120 Years - Maximum Amount of Time to Do Teshuvah

Parshat Noach

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Reading through Chapter 5, we find people living to be over 900 years old. In his Haamek Davar, Rabbi Naphtali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin argued that that kind of existence was possible in a Garden of Eden, and even afterwards, but Rabbi Yaakov Mecklenberg, in his Haktav V’hakabbalah notes that the atmosphere of the world changed after the flood, and people could no longer live that long.

In fact, ages were cut in half post flood (look at the two generations following Noach), and even further cut in half (down to under 200) by the time Avraham came around.

While I know that most people would like to continue living as long as possible, that assumes good health and not being a burden on anyone. Some who suffer just want all to end so their suffering can end. There are certainly different views on what makes life “too long.” Even for those who have good health until the final day, one question often comes up – “how do I spend my time?” (That is something people ought to think about if they have plans to retire, unlike those whose plan is to "work until I die.")

What We Know from Bereshit

Breishit 

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Rabbi Yehuda Amital, the founding Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion, was known to say at the beginning of the new cycle of the Torah. “I don’t understand anything in Parshat Bereshit. I don’t know what ‘tohu’ means; I don’t know what ‘vohu’ means; I don’t know what ‘the spirit of God hovering over water’ means; from Parshat Bereshit I learn only one thing: That God created the world.”

Were we to simply inch through the parsha, we could ask many questions.

Putting Meaning into 4 Minim Wavings

Sukkot

by Rabbi Avi Billet

Is the manner in which we shake the 4 species random, or is there reason behind how we are supposed to wave them? In the book “Rejoice in Your Festivals,” a number of Rabbi Zvi Dov Kanatopsky’s holiday sermons are recorded. In one of them he quotes the Siddur of Rav Kook, in which the following interesting explanation is given.

The order of the directions in which we shake the Lulav is East, South, West, North, then heavenward, then downward. And the primary time we shake the Lulav is in accompaniment to the recitation of the verse “Hodu LaHashem Ki Tov Ki L’Olam Chasdo” – Give thanks to God for He is good, for His kindness endures forever.