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Times and Schedule for Shabbat
Rambam class: 6:40 PM
Important Dates on the calendar 13 Iyar This Sunday, May 11, is the 13th of Iyar. It is the yahrzeit of Rabbi Yisroel Aryeh Leib Schneerson, the Rebbe’s brother. He is buried in the holy city of Tzefat, in close proximity to the Arizal. For more about the Rebbe's brother, including a fascinating clip of the rebbe asking a professor to help publish the one of his brother's papers, click here . 14 Iyar - Pesach Sheini 14 Iyar, Monday, May 12, is Pesach Sheini, the “Second Pesach." It is the custom to eat some Matzah on Pesach Sheni to commemorate this day. The Torah relates that in the first year after the Exodus, when the Jewish people were preparing to bring the Pesach sacrifice: There were [certain] men who were impure and they could not bring the Pesach offering. They came before Moshe... and said, "We are unclean... [but] why should we be held back from bringing the offering of G‑d in its time?..." G‑d said..., "If any man be impure... or on a distant way [on the day of the Pesach offering]..., he shall sacrifice the Pesach offering to G‑d, in the second month, on the fourteenth day in the afternoon...." Anyone who did not bring a Pesach offering, whether because of impurity or even because he had willfully transgressed G‑d's will, was thus given the opportunity to compensate for his shortcoming by bringing an offering on Pesach Sheini. The Previous Rebbe explained that "Pesach Sheni teaches us that 'Nothing is ever lost: it's never too late!' Our conduct can always be rectified. Even someone who is impure, who was far away and even desired to be so, can still correct himself." There is no justification for despair. Every individual, no matter what his situation, always has the potential to make a leap forward (the literal translation of the Hebrew word Pesach) in his service of G‑d. For more on Pesach Sheini see here
Lag BaOmer: 18 Iyar |