Marriage and Family
Raising and teaching children, and the age of mitzvos.
It is 5:45 PM on a sticky July Shabbos afternoon in the Catskills. Inside the wood-paneled walls of the main shul, a single window AC unit is fighting a valiant, entirely losing battle against the ninety-degree heat.
Shehechiyanu and kiddush on Yom Tov are a beautiful pair. However, we must remember that the second days of Pesach present a unique exception: they are the only nights of yom tov on which Kiddush is recited without…
The Gemara in Avodah Zarah discusses the fact that Rabban Gamliel owned pictures of the moon. These images facilitated the questioning of witnesses who came to testify about the new moon.
(Translated by Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow – Email [email protected] for sources) Rav Chaim Kanievsky zt”l was renowned for his concise, often one-word answers to halachic questions.
The Gemara in Bava Basra (134a) relates that Hillel the Elder had 80 students. Thirty of them were of the stature that they should have merited the Divine Presence descend upon them as it did on Moshe Rabbeinu.
Rebbe Chiya was a teacher of Torah. (Bava Metzia 85b) The Gemara relates how Rebbe Chiya personally oversaw the entire harbotzas Torah process from the very beginning. He would plant seeds. Not seeds of Torah!
As the days become longer, the time for havdala comes later and later. This is a problem for young children. The Mishna Berura says that once a child understands what Shabbos is, he should be trained to hear havdala.
The following story takes place many years ago in Europe. It’s a true story that just hasn’t happened yet. Shimon: My father told me that my bar mitzvah is this week Parshas Noach. Boruch: Mazel tov!
All those teachers who complain that their students frequently doodle may find some solace in the Gemara (Gittin 36a). The Gemara says that Rav would frequently draw a picture of a fish.
HaRav HaGaon Avrohom Kanarek, zt”l, of Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim in Yerushalayim taught Torah for many years in a humble and unassuming way. He shied away from kavod.
Rebbe Eliezer ben Yaakov said, “From where do we know that a woman should not go out to war with weapons?” The Torah says, “A man’s utensils should not be on a woman” (Devarim 22:5).
The boy spent weeks in preparation for his bar mitzvah. When the moment arrived, he relished the opportunity to read the Torah. He had finally achieved adulthood. He was now a full card-carrying member of the tzibbur.
The Gemara in Nedarim (7b) says, “Rav Chanin said in the name of Rav: Whoever hears the utterance of the Divine name [in vain] from his friend has to excommunicate him.
Rav Yitzchak bar Bisna was the gabbai in charge of opening the doors to the beis midrash. He did his job without fail, until one fateful day when he lost his keys.
Klal Yisrael is in a deep state of mourning for the Sar HaTorah, HaGaon HaRav Chaim Kanievsky, zt”l. HaRav Binyomin Forst, shlit”a, remarked that we are no longer living in the same world.
Shammai’s daughter-in-law gave birth over Succos (Yevamos 15a). She was recuperating in the house. Shammai managed to make a hole in the roof over the bed she was resting in and placed s’chach over that hole.
An accounting joke has an employer ask several accountants applying for a job: “What is one plus one?” “Two,” one accountant answers. “Eleven,” another accountant answers.
Twenty-five years ago, there was an established shul that let it be known that they were looking for a new rav. There were many candidates for the one position.
Rebbi Yose ben Kisma said: Once I was walking by the way when I met a man. He greeted me and said, “Rabbi, where are you from?” I responded, “I am from a great city of sages and scribes.” He said to me, “Rabbi, would…
One makes a berachah of Shehecheyanu on a mitzvah that comes at a specific time of the year. We recite the berachah of Shehecheyanu on every yom tov.
The Gemara in Avodah Zarah discusses the fact that Rabban Gamliel owned pictures of the moon. The images facilitated the questioning of witnesses who came to testify about the new moon.
Following the Bar Kochva revolt, the Roman government under Hadrian’s rule issued many harsh decrees against the Jews. One decree in particular dealt with semichah.
A number of years ago, the New York Post ran an article with the headline “$1 Million Parties: Have NYC bar mitzvahs gone too far?” The article quoted several examples of bar and bat mitzvah celebrations that were over…
The Five Towns area has been blessed with wonderful schools. Recently it was announced that possibly two new boys’ elementary schools may be opening in our neighborhood.
Rebbe Yehuda HaNasi would temporarily shut down his yeshiva on Purim so that his students could go to a shul and listen to the Megillah.
A well-regarded first-grade rebbe from a local yeshiva laments that many of the talmidim in his class wear tzitzis that are invalid. The first time they wear a given pair of tzitzis they are kosher, but through…
The best defense students have against being forced to learn is to try to use halacha against their teachers. For example, there is a dispute whether all parts of Torah may be learned on erev Tishah B’Av afternoon or…
As a sign that a leap year is badly needed for the Jewish calendar this year, people point to the fact that the first Chanukah candles will be lit the night before Thanksgiving.
During the Pesach Seder, we fulfill the mitzvah of repeating the events surrounding our exodus from Egypt. To involve the children, there are practices specifically geared towards them.
We sometimes assume that the focus on teaching techniques is a recent phenomenon. After all, in ancient times didn’t students just learn because it was expected of them?
I am embarrassed to even attempt to write an article about my rebbi, HaRav Alter Henoch Leibowitz, zt’l, the longtime rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim in Queens. Anything I write will be woefully insufficient.
Rabbi Chiya plants flax, weaves nets, hunts deer and writes Chumashim on their hides, then teaches children who each teach the others.
Rav Henoch Leibowitz compared teaching to coaxing an infant to walk; when a student cheekily asked if that is why his shiurim were hard, he just smiled.
Asked via Rav Shach whether Chinuch Atzmai should fund a picture book on the Torah, Rav Moshe Feinstein said no: children must learn to use their minds.
When his daughter-in-law gives birth on Sukkos, Shammai breaks open the roof over her bed and covers it with s'chach. But who was the sukkah for?
The gabbai Rav Yitzchak bar Bisna drops the beis midrash keys on Shabbos. Rabbi Pedas tells him to let children play nearby and lead them back.
Rather than rebuke a bachur for an inappropriate yarmulke, Rav Henoch Leibowitz hands him his own, and the bachur wears it proudly.
A bachur about to drop out hears none of Rav Henoch Leibowitz’s words, but the rosh yeshiva’s warm hug changes his mind.
Rabbi Shmuel Niman locked latecomers out of his shiur, until one student climbed the outside wall to knock on his window. He let him in: just this once.
A second grader writes to Rav Chaim Kanievsky about a puzzling word in Parshas Mikeitz. Rav Chaim knew a reply would give the boy chizuk, and answered with a smile.
So his young son would not cry on his first days of cheder, Rav Chaim Kanievsky sat learning at the back of the classroom every day for a month.
When a barber asks a Chofetz Chaim bachur if the rosh yeshiva is his father, Rav Henoch Leibowitz answers that the talmid is his son.
