Today is the 9th of Elul, 5770

Taking responsibility for our mistakes –hakarat haChet– is the first, and probably the hardest step in the process of Teshuba. Naturally, we tend to justify our actions and act as our advocates rather than as our prosecutors.

Illustration: David haMelekh committed a terrible sin, taking Bat Sheba, a married woman. Natan the prophet had to admonish David, and help him realize that he had sinned. Natan presented David with a fictitious case: A rich man owned thousands of animals. His neighbor, very poor, only had one lamb. One day, the rich man received a guest. In order to not “waste” one of his own sheep, the rich man decided to steal and slaughter his neighbor’s sole lamb, which he dearly loved. Nathan presented the case to the King an—as he had expected—the King reacted angrily. David said: “That man, the rich guy, deserves to die!” Nathan haNabi turned to David and said: atta haish…. “You are that man!” Faced now with the facts, and in light of the sentence that he had himself issued acting as an impartial judge, David haMelekh repented ‘chattati laHashem…’ he said, ‘I have sinned to God’.

David was not permitted to build the Bet haMikdash because of this sin, but God accepted his Teshuba. Part of the credit goes to Nathan who opened the Kings eyes helping him to evaluate his actions objectively allowing him to repent sincerely.

Today is the 7^th day of Elul, 5770

The first step in the process of Teshuba, repentance, is hakarat haChet— taking responsibility for our mistakes and misdeeds.

It is not an easy task. it has never been…

Everyone knows that God punished Adam and Eve and expulsed them from Paradise. But why?

If you put on a table all kind of candies, sweets, and cakes in front of child and in the middle of the table you put a tomato, a normal child is not going to eat or want the tomato… But what if you tell the child: ‘You can eat whatever you want except for the tomato’. It will be only a matter of time until the child disobeys and eats the tomato, since the “forbidden fruit” syndrome triggers curiosity and desire. According to Rabbi Yosef Albo, Adam and Eve’s sin was not that they ate the fruit. God knew they will succumb! He wanted to teach them to take responsibility and repent for their wrong actions!!

Adam’s real sin happened when God approached him and asked him: ‘What did you do?’ instead of admitting his fault, Adam ‘transferred’ the blame to Eve: haisha shenatata imadi… ‘the woman You put next to me, she offered me the fruit’. Then, God approached Eve and she said: ‘It wasn’t me! The serpent made me do it’.

‘Displacing blame’ is probably the main obstacle for repentance, or at least the oldest one.

Today is the 2^nd day of Elul, 5770

As we mentioned yesterday, during the month of Elul until Yom Kippur the Sepharadic custom is to wake up earlier in the morning to recite the Selichot prayer.

Selichot is a special Tefila that is traditionally said before the morning prayer (Shacharit).Technically, Selichot could be said also during nighttime or even during the day. There is only one period of time which is not suitable for reciting Selichot –following a very ancient custom instructed by Chakhme haKabbalah z’l-: in between sunset and midnight (middat hadin). By the way, Halakhically speaking, midnight (chatzot) is not necessarily at 12.00 AM but it’s calculated 12 hours from midday (when the sun is exactly on the zenith). For example, today in NY midday is at 1.01 PM, therefore midnight will be at 1.01 AM.

The Ashkenazi Minhag is to start Selichot service Sunday before Rosh haShana. But if Rosh haShana falls on Monday or Tuesday (it can never fall Sunday) Selichot will begin two Sundays before Rosh haShana.

During the entire month of Elul the Ashkenazim and most Sepharadim have the custom to blow the Shofar. The Ashkenazim blow the Shofar at the end of Shacharit. Our custom is to blow the Shofar at the end of Selichot service, right before Shacharit . Many Sephardim (Moroccans, etc) blow the Shofar also while reciting the 13 attributes of mercy (vaya’abor… ).

Today is the 1^st day of the month of Elul (Rosh Chodesh Elul), 5770

Rabbi Yehoshua en Korcha said that after receiving the 10 commandments Moshe Rabbenu stayed in Mount Sinai for 40 days. There, God taught him the Oral Law: the meaning and performance of all the 613 Miztvot. At the end of 40 days Moshe went down and encountered the people of Israel worshiping the golden calf. At the sight of such offense to God, Moshe broke the tablets containing the 10 commandments. It was the 17^th of Tamuz.

