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1 week ago | 
5tjt.com | Yochanan Gordon |Dini Franklin
By Yochanan GordonThe following is the text of a speech that I delivered at the Mesivta Ateres Yaakov Senior Talk this past Monday. It’s the story of how I ended up in my current role here at 5TJT, with a perspective that is relevant not only to seniors beginning to chart their careers, but to anyone searching for meaning in their daily routines. When Rabbi Rudansky asked me to deliver a senior talk, I hesitated.
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2 weeks ago | 
5tjt.com | Yochanan Gordon |Dini Franklin
By Yochanan GordonOn April 11, 1991, which coincided with the 28th day of Nissan—or Koach Nissan—the Lubavitcher Rebbe unexpectedly began addressing the crowd that had convened for Ma’ariv at 770 Eastern Parkway. There was something very different about this sichah from the myriad others that the Rebbe had previously delivered. It wasn’t based on a verse; he didn’t cite a maamar of one of his predecessors.
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3 weeks ago | 
5tjt.com | Yochanan Gordon |Dini Franklin
By Yochanan GordonA couple of days before Pesach, one of my kids turned to me with that mischievous twinkle only a child can muster and asked, “Tatty, are you going to get angry this yom tov?”I paused. Not because I didn’t have an answer, but because I did. I looked him in the eyes and said, “Nope. Not this year. I’m ready. I’m calm. In fact, you can even test me.”Famous last words. I take the pre-Pesach avodah seriously.
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4 weeks ago | 
5tjt.com | Yochanan Gordon |Dini Franklin
By Yochanan GordonA couple of days before Pesach, one of my kids turned to me with that mischievous twinkle only a child can muster and asked, “Tatty, are you going to get angry this Yom Tov?”I paused. Not because I didn’t have an answer, but because I did. I looked him in the eyes and said, “Nope. Not this year. I’m ready. I’m calm. In fact, you can even test me.”Famous last words. I take the pre-Pesach avodah seriously.
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1 month ago | 
5tjt.com | Yochanan Gordon |Dini Franklin
By Yochanan GordonEgyptian bondage, whose redemption we are now celebrating, did not begin with an autocratic decree but rather with the sale of Yosef HaTzaddik into Mitzrayim. There is a mysterious quality to Yosef’s personality that the Torah highlights repeatedly, demanding our attention. Despite years of alienation and betrayal by his own brothers, Yosef remained emotionally whole.
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1 month ago | 
5tjt.com | Yochanan Gordon |Dini Franklin
By Yochanan GordonThe Haggadah begins with the words: “Ha lachma anya di achalu avhasana b’ar’a d’Mitzrayim”—This is the poor man’s bread that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt. What does lachma anya mean in our lives? Yes, it refers to matzah, the focal point of the Seder. But if the Seder night marks a revolutionary turning point in our national identity, it must also be meant as a transformative experience in each of our individual lives. The question is: how? Lachma means bread.
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1 month ago | 
5tjt.com | Yochanan Gordon |Dini Franklin
By Yochanan GordonThis past week I was introduced to Lipa Schmeltzer’s new album, “Elazar Lipa’le” (available on Amazon) via a Meaningful People podcast he recorded with my brother Nachi. While talking to a friend over Shabbos, I learned that the genre of music that Lipa has embraced in his new album is called “medicine music,” which I’d never heard of before but have since learned is a genre of music that uses themes of self-healing, reconnecting with nature, and spiritual transformation.
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1 month ago | 
5tjt.com | Yochanan Gordon |Dini Franklin
By Yochanan GordonWith Purim in the rear-view mirror, the end of the year is well within our view and the new year beginning with “Hachodesh hazeh lachem Rosh Chodoshim, rishon hu lachem l’chodshei hashanah” is right on the threshold. Chazal explain that the Jewish people were removed from Egypt similar to how a fetus is surgically removed from his mother’s womb. This means that the proper way to prepare for Pesach is to relearn Yiddishkeit from the ground up. Now, that doesn’t sound too difficult.
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2 months ago | 
5tjt.com | Yochanan Gordon |Dini Franklin
By Yochanan GordonI generally learn my daily Chitas and Rambam using the daily study app from Chabad.org. It includes Hayom Yom, Chumash with Rashi, Tehillim, Tanya, and both the one- and three-chapter-a-day tracks of Rambam. On Friday morning, I glanced at my phone and saw that Siri was suggesting I click on the daily learning app, something that has been part of my routine for quite some time.
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2 months ago | 
5tjt.com | Yochanan Gordon |Dini Franklin
A friend of mine once posed a clever question: How do we know that Haman was a Litvak? His answer? Because he only knew Moshe’s yahrzeit, but not his birthday. At first, it seemed like a witty joke, but then I thought about it more deeply. Haman’s entire downfall was embedded in this very ignorance. He celebrated when his lot fell on the month of Adar, rejoicing in the knowledge that Moshe Rabbeinu had passed away in that month.
