(As you enter the doorway to your home, you kiss the Mezuzah. Next, perhaps you sit at your desk and write a check to give Tzedakah. Then after you eat lunch, you say the Birchas HaMazon. During the course of the day, we perform countless Mitzvoth. What takes place when we perform a Mitzvah? When [...]
“Meaning & Mitzvah: Daily Practices for Reclaiming Judaism through Prayer, G-d, Torah, Hebrew, Mitzvot and Peoplehood” by Rabbi Goldie Milgram This innovative guidebook makes accessible Judaism’s spiritual pathways, principles and applications, and empowers you to test their value within your own life. Each chapter provides step-by-step, recipe-like guides to a particular Jewish practice or group [...]
Kippa Game – Put the Kippot on the head of the boy. Kippa is also known as a yarmulka, a head covering. So be proud to wear the latest fashion. Enjoy this exciting Universal game good for iPad and for iPhone/iPod Touch. Compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad Category: Games Released: November 25, 2010 Publisher: [...]
It is forbidden to make a stone floor to be used for bowing down, even if one is bowing to G-d. One who fully prostrates himself to G-d on a stone floor deserves 39 lashes by Bet Din. Even simply kneeling on a stone floor to G-d is forbidden. On Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur [...]
The 4 minim; putting it all together! On Sukkot there’s a Mitzvah to shake the four species; a Lulav, 3 Haddasim, 2 Aravot and an Etrog. When shaking them on Sukkot, the Lulav, 3 Haddasim and 2 Aravot are tied together and held in one’s right hand, and the Etrog in the left hand. (Lefties [...]
Rabbi Akiva taught that the verse, “Love your friend, like you love yourself,” is the primary axiomatic principle of the Torah. That is, love of others is the root of the Torah, from which all of its branches extend. Love of our fellow man is the core that powers every Mitzvah and its fulfillment. The [...]
It is forbidden to decide that a Mitzvah is no longer applicable. This applies to Mitzvot from the Written or the Oral Law. The Rabbis have permission to prevent people from doing a Mitzvah under certain conditions, like forbidding to blow the Shofar on Shabbat to ensure that people will not transgress the Torah commandment of [...]
It’s a Mitzvah to put a fence around one’s roof (if it’s accessible) and to remove from one’s property all possibility of anybody getting hurt. Included is fencing-in pools, pits and reservoirs and not owning a dangerous dog. The fence needs to be at least 10 Tefachim high (~80 cm – 32″) and strong enough [...]
One may not add new Mitzvot to the existing 613 that G-d commanded us. Even declaring a Rabbinic-Mitzvah to be Torah-ordained is forbidden. If a Cohen adds a blessing to the 3-fold priestly blessing he has transgressed this Mitzvah. The Rabbis are allowed to add safeguards, decrees and thanksgiving Mitzvot (like Chanukah and Purim) – [...]
The Torah commands us to live in the Sukkah for the duration of Sukkot. 7 days in Eretz Yisrael, 8 days in the Diaspora. One should move into the Sukkah and bring along one’s creature comforts; the comfortable chairs and favorite dishes. The Mitzvah of Sukkah is one of the few where the Torah explicitly [...]
The days between Yom Kippur and Sukkot are joyous days, since Shlomo Hamelech (King Solomon) inaugurated the first Bet Hamikdash (Holy Temple) during this period. One does not fast even for a Yahrzeit, nor does one say Tachanun on these days. A Sukkah needs at least 3 walls that do not move in the wind. The [...]
New Artscroll’s eBook - “On Judaism” by Rabbi Emanuel Feldman Have you ever wondered what it means to be a Jew? Why Judaism is still relevant in the modern world? What Judaism says about such topics as faith… covenant… chosen people… ethics… mitzvah observance… kashruth… love… G-d… sin… holiness… pleasure… Shabbos… prayer… Torah… food… countless other [...]
Yom Kippur does not atone for misdeeds done against fellow-Jews unless one first asks them for forgiveness. One should be careful to repay all overdue loans before Yom Kippur; after which one can beg for forgiveness for the delay. If one is being asked for forgiveness one should not be stubborn nor vengeful; rather one [...]
One is forbidden to stray from the rulings of the Bet Din HaGadol; the “supreme high court” that exists in the time of the Bet HaMikdash. Judaism and the Mitzvoth are defined only by what Moshe wrote in the Torah and what how he explained it in the Oral Law; the Mishna and Talmud. This [...]
There is a Mitzvah in the Torah unique to Yom Kippur: afflicting oneself. To fulfill this Mitzva properly one should keep in mind that the Yom Kippur restrictions are a fulfillment of this 25-hour long Mitzvah. This Mitzvah includes the following prohibitions: – On Yom Kippur one may not eat nor drink, even when Yom [...]
