth, which falls on the fifteenth of Tishrei. Rather, the date of the Shavuot is reckoned according to that of Passover. The procedure … Read more
The Great Night The expectations leading to seder night are tremendous. This is the night in which the Jewish people became a nation. Since then, on this night, an eternal beam splits through all the barriers and enlightens the world’s darkness. This light gradually strengthens through the story of the exodus from Egypt, and the … Read more
This article is an excerpt from Rabbi Melamed’s book “Pininei Halacha – Pesach” The entire book (except for the last chapter, which is still being translated) can be found at: https://yhb.org.il/en/ Origins of the Ashkenazi Minhag The type of chametz prohibited by the Torah is that which is produced from one of the five varieties … Read more
The Haggadah Teaching the Children There is a positive Torah commandment to relate the story of the Exodus on the night of the fifteenth of Nisan. It is praiseworthy to relate, and elucidate at length, the great kindness Hashem showed us by saving us from the Egyptians and taking revenge upon them for us; to explain the … Read more
The Torah teaches us to appreciate the “good Land” and to thank God for its bounties, as it says: “For the Lord your God brings you into a good Land, a Land of water courses, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; a Land of wheat, and barely, and vines, and … Read more