3 - 2021 - LPITorah

Shalom uveracha friends! I hope everyone is having the most amazing chag! The composition above, “Journey”, is a song I wrote in 10th grade as a young teen trying his very best to weather the treacherous storms of adolescence – the winding “derech” from youth to adulthood discussed at length in the opening chapter of…

The lifetime of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, incredibly consequential and remarkably brief, may be likened to a flash of lightening in the dead of night whose momentary illumination grants a measure of clarity and direction that remains long after it is gone. But in truth, Rebbe Nachman was more similar to lightening sustained – a…

There are few nights approached with as many expectations as the first night of Pesach. We prepare, we dream, we learn, we plan, we buy engaging haggados (and fine wine) for the adults and props and candies for the kids. Surely, everyone will be perfectly behaved. Surely, everything will proceed exactly in accordance with our…

ONE OF THE hallmarks of Pesach is the acute focus on zmanim, halachic times. There is much discussion in the Gemara and poskim regarding the proper times for removal of chametz, the proper time after which one may no longer eat chametz on erev Pesach, how much matzah in how much time one must eat…

IN THE BEGINNING of night on the fourteenth of Nissan, we check the places in our property where chametz may have been brought by the light of a candle (or, if one is unable, a flashlight – see Halichos Shlomo vol 1, 5:11 and Piskei Teshuvos 431:2). Tosafos and other Rishonim explain that while a…

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov was born on Shabbos Hachodesh/Rosh Chodesh Nissan. While one source suggests it was the year 5531, Reb Nosson says that it was the year 5532. (Chayei Moharan 104. In both years, Rosh Chodesh Nissan fell on Shabbos). There is an amazing remez to 5532 being the correct year, as this would…

29 Adar is the yahrzeit of the author of Tiferes Shlomo, Rav Shlomo (ben Dov Tzvi) HaKohen of Radomsk zy”a. Tiferes Shlomo, which consists of two volumes, one on Torah and one on Moadim, is considered one of the classics of Sifrei Chassidus. He was a disciple of the Chozeh of Lublin, Rav Meir of…

There is a machlokes in the Gemara (Pesachim 6a) regarding when one should begin to study the halachos of Pesach. The Rabbanan hold that one should begin to learn hilchos Pesach thirty days before the chag, whereas Rabban Shimon Ben Gamliel holds one should begin only 2 weeks in advance. The Shulchan Aruch (OC 429:1)…

21 Adar is the yahrtzeit of the Rebbe Reb Elimelech (ben Eliezar Lipman) of Lizhensk zy”a, known as “The Rebbe of Rebbes” due to the many great tzaddikim that were counted among his disciples. He was one of the numerous great talmidim of the great Maggid of Mezeritch, together with his legendary brother, the Rebbe…

Rav Alexander Ziskind (ben Moshe) of Horodna zy”a, author of sefer Yesod Veshoresh Ha’avodah, left this world 18 Adar Beis 5554/1794. I would humbly suggest that one who seeks to attain an “inner feel” for the Yomim Tovim and davening should begin with this sefer. Although not a “chassid” in the colloquial sense, Rav Ziskind…