HTAA Blog

Hanukkah is the only holiday that lasts 8 days, inside and outside of Israel. Even the holiday of Shemini Atzeret, we are taught, is considered a holiday unto itself and not the eighth day of Sukkoth. Our tradition is replete with explanations for why Hanukkah lasts eight days and what the celebration is all about.

Some say we celebrate the miracle of Rabim b’yad me’atim - “many given over to the few,” recalling the...Read more...

By now, your belly is probably full of hodu (= turkey) and your heart is filled with hodaya (= prayers of thanksgiving) at the delicious meal and the great company that you shared yesterday. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays for two reasons. It is the only holiday that, as a rabbi, even I get the day off. But most importantly, Thanksgiving is like every American standing up and reciting the Shehecheyanu (prayer of thanksgiving)...Read more...

Silver Spring historian Professor David Rotenstein was the latest lecturer in Congregation Har Tzeon-Agudath Achim’s adult education series.

Today we think of Silver Spring, Maryland, as a very Jewish area, but this wasn’t always the case. In reality, Jews were banned from living in Silver Spring for decades as a result of restrictive residency covenants and land-use laws explicitly prohibiting the sale of property to specific...Read more...

There is a popular Yiddish saying with similar versions in many languages, “Der mench tracht un Got lacht,” which translates to “Man plans and God laughs." I  have never much cared for that adage because it minimizes the burden of responsibility on people to prevail despite unforeseen and sometimes negative or unfair conditions. I don't believe we must always be victims of our circumstances. We do have choices about...Read more...

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Jews may be “People of the Book,” but Congressman Jamie Raskin (D – Md.) believes in putting words into action to help make the world a better place. That was one of the messages the new representative for Maryland’s 8th District had for the packed audience at Har Tzeon-Agudath Achim in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Sept. 23, Shabbat Shuva.

The former American University law professor and veteran Maryland state legislator said...Read more...

My mother, Perla Brandriss, often mentioned to us as children that it was Erev Rosh Hashanah, 1942, that the Nazis came to take her parents. They and their two youngest children were rounded up and taken to the railway station in their home town of Lille, France, together with many of the city’s other Polish Jews, to be sent to their deaths at Auschwitz.

Erev Rosh Hashanah that year fell on September 11, the date on which, 59 years...Read more...

A group of more than 20 of my family members recently got together in Las Vegas to celebrate the 60th birthday of my dear aunt. While there, I found myself in the poker room at a hotel on the Strip. As I sat, I noticed I completed the “minyan” of 10 adult poker players at our table.

In poker, each player holds concealed cards. They are cards that no one can know but the player himself. As the game proceeds, players learn about the...Read more...

 “It’s not about the cards you’re dealt, but how you play the hand.” Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture.
 
Recently, more than twenty of my family members got together in Las Vegas to celebrate the 60th birthday of my dear aunt. There, I found myself in the poker room at a hotel on the Strip. As I sat, I noticed I completed the “minyan” of 10 adult poker players at our table.
 
In poker, each player...Read more...

This Shabbat Chazon, we begin reading the book of Deuteronomy. Moses, who much earlier claimed not to be a man words (Ex. 4:10), now delivers a sermon lasting an exhausting 36 days and taking up almost the entire book. In fact, the book of Deuteronomy is nicknamed Mishneh Torah, the Second Torah, since it is essentially a summary of the previous four books. Over the course of his monologue, Moses reviewed the laws and traditions that were to...Read more...

Did someone say Kiddush? My mouth is watering already... Ever wonder why the delicious reception after Shabbat morning services is called "sanctification" or Kiddush? Each week, we acknowledge the sanctity of Shabbat over wine and elaborate Sabbath meals. In this way, we bring additional holiness to the day that celebrates God's creation of the beautiful world which we humbly inhabit and trust in HIs desire to sustain us...Read more...

I always look forward to Fridays. I suppose I'm not alone. Most of us look forward to Fridays. Friday reminds us that whatever happened during the work week to make us nervous, anxious, or frustrated has passed and before us lies a day dedicated to family, rest and showing gratitude God. Even when our week was consumed by holidays, as this week was, Shabbat still promises relief.

As I child, I anticipated Erev Shabbat and our regular...Read more...

Shabbat Shalom  {{nickname}}

It's Purim - the time we recount the miraculous circumstances that enabled our survival as a people. Thanks to Mordechai and Esther's perilous plan and Divine safeguard, eventually, things somehow fell into place. The faithful and the wicked received...Read more...

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This week, I attended the 1st Grade Siddur Ceremony at the Berman Hebrew Academy. It was inspiring to watch the the students receive their first "real" prayerbook and demonstrate their newly acquired Hebrew...Read more...

This story begins while I was siting in Shul during Shmeni Atzeret of this year.  The congregation was getting ready to begin Yizkor.  I was sitting with my parents thinking about my brother Ami.  Abbé was there to say Kaddish for, among others, her brother...Read more...

Last summer, a group of us from HTAA travelled to Israel. There, we visited the Western Wall, toured the country, and witnessed how this tiny 

Jewish state makes incredible use of the land it possesses. Indeed its people are the most valuable resource that bless Israel. My favorite part of the trip was the Shabbat we spent together in Jerusalem. We had invited lone soldiers,...Read more...

Did the best chance for justice in the AMIA bombing case die with Alberto Nisman?

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