Words From Rabbi White

I am writing this “blog” on Yom Yerushalayim, the 28th of Iyyar, which happens this year to be on Memorial Day in the USA. As I wrote last week, Jerusalem Day has especial poignancy for me, as I remember so well the events leading up to it back in ‘67.

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As I write these lines, the big news in the Jewish world is the return from captivity of Edan Alexander. His family lives in Tenafly, NJ, a town just about 15 minutes from my town Teaneck.

We pray for the immediate return of the others.

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The word “‘emor” is the imperative form of the...Read more...

This Shabbat is 5 iyyar. To avoid problems with hillul shabbat, Yom HaZikkaron and Yom Ha-Atsma`ut were pushed back to Thursday and Friday.

SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE JEWS

On campuses in Canada and the USA, many students and professors declare that when they chant “from the river…,” they are not antisemitic, just anti-zionist. My friend...Read more...

HASHEM’S PROMISE TO AVRAHAM:

In the famous story of the “berit bein ha-betarim,” HaShem tells Avraham that the time will come when his descendants will be enslaved in a foreign land, but eventually they will leave with great possessions. (Genesis 15:14)

Indeed, this promise is repeated to Moshe in Shemot 3:22, and is described as actually...Read more...

Dear Chevra Shaas/Shearith Israel

Last shabbat, I happened across the following amazing article. It was fitting for parashat vayaqhel, since the word "bemar'ot" which means "likeness, appearance" appears in that parasha, but it is also fitting for this week, since often Vayaqhel is joined to pequdei.

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Hessy...Read more...

DEAR CHEVRA SHAAS/SPANISH

I hope that by now, the city old Montreal has begun to remove the snow, and life has returned to normal (Perhaps if Trump can get rid of the snow, Canada might agree to become the 51st state.)

This Shabbat is Rosh Hodesh Adar, day #1 of the happiest month of the year: Adar, the month that is the counterweight to the...Read more...

Dear mitpallelim,

TOO BAD JOHN HINCKLEY JR HADN'T STUDIED IBN EZRA

This week we read the 10 commandments. They are very logical: believe in God; do not worship other divinities; don't take the name of HaShem in vain; remember Shabbat; honour parents; don't murder, commit adultery, or rob. But the conclusion of the 10 Commandments is a bit...Read more...

Dear congregants,

TWO PLUS ONE = THREE

HaShem tells Moshe to go to Pharoah, but He uses the word “bo’”, which means “come,” rather than “lekh,” which would mean “go.” Baal HaTurim points out that the numerical value of the word “bo” is 3, [the letter ‘aleph =1, the letter “b”=2. ] This makes it easy to remember that...Read more...

MOSHE GROWS UP

We all know the story. Moshe, who had been raised in the palace, and now has grown up, sees two Hebrew men fighting. He tells the “rasha’,” the bad guy, “why would you strike your fellow?”

How did Moshe know which one was the bad guy? The commentator Rashi, quoting Midrash Rabba and gemara Sanhedrin, notes that “even...Read more...

Dear Chevra Shaas/Shearith Israel

REFLECTIONS FROM HANUKKAH

On all eight days of Hanukkah, we recited Hallel, which is comprised of Psalms 113-118. 

In the last chapter of Hallel, there are several verses that kept resonating with me: they seemed so relevant: “All nations encompass me, in the name of...Read more...

WHY DID YAAKOV SHOW FAVOURITISM TO HIS CHILDREN?

A question that perplexes many is why did Yaakov show favouritism to Yoseph? True, Yoseph was a “ben zequnim,” the youngest except for the “baby” Binyamin, but still: was that enough to warrant receiving special favours, such as the “ketonet passim,” [which Rashi explains was a sign of royalty, and according to Seforno a...Read more...

Dear Chevra Shaas/Shearith Israel

THE COMPUTER AND THE SIDDUR

This past Wednesday night, we began saying “ten tal u-matar” in the weekday amidah. Both the Koren and the Art Scroll siddurim give instructions that this should be said in winter, as opposed to “ten beracha” that we say in summer. Therefore, this is a sign that the winter has...Read more...

IS IT STILL A WONDERFUL WORLD, MR. LOUIS ARMSTRONG?

Dear friends,

Well, it is a wonderful world, but people are making it crazy. In the Tachanun prayer that we say on Mondays and Thursdays, we say that we have become “a mockery among the nations, we have been considered like sheep meant for slaughter.” Before October 7, I thought those words...Read more...

I am writing on Election Day in USA. By the time you read this, we shall probably know the outcome. As you may know, Election Day is always, by law, on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. Why on Tuesday? This law goes back to the first half of the 18th century. People couldn’t vote on Sunday, as many were in church. People who lived in rural areas might need Monday to travel to the polls. And...Read more...

HAIL COLUMBIA!

For the first part of the holiday, we traveled to Passaic (a 20-to-40-minute drive, depending on traffic) to be with my son Yehoshua and his family. As usual, we had a wonderful time.  It happens that an old friend of mine, Rabbi Charles Sheer, whom I hadn’t seen in over 50 years, was also visiting his son in Passaic, and was davening in the same shul as I...Read more...