by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Oct 17, 2017
The waters retreated and the ground began to restore its mantle of green, and the feeling that a new age had begun enveloped Noach and his family. But it was not a consummate joy, because in the back of his mind Noach harbored the fear that in the future there could be another deluge to destroy all mankind.
The Creator alleviated Noach’s fears with an assurance that He would never again cover the earth with water as a punishment for man’s evil deeds, and He decreed that the rainbow would forever serve as the symbol of this declaration.
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Oct 11, 2017
Rashi in his first commentary on the Torah quotes Midrash Tanchuma which poses the question that since the Torah is the book of mitzvot of the Jewish nation, it should begin with the first mitzva HaShem commanded us – to calculate and declare the new months and years. So why does it begin with the epic of Creation?
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Oct 1, 2017
The critical factor in any sukkah is its schach (the leafy roof), which is governed by three Halachic conditions: (1) it must be from the vegetable family (grown from the earth); (2) it must be detached from the earth at the time of use; and (3) it must be an entity that cannot acquire tuma, making bread or fruit not valid material for schach.
The Zohar (Emor 103a) and kabbalists have revealed that during Sukkot the souls of the seven great leaders of Israel – Avraham, Yitzchak, Ya’akov, Moshe, Aharon, Yosef and King David – appear in every kosher sukkah as ushpizin (guests). Some claim that each one appears individually on his respective night, while others claim that they appear together, with one serving as the leader in his respective night.
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Sep 25, 2017
On the wall in front of my desk there are several photos.
One of my father Z”L pondering over a Gemara. Another of my beautiful Mother at the age of 16 in the city of Dvinsk Latvia where her father was a renowned Torah scholar. A photo of our youngest son who is today a general in the IDF, receiving a citation for successfully completing a daring mission behind enemy lines by the general of the northern command.
A picture of the Lubavitcher Rebbe giving me two dollars in return for two books I had authored and presented to the Rebbe…
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Sep 19, 2017
The following is a synopsis of many of this year’s weekly messages.
The messages were variations on one sole theme – the centrality of Eretz Yisrael to everything Jewish, and its corollary that the galut is dying and every Jew must return home.
Eretz Yisrael is not one more item in the ‘tool shed” of a Torah true Jew; it is the shed itself. The Holy Land determines the quantity and quality of our mitzvot. There are quantitatively more mitzvot to be fulfilled here than in the galut, and the quality of a mitzva observed in the galut compared to its observance in Eretz Yisrael is like a weed to a rose.
Our land is the border crossing between this world and the next. And when we sinned, HaShem exiled us to the brutal galut where our books and bodies were burned and our thoughts perverted.
Eretz Yisrael is the focal point of Judaism; the holy precinct which is directly under the kisei hakavod – the holy throne.
by Rabbi Nachman Kahana | Sep 12, 2017
I am writing this on the 11th of September, the 16th anniversary of the Twin Towers tragedy caused by members of the dysfunctional, savage Arab people.
The world on 9/11 had the opportunity to empathize with the Creator in His regret for permitting the dysfunctional, savage Yishmael to come into the world; for on that day war was declared on the world order, and the value we place on God-given life. That infamous day radically changed the world, and has a unique message for the Jewish people.
