Malkhiot, Zikhronot and Shofarot:
Defining the Nature of Rosh HaShanah
Rabbi Dov Linzer

Look at the verses in the Torah where the day of Rosh HaShanah is designated as a Yom Tov and where the mitzvah of shofar appears (sources 1-2). Note that the nature of the day, and the purpose of the shofar, are not at all defined in these verses. [There is not even a verse that commands us to blow the shofar, and thus there is a debate what exactly the definition of the mitzvah is - to blow or to hear the blowing,] It is perhaps because of this lack of definition of the day and of the mitzvah of shofar, that the Rabbis instituted the Malkhiot, Zikhronot, and Shofarot verses in the central Musaf prayer to help give definition to the day and the shofar.

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By Steven Exler, YCT '09

Fascinating Frames: Blessings Upon the Torah

Shavuot, as zeman matan Torateinu, the time of the giving of our Torah, is a time for revisiting our relationship to Torah study as individuals and as a nation. How have our thinkers and teachers conceived of our relationship to Torah? Among many angles to approaching this question is considering Birkot Hatorah, the Blessings over the Torah. What is the history and form of these blessings, and what might it suggest about how the sages of different generations thought about the encounter with Torah? We'll look at a range of rabbinic and medieval sources on these questions, and wrap up with a striking consideration of the formula of the blessings themselves and their strange presentation in the Talmud.

By Benjamin Greenberg, YCT '09

The Exodus in Biblical Memory

"The past is never dead. It's not even past." - William Faulkner

Source #1:
More than 70% of American Jews have participated in a Passover ritual at least once in their lives
Institute for Jewish and Community Research, 2003

The Story Behind the Story
A Hanukah Message from Rabbi Yamin Levy
Vice President of Yeshiva Affairs, YCT Rabbinical School
Kislev 5769

While the traditional story of Hanukah presents Greeks as wicked tyrants bent on our destruction and Greek culture as the ultimate force of darkness, we know from world history and Jewish history that Greek culture was a source of  much light in the ancient world. Much of western philosophy, medicine, mathematics and geometry is born out of Greek culture. Rambam, Maimonides, regarded Aristotle in the highest esteem and even suggested he could be a prophet.