Thursday, October 8th 2026 |
By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER
Upon concluding the “Amidah” (the central prayer of each daily service, recited standing), we customarily take three steps back, and bow right and left – thus humbly taking our leave (as it were) of the...
By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER
When Jewish parents bless their daughters on the eve of Sabbath and Holidays, or at life’s significant milestones, we invoke the Matriarchs: “God make you like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.” But in compliance with...
By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER
Every volume of Talmud begins on page 2. The final page of Tractate Yevamot is 122B, but that daunting tome comprises only 121 folios. One who masters its contents must nevertheless concede not ever having...
By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER
Too often, Jews react to the Christmas season and its customary greetings with unnecessary discomfort.
The Talmudic sage, Rabbi Yeba, understood the Mishnah to teach that Jews properly greet non-Jews on their religious holidays (Gittin...
By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER
When Miriam was stricken with leprosy (Numbers 12:13), Moses cried out to God on his sister’s behalf: “Please, God. Please heal her!” His brief prayer prefigured the “Mi She-Berach” – the formulaic petition for healing...
By JOSEPH H. PROUSER
Rosh Chodesh Tevet always coincides with the sixth day of Chanukah. This year, that celebration falls on Shabbat, occasioning a day of uncommon pageantry and procedural complexity. Shabbat morning services feature the reading of three separate...
By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER
An ancient ritual protocol demands we not directly count people in establishing the presence of a minyan (a quorum of ten) for public prayer. Some obviate this prohibition by assigning to each worshipper a single...
By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER
Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlav taught, Mitzvah gedolah lihyot be-simchah tamid – “It is a great Mitzvah (a Divine Commandment, a religious duty) to be happy – always!” Is constant happiness possible… or even a desirable...
By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER
Yahrzeit – commemoration of a loved one on the anniversary of his or her death – is a wise and therapeutic response to the fact that the mourning process never entirely ends. Yahrzeit beckons us...
By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER
After God drowned the Egyptian army at the Red Sea, our Israelite ancestors sang their triumphant song, declaring, “The Lord is a man of war.” What does this suggest about the nature of God… or...
