Parsha with Rabbi David Bibi

Today is Yom Yerushalayim where we celebrate the unification of Jerusalem and the miracles of the Six Day War. Following the War of Independence in 1948 when the Arab countries surrounding Israel rejected the partition plan and sought to annihilate the 600,000 Jewish residents of the new State, the Jewish people won a resounding victory, but Jordan took possession of the Old City of Jerusalem. Tho...

Mishkan Leviim  Flags 

    אִם־בְּחֻקֹּתַ֖י תֵּלֵ֑כוּ וְאֶת־מִצְוֺתַ֣י תִּשְׁמְר֔וּ וַעֲשִׂיתֶ֖ם אֹתָֽם׃   If you follow My laws and faithfully observe My commandments,   וְנָתַתִּ֥י גִשְׁמֵיכֶ֖ם בְּעִתָּ֑ם וְנָתְנָ֤ה הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ יְבוּלָ֔הּ וְעֵ֥ץ הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה יִתֵּ֥ן פִּרְיֽוֹ׃   I will grant your rains in their season, so that the earth shall yield its produce and the trees of the field their...

One of the most uniquely celebrated days on the Jewish calendar is ל'ג בעמר /Lag BaOmer (the 33rd day of the Omer-Count), when tens of thousands of Jews descend upon Meiron in the Galil to celebrate the yartzeit (anniversary of death) of the holy Tanna Rabi Shimon bar Yochai (known by the acronym Rashbi), the primary author of the teachings found in the Sefer HaZohar. And ultimately all of Eretz Y...

  Apropos the fact that rain on Sukkot is an indication of divine rebuke, the Gemara cites several related topics. The Sages taught: When the sun is eclipsed it is a bad omen for the entire world. The Gemara tells a parable. To what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to a king of flesh and blood who prepared a feast for his servants and placed a lantern [panas] before them to illumin...

  We begin this week ….   צַ֤ו אֶֽת־אַהֲרֹן֙וְאֶת־בָּנָ֣יו לֵאמֹ֔ר זֹ֥את תּוֹרַ֖ת הָעֹלָ֑ה הִ֣וא הָעֹלָ֡ה עַל֩ מוֹקְדָ֨הֿ עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּ֤חַכׇּל־הַלַּ֙יְלָה֙ עַד־הַבֹּ֔קֶר וְאֵ֥שׁ הַמִּזְבֵּ֖חַ תּ֥וּקַד בּֽוֹ׃   Command Aaron and his sons thus: This is the ritual of the burnt offering: The burnt offering itself shall remain where it is burned upon the altar all night until morning, w...

This Shabbat is Shabbat Parah. It is the third of four special Shabbats begiining with Shekalim, Zachor, this week parah and then HaChodesh. Explain each    Yesterday morning we were discussing the Keli Yakar - R Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz b’1550 - served as the Rabbi of Prague from 1604 to 1619 and is buried next to the Maharal who passed away ten years prior – and his comments...

  On Saturday night and Sunday, we will celebrate Purim      Last week we discussed the power of Adar and more specifically Adar Bet      Someone asked      Why is Purim celebrated in Adar Bet ?      By Sephardim, any yahrzeit or birthday which occurs in a regular year in Adar is marked in a leap year in Adar bet.     ...

In some ways this class is a follow up to our class on Adar Bet where we compare current events to Amalek attacking on the way to har Sinai, Bilaam and Balak attacking on the way into Eretx Yisrael to Haman attacking before the building of Bayit Sheni to today.  We begin this week The Book of Vayikra (Leviticus), also known as Torat Kohanim — the Laws of the Priests — deals largely with the k...

  Today is the second day of Adar Bet   Or the second Adar   Explain lunar vs solar      ​כג וְדָבָ֖ר בְּעִתּ֣וֹ מַה־טּֽוֹב:      354 vs 365   Chinese New Year   Ramadan   “We can’t do that because we’re guided by our Torah, which says Passover must come in the spring when we plant, and that things need to be growing during the time of Sh...