The out-of-season Succah

Hi,

The Torah says to sit in the succah in order to commemorate HaShem's protection for us, when we left Egypt. However, we left Egypt in the Spring - why do we celebrate Succot in the Fall?

"Because that would be the summertime, and people ordinarily prepare huts for shade, so that our creation of a succah would not be identifiable as fulfillment of a Divine command. Therefore, Gd instructed us to prepare the succah in the seventh month, a time of rain, when most people leave their huts for their homes, and we leave our homes to sit in the succah. In this way we demonstrate that are doing this to fulfill a Divine command."

(Tur Orach Chaim 625)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Ideal Yom Kippur

Hi,

"This is the fast I will choose - Open the chains of wickedness, untie the ropes of tyranny, set free the crushed and release all who had been under tyranny. Break your breead for the hungry, and bring the desperately poor into your home; when you see an unclothed person, clothe him, and do not ignore your flesh [family].

"Then your light will break forth like the morning, and your healing will speedily sprout, your justness will travel before you and the glory of HaShem will gather you in. Then you will call and Gd will answer, you will cry out and Gd will say 'Here I am.'..."

(Isaiah 58:5-9 - The Haftorah of Yom Kippur morning)

May we all be sealed for a great new year, and have an easy and meaningful fast,

Mordechai

Atonement requires action

Hi,

"There is no such thing as atonement without an associated action." (Or, to eliminate the Talmudic double-negative: Any atonement requires action.)

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 4a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Repentance for missed opportunities

Hi,

"A person must work harder to fulfill a Mitzvah than to avoid violating a prohibition.

"If a person violates a prohibition, he can repent or he can receive his punishment and so erase the sin. If one does not fulfill a Mitzvah, though, then the gap remains regardless of his repentance."

(From a biography of the Chafetz Chaim)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

True Repentance

Hi,

"One who admits his sins verbally, but has not decided to abandon them, is like a person who immerses in a mikvah while holding an impure entity - the immersion is ineffective until he casts away the impure entity. It is written, 'Gd will have mercy upon a person who admits and abandons his sin.'"

(Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Repentance 2:3)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The opportunity to repent

Hi,

"Among the kindnesses which Gd has performed with His creations is that He has prepared for them a path by which to climb up from the ditch of their deeds and to flee from the trap of their sins, to save themselves from destruction and to remove His wrath from them.

"He instructed them and warned them to return to Him, in His goodness and justness, when they sin, for He knows human nature...

"Even if people err and rebel and betray Gd, He does not close the doors of repentance to them, as it is written, 'Return to the One against whom You have deepened your rebellion (Isaiah 31:6),' and 'Return, errant children; I will heal your wandering ways (Jeremiah 3:22).'"

(Rabbeinu Yonah, Gates of Repentance 1:1)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The Fast of Gedalyah

Hi,

We fast on the day after Rosh haShanah; this is called "Tzom Gedalyah," "The Fast of Gedalyah."

The Meaning of the Fast: After the Babylonians destroyed the Temple, they appointed Gedalyah as governor of Israel's Jews. A group of Jews, supported by another nation, wanted the Jews to rebel against the Babylonians, and they accused Gedalyah of sympathizing with the Babylonians. They ambushed him and killed him, and in the aftermath, the remaining Jewish community in Israel went into exile.

This day is commemorated as a public fast from first light (5:48 AM this year in Allentown) to the emergence of the stars (7:24 PM this year in Allentown).

Have an easy and meaningful fast,
Mordechai