A few weeks later, in the beginning of the month of Elul, God told Moshe to ascend once again Mount Sinai where he stayed again for 40 days. What did Moshe do during those 40 days? He begged God Almighty to forgive Israel for their terrible sin. Moshe argued with God and advocated for the Jewish people, invoking the merit of their ancestors Abraham Ytzchak and Yaakob.

At the end of the forty days, God finally absolved the people of Israel. That day, the 10^th of Tishri, is Yom Kippur , the day of forgiveness.

In remembrance of those 40 days during which Moshe Rabbenu begged God to pardon Israel, we dedicate 40 days to ask God for our own forgiveness. This process of personal repentance –Teshuva- begins tomorrow and ends on Yom Kippur.

Tomorrow morning BH, we start saying Selichot, the prayers that inspire us to reflect on our lives and embark on the process of repentance.

Today is the 30th day of Av (Rosh Chodesh Elul), 5770

The Hebrew months follow the cycle of the moon. The cycle of the moon is approximately 29.5 days, so, there are Hebrew months of 29 days (chaser) and Hebrew months of 30 days (maleh)

Originally, all months were established according to the moon. The English word ‘month’ and the word ‘moon’ are cognates (they share the same etymological origin).

When the ending month is 29 days long, Rosh Chodesh of the new month will always be celebrated for one day: the first day of the new month.

When the preceding month has 30 days, then Rosh Chodesh of the new month will be celebrated for two days. In this case, the 30^th day of the preceding month will be called Rosh Chodesh of the coming month.In the Hebrew calendar normally but not necessarily, a 29 days month will be followed by a 30 days month, etc.

(That use to be also the case with the Gregorian calendar until Augustus Cesar -year 8 BCE- got jealous of Julius Cesar and demanded that the month established in his honor be 31 days long, the extra day was discounted from February…).

Illustration: we are finishing today the month of Av. Av has 30 days. Today is the 30^th day of Av which is ‘also’ Rosh Chodesh Elul. Tomorrow, the 1^st day of Elul will be the 2^nd day of Rosh Chodesh Elul.

Today is the 29^th of Av, 5770

Last week we described the two Mitzvot which regulates parents/children relationship: ‘honoring parents’ and ‘respecting parents’.

Respecting parents is a way of establishing clear lines: “I am the parent and you are the child. We are not equals”. This distance is absolutely necessary for the child, not for the parents’ ego. These principles set up the boundaries of authority, without which a child cannot be educated.

*A child should not sit in a place that is designated for his father or mother. For example, in his mother’s seat at the dinner table or at his father’s special easy chair, or at his father seat in the Synagogue or at work.

This rule applies even when the parents are not present there or are not going to sit in that place.

If there is no fixed place for the parent to sit, then the son/daughter can sit anywhere. In my house, for instance, we eat dinner in the kitchen during weekdays and I would not sit in the same place all the time.

*There is another very important Mitzva: to stand up in respect when your father or mother comes into the room. Or, if the parent is talking to his child, it’s considered disrespectful for the son to sit while his parent is standing.

As a general rule, a parent has the right to suspend his ‘honor’ and allow his child to sit or not to stand up, etc.

24^th of Av, 5770

Besides shellfish (shrimps, oysters, lobsters, etc) what other ‘popular’ fish are non Kosher and why?

Examples of non-kosher fish:

Catfish – it lacks scales entirely. Interesting for the kosher consumer to note, catfish (not Kosher!) is reported to have a similar taste to the increasingly popular tilapia (kosher!) Catfish and tilapia fillets look almost identical, though catfish is notably cheaper. It is therefore quite possible that an unscrupulous fish retailer might switch the two!

Basa or Tra (also called “China sole”) – (family Pangasiidae) are currently the subject of both nomenclature debates and antidumping litigation. Vietnamese importers were marketing them as catfish, to which they are nearly identical. Whether they are in fact catfish or not, they are not kosher.

Examples of NON-Kosher fish with ‘scales’

Swordfish has scales but they are embedded to such an extent that it is impossible to remove them without making a hole or that its scales would fall off during its development, rendering swordfish as non-kosher.

Sturgeon definitely has scales, but it is not kosher. Its scales are classified as “ganoid”, which means that they are covered with ganoin (similar in texture to fingernails) and cannot be removed without tearing the skin.

Burbot has cycloid scales (one of the types often referred to as “always kosher” ) yet because they are embedded, this fish is not kosher.

Sand lances may have tiny scales, but since they are not visible, this fish is not kosher.

Adapted from www.kashrut.org and www.ou.org