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Jerusalem Day: Nature and civilization

Zvi Leshem — Wed, 08 May 2013 09:20:47 +0000

During the Hebrew month of Iyar we experience numerous transitions. In addition to the ongoing process of counting the 49 days of the Omer, within which the month of Iyar is completely encased, we also transition from Holocaust Remembrance Day to Memorial Day, from the latter to Independence Day, from Pesach Sheni to Lag B’Omer, and from Jerusalem Day to Shavuot. I would like to address an aspect of [...]

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Lag B’Omer: The Fires of Rashbi

Zvi Leshem — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:40:22 +0000

On Lag B’Omer, the 33rd day between Pesach and Shavuot, weddings and haircuts are permitted, unlike during the rest of the Omer period, because the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva, who died from a plague due to internal dissent, ceased dying. In addition Lag B’Omer is celebrated as the Hillulah d’Rashbi, the yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai (Rashbi), student of Rebbe Akiva and [...]

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Independence Day 5773: Simple Siren

Zvi Leshem — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:30:47 +0000

On the Shabbat around the time that we mark Yom HaZikaron, the Day of Remembrance for Israeli Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism, and celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day, we read Parshat Emor, which includes a list of the Torah’s holy days. This serves to empower our feeling that our modern “Israeli” holy days are a [...]

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The taste of freedom: On eating matza 5773

Zvi Leshem — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 06:31:09 +0000

In the Chassidic tradition the eating of matza at the seder is a meditative act. So on Monday night as I reclined to the left to begin to slowly chew the hand-made shmura matza that our family had baked just a few hours earlier, I closed my eyes and tried to experience the matza with all [...]

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Breslov’s masters came to life in Froman and Shagar

Zvi Leshem — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 12:10:05 +0000

Last summer, to mark the fifth yahrtzeit of my teacher Rav Shagar (Shimon Gershon Rosenberg) zt”l, Ben-Gurion University Professor Haviva Pedaya wrote of him in “Makor Rishon.” She poetically compared him to the “Baal HaSadeh” – the “Master of the Field” from Rebbe Nachman of Breslav’s teaching of 1806 “And Boaz Spoke to Ruth” (“Lekutei [...]

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Memories of Rav Menachem Froman, a unique friend

Zvi Leshem — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 09:20:19 +0000

I’ll begin with a confession: I never made it to the funeral. Driving from Jerusalem, by the time I reached the turn to the town of Nokdim, a few kilometers before the steep hill leading up to Tekoa, there was already such an endless line of cars in front of me that I gave up [...]

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The right to refuse

Zvi Leshem — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 20:36:53 +0000

In the last few days we have witnessed strong attacks on Naftali Bennett of the Jewish Home party for ostensibly condoning soldiers’ refusal to carry out orders to evacuate settlements. Almost as if by script, these protesters demagogically argue that any possibility of a soldier refusing orders is a threat not only to the integrity [...]

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New olives, and beginnings, on the border with Gaza

Zvi Leshem — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 22:02:31 +0000

Last Friday, I had the unique experience of spending the entire morning helping to harvest organic olives that are now being pressed into oil. The olive trees belong to my son Zion and his wife, Rivka, residents of the new town of Bnei Netzarim in the Halutza area of the Negev, near the meeting point [...]

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It’s all in our heads: A Rosh Hashanah guide

Zvi Leshem — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 10:04:33 +0000

One of the most famous aggadot regarding Rosh Hashanah tells of the three books in which everyone is inscribed for the coming year — the righteous, the wicked, and those in the middle (whose inscription is pushed off until Yom Kippur). This idea, reflected in prayers such as “Avinu Malkenu,” in which we repeatedly mention the idea of inscription, [...]

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Should we still fast on Tisha B’Av?

Zvi Leshem — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 03:01:11 +0000

Every summer, we see a reemergence of the question: Do we need to continue to fast on Tisha B’Av and the other fast days. After all, these days were instituted in response to the destruction of the First and Second temples, and the subsequent exiles. And while it is true that the Third Temple has yet to be built, we have [...]

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Jerusalem Day: Nature and civilization

Zvi Leshem — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:40:07 +0000

During the Jewish month of Iyar we experience numerous transitions. In addition to the ongoing process of Sefirat HaOmer, within which the month of Iyar is completely encased, we also transition from Holocaust Remebrance Day to Memorial Day, from the latter to Independence Day, from Pesach Sheni to Lag B’Omer, and from Jerusalem Day to Shavuot. I would like [...]

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