Dandelion Whine
The gemara says that the preferred vegetable for maror is chasah — lettuce. The problem is that the lettuces sold today aren’t mar, bitter. One could try to find wild lettuce. The lettuce that was native to...
The gemara says that the preferred vegetable for maror is chasah — lettuce. The problem is that the lettuces sold today aren’t mar, bitter. One could try to find wild lettuce. The lettuce that was native to...
by Micha Berger · Published April 20, 2016 – י״ב בניסן תשע״ו · Last modified April 20, 2016
(Embellished with thoughts from my daughter Noa’s recent bas mitzvah speech. Yay, Noa!) If you think about it, charoses is quite strange. On the one hand, as we learn in preschool and the Rambam writes,...
by Micha Berger · Published April 11, 2016 – ג׳ בניסן תשע״ו · Last modified April 11, 2016
The Mishnah (Pesachim 10:5, TB 115a-b), in a section quoted by the Hagadah, states: רבן גמליאל היה אומר, כל שלא אמר שלשה דברים אלו בפסח, לא יצא ידי חובתו. ואלו הן: פסח, מצה, ומרור…. בכל דור...
Ahavah / Holidays / Other-Focused Orthodoxy
by Micha Berger · Published March 23, 2016 – י״ג באדר ב׳ תשע״ו · Last modified March 23, 2016
There are four mitzvos one must fulfill on Purim: reading the megillah, matanos le’evyonim (gifts to poor people), mishloach manos (“shalachmones”), and the Purim se’udah. The first, reading the megillah, relates directly to the...
by Micha Berger · Published December 2, 2015 – כ׳ בכסלו תשע״ו · Last modified December 2, 2015
No, the title of this post doesn’t refer to HQBH, although clearly it could. (Or can it: Can we define “heroism” with respect to One for Whom there are no risks to take?) Nor...
Here are two possibilities for the source of the minhag. The Yerushalmi makes the same statement that we have in the Bavli, that dough made from rice and water undergo a sirchon, not chameitz. Then it continues...
by Micha Berger · Published April 2, 2015 – י״ג בניסן תשע״ה · Last modified April 2, 2015
Resolved, That Dr. Franklin, Mr. J. Adams and Mr. Jefferson, be a committee, to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of America. – Journals of Continental Congress, July 4th,...
by Micha Berger · Published March 5, 2015 – י״ד באדר תשע״ה · Last modified March 5, 2015
Esther’s life was overall a very tragic one. The story ends, and we’re told about Mordechai’s rise to political power and the taxes and all. Meanwhile, she is still married to a non-Jewish drunkard...
“And they cried out in a great voice to Hashem their G-d” ((Nechemiah 9:4. The gemara’s quote is corrected here to match verse. The standard text reads “ויצעקו אל ה’ אלקים בקול גדול”.)) –...
by Micha Berger · Published October 15, 2014 – כ״א בתשרי תשע״ה · Last modified October 15, 2014
Why is Sukkos called in our tefillos “zeman simchaseinu – the time of our joy“, or the Torah tell us at this holiday in particular “vehayisa akh sameich – you should only be happy”...
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