PurimBurst 2008(based on Pri Tsadik, Ohev Yisrael and Heichal HaBrocha) Sarah Yehudit Schneider “Let the king and Haman come to the banquet.” The Talmud asks, “Why did Esther honor Haman with an exclusive invite to this tête-à-tête between her and the king? … R. Joshua answers: She learned this strategy (encapsulated by a verse from Proverbs) in her father’s house: ‘If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat and if thirsty ply him with drink. For in so doing you heap coal

Pesach 2008 / 5768A Pesach Teaching from A Still Small Voice הא לחמא עניא – “This is the bread of humility [and of affliction that brings us to humility]” Kenesset Yisrael (the mystical Body of Israel) was conceived by Avraham and Sarah, floated through the fallopian tube with Yitzchok and Rivka and implanted in the dark womb of Egypt when Yakov descended there with his clan of seventy souls. They gestated “like a fetus in utero”[1] for 210 years and then, on sedar night they

A Shavuot Torah 2008 / 5768 Sarah Yehudit Schneider based on Tsidkat HaTsadik 193, 182-184 According to Jewish tradition, the Torah’s revelation was the most profound manifestation of God that has ever transpired on the planet. An estimated four million people experienced that historic event.1[1] A searing revelation of Presence engraved the souls of an entire nation with the-truth-of-the-universe compressed into a single burst of light. Its impact continues to impel thei

Tisha B’Av, 5768 / 2008 based on Zohar 3:158a Everyone knows that Tisha B’Av (the 9th of Av) is the lowest point of the Jewish calendar. HaShem’s protective aura thins, and we grow vulnerable to error and to harm. The downward tug of this time is ancient, and nearly impossible to resist. It started when Essav’s guardian angel attacked Yaakov on this day and dislocated his hip.[1] Since the hip area includes the generative triad (comprised of the three sefirot: netzach, hod, y

Rosh HaShana, 5769/2008by Sarah Yehudit Schneider Like a shepherd…whose sheep pass beneath his staff, so shall You cause to pass, count, calculate, and consider the soul of all the living…who will live and who will die…who will rest and who will wander, who will live in harmony and who will be harried, who will enjoy tranquility and who will suffer, who will be impoverished and who will be enriched, who will be degraded and who will be exalted. But repentance, prayer and char

5769 / 2008 Sarah Yehudit Schneider There is no person or nation that does not have at least a miniscule sliver of holiness. Otherwise it could not exist. Life is a priori evidence of the presence of G-d. And if G-d is present then there is also at least a miniscule sliver of truth for the Talmud declares: “HaShem’s signature is truth.”1 And so the Midrash concurs: “If a person asserts that there is wisdom among the nations, believe them. Yet, if he contends that there is Tor