On the surface, the mitzvah of dwelling in the succah appears to be quite straightforward. The Rambam formulates the mitzvah in the following fashion: What is the mitzvah of dwelling in the succah? One should eat and drink and dwell in the succah for the entire seven-day period both at night and during the day in exactly the same manner that he dwells in his house during the other days of the year. Throughout the entire seven-day period a person should treat his house as a temporary dwelling and his succah as his permanent dwelling. more

Calendar for the week of Oct. 12, 2011 more

A number of years ago, I struck up a friendship over Pesach week with a Holocaust survivor, a former inmate of the Janowska work camp and Auschwitz. Towards the end of the week I summoned up the nerve to ask him if there was anything in particular that stood out in his mind as the reason he had survived. Without hesitation, he responded: “It was one mitzvah; the Sukkos I spent in Auschwitz. more

On Sukkot, we shop for a produce item that most of us have no intent in eating. I am always amused by the parallels between those that want an etrog that is mehadrin min mehadrin and a senior at the grocery store trying to find the best cantaloupe. more

The most vivid thing I remember about growing up Jewish was walking with my father for 26 blocks to shul on the High Holidays. Most of the congregants would park their cars two blocks away from the synagogue and walk the rest of the way. It was strange that my dad felt the need to walk. Maybe he knew that those walks would light an ember inside me, because as I got as I got older and drifted away from Judaism, the remembrances of those walks kept me from moving completely away. more

With the massive annual pilgrimage to the Breslov Rebbe’s grave in Uman, Ukraine, now behind us, the attraction for some Jews to return to the “alte heim” remains. Somehow, the option of having an independent Jewish homeland and the freedom of life in the First World do not compare to living in the ruins of your ancestral shtetl, davening in the empty synagogue of your great-grandparents, and communicating with the silent voices of the graveyard. more

Dear Aviva, I have been divorced for 5 years and am serious about getting remarried. I don’t have any kids, I present myself well and have a decent job that I’m happy with. I know that it is much easier for me to find dates since I am a guy, but I am having trouble finding the type of woman that would fit my haskafa. more

The adage that all beginnings are difficult applies equally to all human endeavors. In the world of Bible commentaries on the Book of Genesis, Bereshis, such beginnings are both literal as well as metaphoric. High quality peshat and derash are not easy to fine. This week’s review will hopefully prove that this year’s newly published works are the exception. more

There was once a time when mainstream American Orthodoxy was defined by the Hertz Chumash, the Birnbaum siddur and books by the Jewish Publication Society. In recent years, the rise of Haredi publishing house Artscroll, the expansion of newspapers Hamodia and Yated Ne’eman, and magazines such as Ami and Mishpacha, have changed the image of print in the Orthodox community. Dr. Yoel Finkelman of Bar Ilan University chronicles the development of English-language haredi publications in his book “Strictly Kosher Reading,” released over the summer. Dr. Finkelman was raised in Detroit and made aliyah in 1993. He resides in Beit Shemesh. more

Sometimes it rains, and in the midst of autumn, the temperatures are not too encouraging of outdoor living, but for a number of local families, the mitzvah of living in a tabernacle for a week includes comfort items and a personal touch. more