By Rabbi Avi Billet Issue of April 10, 2009 / 16 Nissan 5769 Everyone knows the song: “Dai dai yay-nu, dai dai yay-nu…” As much as we get into it, what is the meaning of this poem … more

Parshat Yitro by Rabbi Avi Billet Issue of February 6, 2010/ 21 Shvat 5770 A previous column discussed the father-in-law-son-in-law relationship using Lavan and Yaakov as the model … more

One of the bigger challenges we face on Pesach evening is keeping everyone around the table engaged throughout the Seder. Whether we read the Haggadah straight (boring to some), have many Torah … more

In Shemot 19:12, in anticipation of Matan Torah, Moshe told the people, “‘Set a boundary around [the mountain], and tell them to be careful not to climb the mountain, or [even] to touch its edge. … more

The last verse of the Tochacha (Rebuke) of Chapter 26 in Bechukotai says the following: “These are the decrees, laws and codes that G-d set between Himself and the Israelites at Mount Sinai … more

Is the manner in which we shake the four species random, or is there reason behind how we are supposed to wave them? One of Rabbi Zvi Dov Kanatopsky’s holiday sermons, in the book … more

By Rabbi Avi Billet Issue of July 24, 2009 / 3 Av 5769 One of the major ills of our times is our inability to accept people for who they are. We often tend to judge people based on exteriors … more

In our post feminist world, a case in Devarim 22 is very troubling. After consummating his marriage, a man finds that he hates his wife. Instead of following the Torah’s instruction for how to absolve a marriage through divorce (as described in Devarim 24), he chooses to invent charges against her that she was unfaithful, most likely to get out of having to pay her Ketubah. To save a few shekels, he tries to destroy her reputation. more

Parshat Vayera By Rabbi Avi Billet Issue of November 6, 2009/ 19 Cheshvan 5770 I always thought the story of Lot’s daughters was not taught in grade school because the material is … more

The Torah gives three examples of “Your brother becoming impoverished.” (V’khi yamukh achikha). The first has to do with selling family property, and how it returns to the original owners at the Jubilee year. The second and third examples deal with a case where he cannot sustain himself and is relying on community assistance (25:35-38), or even needs to be sold into slavery to support himself (25:39-42), respectively. more