Daily Kavanah – Thursday, November 5, 2020
חַֽסְדֵ֤י יְהוָה֙ כִּ֣י לֹא־תָ֔מְנוּ כִּ֥י לֹא־כָל֖וּ רַחֲמָֽיו׃ חֲדָשִׁים֙ לַבְּקָרִ֔ים רַבָּ֖ה אֱמוּנָתֶֽךָ The kindness of the ETERNAL has not ended, Your mercies are not spent! They are renewed every morning—Great is Your faithfulness! (Lamentations 3:22-23) These [...]
Daily Kavanah – Wednesday, November 4, 2020
We awaken unsure of what yesterday’s election means for us and for America. Much will be revealed in the days to come. This much is abundantly clear: we are a deeply divided nation. Here is [...]
Daily Kavanah – Tuesday, November 3, 2020
“Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear it inspires, we would swallow one another alive!” (Pirkei Avot 3:2) Since medieval times, a prayer for the welfare of the [...]
Daily Kavanah – Monday, November 2, 2020
וְדִרְשׁ֞וּ אֶת־שְׁל֣וֹם הָעִ֗יר אֲשֶׁ֨ר הִגְלֵ֤יתִי אֶתְכֶם֙ שָׁ֔מָּה וְהִתְפַּֽלְל֥וּ בַעֲדָ֖הּ אֶל־יְהוָ֑ה כִּ֣י בִשְׁלוֹמָ֔הּ יִהְיֶ֥ה לָכֶ֖ם שָׁלֽוֹם׃ And seek the peace of the city to which I have exiled you and pray to the ETERNAL on its [...]
Daily Kavanah – Friday, September 25, 2020
When there was a cholera epidemic in 1848, Rabbi Israel Salanter posted announcements on all the houses of prayer of Vilna on the eve of Yom Kippur, urging people not to fast on that holy [...]
Daily Kavanah – Thursday, September 24, 2020
Rabbi Eleazar taught: it is often the case that when a person insults another in public and after a time wishes to be reconciled, he approaches the other person privately to apologize. The one who [...]
Daily Kavanah – Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Every person is given free will. If we wish to turn to the good, to the way of the righteous, we have the power to do so. Or if we wish to turn to evil [...]
Daily Kavanah – Tuesday, September 22, 2020
One year before Yom Kippur, the great sage Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk sat in his study, worrying. “How shall I face God on Yom Kippur—I have committed so many transgressions?” He began to count them [...]
Daily Kavanah – Monday, September 21, 2020
Rabbi Eleazar, the son of Rabbi Shimon taught: Both the world and the individual are judged by the majority of their actions. Happy is the one who does a single good deed because it can [...]
Hagar, Sarah, and R.B.G.
Hagar, Sarah, and R.B.G. by Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback Our Torah reading for Rosh HaShanah relates the story of Sarah and Abraham sending Hagar and Ishmael out of their home. As you’ll remember, this first [...]