Living Torah Archives

The obligations of the month of Nissan already begin thirty days before Passover, when Jewish communities begin to collect for those in need “wheat money” for the Matzos. This fund enables them to have the three Matzos required when recounting the story of the Exodus on Passover Eve.

The Baal Shem Tov teaches that with everything a Jew experiences, he must contemplate what he must learn from it. How much more so when a person loses a loved one, when the verse itself instructs, “The living shall take to heart.“

Moses could not fathom what procedure could possibly purify a person who had been ritually defiled by contact with death, until G‑d granted him a uniquely profound revelation. Although in exile the ritual of the Red Heifer cannot be performed, through learning about this mitzvah, a Jew can purify his body and soul.

"Exalted and hallowed be G-d's great Name." The opening words of the Kaddish are a very clear declaration, that through reciting Kaddish a person causes G-d's very Essence to become magnified throughout all levels of creation.