ואכלת ושבעת תשמ”ג This Ma’amar is on Bentching. Why are there three biblical blessings and the ChaZaL added a fourth? It is like the numbers 3 (lights) that is favored by the Sefer Yeztirah and the number 4 (light and vessel) favored by later Kabbalah. Hashem’s favoritism to His people for Bentching for a smaller…

Class One. Introduction, What is davening? The ‘ladder’ of Davening, Mode Ani, Psukei DiZimra, Birchos Krias Shma, Shama and the Amida.

This Ma’amar said by the Rebbe on his fiftieth birthday deals with the idea of this Possuk which is added at the beginning of the Amida and appears to interrupt the סמיכות גאולה לתפילה. The Gemara explains it using the logic of תפילה אריכתה. The Ma’amar explains that תפילה אריכתא means much more than an…

A short thought on a strange (context-less) statement made in the Avoda service (Musaf) of Yom Kippur. “It’s preferred that we not have been created”. A commentary.

(From the Slichus) of Tzom Gedalia. Horaisa Derech Teshuva Livas Hashoveiva. The poem included in the Tzom Gedalia Slichus (as is the case with much of this Slichus) is more about Aseres Yemei Teshuva than about Gedalia.

The prayer in the Rosh Hashana davening that describes Hashem’s judgment most graphically. A commentary.

Psalm recited before blowing Shofar.

An attempt to get at the depth of this most powerful prayer.

Ata Kadosh… Lidor VaDor Hamlichu… U’Vchein.. HaMelech Hakadosh. Ata Kadosh with the four UVicheins as said on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. It is all about ‘Binyan HaMalchus’ or ‘Crowning Him as a King’. This class has a long introduction explaining the ‘Soul’ of the Yomim Noraim as days we connect with (‘and Crown’) Hashem…