Words From Rabbi White

As this week's double parasha is titled, in translation, "after the death: holy" it seems most appropriate to write a few words about my wife a"h, who passed away unexpectedly on the 2nd of iyyar.

Sorah Devorah (Sandra Sukey,) daughter of Yehoshua and Raizel Hirsch, was by all accounts, a remarkable personality. [Although her physical health had been precarious for the past...Read more...

​As this week's double parasha is titled, in translation, "after the death: holy" it seems most appropriate to write a few words about my wife a"h, who passed away unexpectedly on the 2nd of iyyar.

Sorah Devorah (Sandra Sukey,) daughter of Yehoshua and Raizel Hirsch, was by all accounts, a remarkable personality. [Although her physical health had been precarious for the past...Read more...

Here is one of my favourite divrei Torahs.

I have said it in the past in Chevra Shaas, and said it at the table in my daughter's house on the last day of Pesah:

There is an ancient midrash that tells us that we can determine the dates of the holidays according to the days of Pesah.

It is a system called "at bash," matching the letters in forward and reverse order, and goes like...Read more...

Ki Tissa'  5781

A point of Hebrew grammar, leading to a nice idea:

Our parasha begins with the words “ki tissa’”. It is usually accepted that every Hebrew verb has 3 root letters. The root of “tissa’” is clearly the 3 letters “nun,” “sin”, “‘aleph.” But what happened to the “nun”? It has disappeared, and assimilated into the “sin”. [So, you see, letters can assimilate, just like people!]...Read more...

Purim is this coming week, and with Purim, we complete the cycle of holidays observed during the Pandemic. [We were fortunate last year, as we didn’t have to close the synagogue until after Purim.]

Purim is the holiday of ve-nahafokh hu’, that is “topsy turvy.” i.e., the mighty kingdom of Persia was planning to exterminate the Jews, but we came out victorious. This was...Read more...