HILKHOT TESHUBA 1:1: to be or not to be specific?
Maimonides explains that the commandment of Teshuba is fulfilled when we recite the Viduy. Viduy is the verbal confession of our transgressions, while feeling...
The # 1 Mitzva of the Tora
The first Mitzva of the Tora and the first blessing given by haShem to humankind is to marry and have children. Genesis 1:28 says: "And...
SELIHOT: Training for a Marathon day
From the second day of the month of Elul (today!) until Yom Kippur, the Sephardic custom is to recite the Selihot prayer.Selihot is a...
RELIGIOUS INTEGRITY: The Honest YES
In the Tora it is written: (vayiqra 19:36) "Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin ; I am the LORD your God,...
Rabbi Ya’akob Hajez (1620-1674)
Rabbi Ya'aqob Hajez (aka Hagiz) was born in Fez, Morocco in 1620. In 1657 and after living in Livorno (Italy) for a few years, Rabbi Hajez settled...
Maimonides on how did Abraham Abinu find God?
Maimonides (MT, 'abodat kokhabim, 1:3) explains that since his early childhood and while everyone else was adoring human-looking idols, Abraham began to think out of...
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT: Carving images.
As we have already explained (see here) the Ten Commandments (in Hebrew: the Ten Declarations or enunciations) include more than "ten" commandments or precepts. According...
Rabbi Moshe Almosnino (Greece 1515-1580)
Rabbi Almosnino was born in Salonica in 1515. Rabbi Almosnino belonged to a prominent Sephardic family, which fled Aragon after two of his ancestors...
Maimonides on ‘aboda zara (1:2): From God to idol worshipping
Of its 613 Mitzvot (commandments) the Tora dedicates 51 to the prohibition of idol worshiping or 'aboda zara. In His book Mishne Tora Maimonides devotes...
15 of Ab: From mourning to celebration
In Masekhet Ta'anit Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said that "There were no better days for the People of Israel than the Fifteenth of Ab and...
