Posts by Yosef Farhi

AN ONLY CHILD The Haggadah sings every year on the Seder night :כנגד ארבעה בנים דברה תורה : אחד חכם אחד רשע אחד תם ואחד שאינו יודע לשאול .The Torah referred to telling the story of the Exodus to four sons. One, the wise son. One, the evil son. One, the simple son. And one…

LONG TERM MEMORY Everybody knows at least some of the mitzvot of Passover: clearing out the chametz from one’s home, eating matzah, and reciting the haggadah are mitzvot even some of the most assimilated Jews keep on some level.  Less known, however, is the reason we perform these mitzvot: zecher leyitziat mitzrayim (remembering the miracles G-d…

USELESS COMPUTERS     The Kotsker was quoted saying the following: We say in the Haggadah – “חכם מה הוא אומר “ the wise son, what does he say?… Why doesn’t the Haggadah just say,” חכם אומר , the wise son says…”? The Kotsker answered, “You know that a person is a חכם , wise, by…

WANTS IN SPRING BLOSSOM   In the  month of Nissan, we have a beautiful blessing: the unique blessing on the blossoming of the trees. This blessing is unique not only because it comes only once a year, but because of what it is that we are praising in this blessing.שלא חיסר בעולמו כלום וברא בו בריות…