Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld
Oh How I Miss the Holidays!
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Shmini Atzeret / Simchat Torah
Often I have an experience in my week that goes something like this.My two year old asks me for a lollipop.He will ask me for what feels like several hundred times until I will finally relent and say, “fine.”Then the second I give him the lollipop, he will look at me with a devilish smile and say,...
Achieving Greatness through the Mitzvoth of Yom Kippur
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Yom Kippur
A few months ago I drove to visit someone in a hospital. This hospital has a special parking spot reserved for clergy, so I confidently pulled into the clergy spot. As I exited the car, a security guard approached me and said, “I am sorry, this spot is only for clergy. Let me see your clergy i.d.”...
Yom Kippur: A Call To Greatness
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Yom Kippur
The theme of Yom Kippur is forgiveness. Almost all of our special Yom Kippur prayers are centered on the theme of confessing our sins and asking God for his forgiveness. A major part of the Mussaf service is the description of the Avodah—the service of the High Priest in the Temple on Yom Kippur....
The Riddle of the Red Heifer
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Chukat
I recently had the great honor and fortune to offer a benediction at George Washington University’s commencement ceremony. It was also a great opportunity to teach Torah to a very large audience. There were 25,000 people present. And on top of that, since Michelle Obama was scheduled to...
Rabbi Shmuel HaSatan, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, and the Holiday of Lag Baomer
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Emor, Lag BaOmer, Ki Tetze
Around ten days ago I received a letter in the mail from my father. It was a Hebrew sheet of paper with a story on it. The paper was part of a publication called, “Bein Hadagim Le-Zemirot” (Between the Fish and the Songs—Stories for the Shabbat Table). When I read this story I nearly...
Remembering the Besht
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Emor
Sometime we will be sitting down to dinner in our house and the phone will ring or someone will ring the door bell. It is often an annoying intrusion of someone trying to sell us something. It can be annoying. Well the next time that happens think about this story. One time the Baal Shem Tov was...
Running Out of Time
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Pesach
The Shulchan Aruch (458) records that it is a custom to bake matzah specifically on the afternoon of the eve of Pesach. The reason is because that is the time when the Paschal lamb was offered and so it is a custom to bake the matzah at that exact time; as you may know by now, our synagogue baked...
A New Vision for the Temple Mount
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Tetzaveh
I have been to Jerusalem many times. So many times that I have lost count. But on my recent trip to Israel, I found myself in a new part of Jerusalem which I had never been to before. I drove from my hotel in the center of Jerusalem (with Danielle Frum a member of our synagogue), a short ten...
Recognizing your Children
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Vayechi
Recently our congregation was given a tremendous gift. The family of Rabbi Gedaliah Silverstone gave us a Torah scroll that had many years ago been acquired by the Silverstone family in memory of Rabbi Gedaliah. The family had read from the Torah on the High Holidays and memorable family...
Bedford Bikers and Satmar Chasidim
Posted by Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld | Tags: Vayigash
Some of you might have heard about the Bedford Bike Lanes controversy. There is a major brouhaha currently going on in New York City concerning a bike path from Brooklyn to Manhattan and that goes along Bedford Avenue. Bedford Avenue goes through Williamsburg which has a very large and...
