Jewish Holidays

According to Behag, it is one long mitzva that extends from Pesaĥ to Shavu’ot. However, most poskim maintain that each night’s count is a separate mitzva.

If one regularly prays Ma’ariv at a late hour all year round, it is best that he count after praying at his regular time. However, if one is preoccupied and cannot pray Ma’ariv with a minyan after tzeit, and he intends instead to pray by himself later on, he should preferably count the omer right after tzeit, in order to fulfill the mitzva as soon as possible.

We begin to count the omer on the night of the sixteenth of Nisan. “From when the sickle is first put to the standing grain” refers to the omer harvest.

A fundamental question about sefirat ha-omer is whether the mitzva is mandated by Torah law or rabbinical enactment while the Temple no longer stands.

There are some people, in Israel for the most part, who oppose the use of the Gregorian calendar in their every-day interactions, and choose to use the Jewish calendar instead. Let us delve into and explain the importance of the Jewish calendar.

Hoshana Rabba is one of the least understood days of the Jewish calendar. What is the source of her specialness, which isn't mentioned at all in the Torah? The class deals with the ancient sources for 3 different aspects of Hoshana Rabba which in fact, overlap and harmonize to give us a deeper understanding of this final day of Sukkot, as the "final appeal" sealing how our year is going to look!

The other-world Ushpizin guests are: Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, David and Yosef HaTzaddik. Yosef is not mentioned specifically in the Zohar - as opposed to Miriam, the sister of Moshe and Aharon - and so we should ask: Why was Yosef, of all our many righteous forebears, chosen as one of the guests? (We will also relate below to why Miriam is not included in our Ushpizin.)

"Rabbi Alnekaveh told a story he heard once from an etrog-seller who used to bring Rav Eliyahu etrogim to check: "It is well-known that Rab Eliyahu could look at an etrog for mere seconds and immediately discern its advantages and defects..."