The “Great Sabbath”

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 3, 2022 | Bo, Nisan, Passover, Redemption, Shabbat

The Shabbat that precedes Pesach (Passover) is called ‘Shabbat HaGadol’ (the big/great Sabbath). There are several reasons for this. According to Jewish tradition, the first Shabbat HaGadol was the last Shabbat (Find out more about the laws of Shabbat) that the Jews...

Matzah: Bread of Freedom or Bread of Affliction?

by Rabbi Tuly Weisz | f 7, 2022 | Bo

In preparation for the final devastating plague, the Hebrews prepared the Passover lamb. The offering, whose blood, painted on their doorposts, would protect them from the Angel of Death and whose meat would be eaten as the Passover offering consumed as the central...

Are the Israelites Guilty of Stealing the Egyptian’s Gold and Silver?

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 4, 2022 | Bo, Justice

In 2003, about 3,300 years after the Hebrews left Egypt, Nabil Hilmy, dean of the faculty of law at Egypt’s Zagazig University, announced that he was suing the Jews for the gold and silver they took when they left Egypt. Calling the alleged theft the “greatest fraud...

Can we Bring the Passover Sacrifice Today?

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 3, 2022 | Bo

While still in Egypt, the Children of Israel were commanded to perform the ritual sacrifice of a lamb on the eve of the Exodus from Egypt. Unlike later Passover sacrifices that were slaughtered in one central location, the first Korban Pesach in Egypt was sacrificed...

What Does the Command to Redeem the Firstborn have to do with the Exodus?

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 2, 2022 | Bo, God, Gratitude, Prayer, Temple

Judaism is an ethnic identity that bears with it many religious obligations. It is widely known that Jews circumcise their sons on the eighth day, a ritual called brit milah, as mandated in the Torah. But less well-known is the commandment of pidyon haben, redeeming...

The Biblical New Year

by Shira Schechter (Moderator) | f 31, 2021 | Bo, Israel, Nisan, Rosh Chodesh, Temple

Establishing a calendar in Judaism requires a total reset from how time is marked on a secular calendar, realigning the days, weeks, months, and years according to Biblical principles. Days and weeks  The days of the week are oriented around Shabbat, the Sabbath. They...