by Rabbi Yaacov Haber | Apr 8, 2011 | Tazria, Rosh Chodesh, Metzora, Pesach/Passover
Depending on who and when you ask the Jewish year either begins in the month of Tishrei, at Rosh Hashanah time, or a couple of weeks before Pesach in Nissan. Why do we have two new years? The answer lies in the season of each New Year. Tishrei and Rosh Hashanah occur...
by Rabbi Yaacov Haber | Sep 17, 2009 | Rosh Hashanah, Elul, Ten Days of Repentance, Ha'azinu
Close your eyes and imagine what the world must have looked like on the first day of creation. Pristine, fresh, untainted, healthy and unpolluted. Man is created. He is naive, pure and innocent. His face shines from the goodness of his unadulterated soul. His tongue...
by Rabbi Yaacov Haber | Sep 26, 2008 | Rosh Hashanah, Elul, Nitzavim
How does the Ribono Shel Olam decide our destiny for the upcoming year? How does He judge us? The answer is simple. The same way we judge others. A Medrash. Hashem said to Moshe “Hain Kirvu Yamecho Lamus”. Your time has come. The end of your life is here....
by Rabbi Yaacov Haber | Sep 18, 2007 | Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Elul, Ten Days of Repentance
There is a standard metaphor that we are taught as children. On the Day of Judgment God, the judge, sits on His chair with a large scale in front of him. Not a digital scale or the type of scale that you would see in the butcher shop or the vegetable store but an old...