Libi BaMizrach

This essay was adapted from a longer chapter in a forthcoming sefer on the Yamim Tovim, presenting the Torah of HaRav Michel Twerski שליט״א and prepared with his blessing and encouragement. One Ten-Day Continuum We usually think of the Aseres Yemei Teshuvah as the days between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. But Chazal did not call them the “seven days of repentance.” They are the Ten Days of Repentance, which means that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur themselves are not merely the bookends of the process. They are part of it. That changes the way we understand these days. Rosh Hashanah, the beginning, and Yom Kippur, the culmination, are woven into one fabric. They are not two separate spiritual events that happen to appear on the calendar near each other. They form one continuum: the recreation of the self. Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of the creation of Adam HaRishon. More deeply, it is not merely the commemoration of creation, but the annual renewal of creation. The world comes ...

Why the New Chareidi Party Must Be Built From the Bottom Up Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein’s wonderful recent Cross-Currents essay, “Boy George Obligates the Fence-Sitters” , ends with the single word that Motti Leitner has chosen to summarize the platform of HaTzibbur HaCharedi : Responsibility That word is exactly why this new party is necessary. Israel’s debate about the Chareidi community has become dominated by military service. That is understandable in a country exhausted by war and repeated reserve duty. But beneath the draft controversy lies an even broader question: Can a rapidly growing community build its future around economic dependence, inadequate preparation for employment, and the assumption that someone else will continue paying the bill? That question is not anti- Chareidi . It is a question about the future of the Chareidi community itself. According to a recent Israel Democracy Institute statistical report, only 54 percent of Chareidi men are employed, and the ...