This morning we discuss Shabbat HaGadol (this Shabbat, just before Passover), and the curious Haftora passage we read. Though there is no overt mention or reference to Exodus or Pesach, this is the message we need to sustain ourselves, as a People, and as individuals, though everything we face. Rabbi Meilech Biderman shows us how we playfully act this out at our Passover Seder.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: #adathmichael

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This evening we discuss two meanings of one word, Ger, which is central to what Exodus means for us as Jews, and therefore central to our Passover Seder experience; Ger as immigrant, for whom we must always show compassion and assistance (for example towards Ukrainians today, regardless of our past history), and Ger as convert to Judaism, the process every Jew must relive during the Pesach Seder. We quote Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and an incredible insight of Netziv (Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Hersh Berlin) on the Torah value of empathy for all immigrants, and we quote Rabbi YItchak Hutner, explained by Dr. Erin Smokler, on the transformative nature of re-affirming our commitment to God and Torah at the Seder, during which, "every Jew must see her/himself as ever in the process of becoming a Jew."

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: #adathmichael

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss Kitniot - the category of food containing rice, beans, corn, soy, etc., which Ashkenazim don't eat on Passover - and the complaints many have about this restriction. We present why this is necessary and relevant today. We include a discussion of the distinction in Jewish Law between requirement, stringency, and leniency, and when each is, and is not, appropriate. Lastly we share the insight of Rabbi Yosef Rimon that avoiding Kitniot allows us to express our caring and concern for every single Jew.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: #adathmichael

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3S... https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss how Tzora'at, discussed in our Torah Portion regarding a discoloration in our home, conveys a practical lesson for every one of us. We quote Rambam, Maimonides, who indicates last Parsha and this Parsha contais a progression of God's messages of constructive criticism to us. And we quote Rabbi Yissachar Frand's insight that, confronted by a suggestion for self-improvement, we can either choose tragedy or treasure.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: #adathmichael

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3S... https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss why we observe two days of Yom Tov outside Israel, and must prepare and hold two Passover Seders. We dispel the idea this should no longer be relevant to us, and clarify two overlapping reasons why this is more relevant to us today than ever before.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: #adathmichael

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3S... https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss wisdom we have gained from covid to utilize in different situations in the future. We quote the eloquent poet, Amanda Gorman, keenly observing the spirit of this moment in our society. And we share a story from R. Meilech Biderman that captures how we joyously fulfill any Mitzvah God places before us.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: #adathmichael

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss why this coming Shabbat, the Shabbat before Pesach, is called Shabbat HaGadol, the Great Shabbat. I share Rabbi Norman Lamm's insight on what makes us great, and a wonderful story from Rabbi Yisroel Salanter about elevating ourselves without diminishing others.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: #adathmichael

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss Bidud (quarantine in modern Hebrew, the consequence of Tzora'at in our Parsha) as an opportunity for introspection and re-evaluation, quoting Rabbi Eliyahu Dessler and the Slonimer Rebbe in Netivot Shalom on the constructive potential of being alone, and using this construct for a new and progressive understanding of Shabbat.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: #adathmichael

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This evening we discuss how Rosh Chodesh, the beginning of the Jewish month of Nissan, begins the Exodus from Egypt, and the transformation from slavery to freedom, through adopting a lunar calendar. We present the mechanics of the moon's movements, and precisely how we use its cycles to mark months. And we explore what living by a lunar calendar (corrected by the solar calendar) dos for us spiritually, historically, and emotionally.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on: YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube Instagram: #adathmichael Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha: Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1 Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3Stitcher: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.

This morning we discuss Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' application of focused praise, modeled by Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai in Pirkei Avot, and by God in Bereishit, plus an incredible story of how a teacher's creative praise turned around a boy's life.

Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship.

Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on:

YouTube: https://tinyurl.com/adathyoutube

Instagram: #adathmichael

Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha:

Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches1

Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches3S... https://tinyurl.com/miningtheriches4

Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.