Matan Rosh Hodesh Tammuz Torah Essay:

Women and the Churban

During the generation leading up to the Churban, the wickedness of women was even more pronounced than that of men. What could explain such a drastic shift?

Matan Emunah Essay:

Sivan: A month of threes

The Sara Litton z”l Monthly Emunah Essay .

Matan Rosh Hodesh Shvat Torah Essay:

The month of Shvat – past and future

Old and new fruit cannot be tithed from one another, just as the past and future are distinct from each other.

Matan Rosh Hodesh Kislev Torah Essay:

Making a bracha on a minhag - rules and exceptions

Two exceptions to the rule of not making a bracha on a minhag occur this month.

Matan Rosh Hodesh Elul Torah Essay:

Moving away from Churban and toward Rosh Hashannah

The seven prophecies of consolation guide us every year from crisis to renewal, to restored pride, joy and dignity.

Rosh Hodesh Iyar Torah Essay

Kabbalistic and Hassidic literature delineate the journey of a person counting the Omer.

'Kitvuni' - short essays for Purim

'Esther's Wisdom' - A collection of essays for Purim by the Matan Kitvuni Fellows, women scholars and educators.

Rosh Chodesh Essay: This year, we are all Esther

Esther teaches us that when the nation faces an existential threat, the rules of pikuach nefesh change. Megillat Esther helps us understand how Jewish law views the sacrifice of our soldiers.

Rosh Hodesh Adar I Torah Essay: Uniforms

The Sages demonstrate that clothing – in the megilla and Tanach in general – is more than just an external aesthetic. It is a catalyst for, and a window into, the spiritual state of a person. And so are our brave soldiers' uniforms.

Rosh Hodesh Shevat Torah Essay: The power of growth

Tu Bishvat is celebrated at the height of winter: when the trees are bare, and it takes enormous hope and faith to believe that the fruit will come. But they will.

Rosh Hodesh Tevet Torah Essay

Our generation did not merit a prophecy that explains what unleashed God’s terrible wrath in the midst of our chag. However, we can learn.

We are a people who dream

The Satah Litton z'l mid- month Emunah Essay: If we dream as Yaakov and Yosef  did, perhaps that is already 1/60th of prophecy.

Praying for Divine protection, light and hope

I choose to imagine our celebration after overcoming evil in our day,and seeing the safe return of our soldiers and innocent captives,

Matan's Rosh Chodesh Essay: The month of Cheshvan

These very days, Am Yisrael feels God’s hand in the cruel war that was launched against us.

An embrace from God

Emuah Essay: The holiday of Sukkot has the power to give us a boost of emunah for the entire year. It tells us that God is embracing us.

I am my Beloved’s and My Beloved is Mine

The Sara Litton z”l Monthly Emunah Essay.

Rosh Chodesh Elul Torah Essay: Psalm for the month

Among the customs for this month in which we get ready for the New Year, is the reciting of a specific psalm. Why?

The month of Tammuz and missing the mark

We rely heavily on our sight and often don’t pause to wonder how we are processing what we observe.

Rosh Chodesh Tammuz Torah essay:Stopping the sun

During Tammuz, when the summer sun is strong, we must pause and consider our awareness of God’s presence in our seemingly natural lives.

Monthly Emunah Essay | Walking with your left leg forward

We need the balance of the wins and the failure, the pull to the good and the pull to the bad,

The magic of Chodesh Sivan

What's in a name?

Monthly Emunah Essay | Feeding our body and our soul

Next time you flip through a cookbook and see the worn pages and markings, know that you have created physical and spiritual sustenance.

Rosh Chodesh Iyar Torah Essay

There is something deep going on this month, something that touches on the character of the Jewish people and our relationship with God.

Monthly Emunah Essay: The path to nobility

The leadership role is not without fear and to be our own hero is no less significant than being someone else’s hero.

Rosh Chodesh Nissan Torah Essay

When you look to the moon, she will teach you how to shine in this world, in this relationship with HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

A prayer for unity and love

The Sara Litton z”l Monthly Emunah Essay, as Adar draws to a close: the Mishkan and the Purim holiday's long term messages.

Rosh Chodesh Adar Torah Essay: Sharing joy

What do Chazal exactly want from us this month when they tell us to be happy? And why?

May your Torah spring forth from you

The Sara Litton z”l Monthly Emunah Essay: You have undiscovered holy waters waiting to burst forth from within.

Tevet Emunah Essay: More than meets the eye

It’s a month of lower energy, long dark nights and may seem a time of דין, judgment, associiated with the tribe of Dan. But there is more.

Tevet in its totality

Rosh Hodesh Tevet Torah Essay,

Shine your light

The Sara Litton z”l Monthly Emunah Essay.

Rosh Hodesh Kislev Torah Essay: Light in a month of darkness

Kislev reminds us that personally and nationally we undergo times of darkness and struggles, and inspires us to overcome them.

Come unto Shabbat

The Sara Litton z”l Monthly Emunah Essay,Cheshvan has no holidays,and is therefore the time to appreciate Shabbat even more.

Rosh Hodesh Cheshvan Torah Essay

Prayer is our spiritual sustenance and rain is the source of our physical sustenance. Parshiyot Bereshith and Noach exemplify that.

Rosh Hodesh Av Torah Essay: Mandated feelings

How can we be commanded by the Torah to feel in a certain way?

Rosh Hodesh Tammuz Torah Essay: Five calamities

The 5 events on the 17th of Tammuz are tied together by the astute explanation given by Rabbi Norman Lamm.z"l on why synagogues fail.

Rosh Hodesh Sivan Torah Essay: The Lubavitcher Rebbe on Sivan

One is a thesis. Two is antithesis. Three is synthesis.

Rosh Hodesh Iyar Torah essay: National and personal recuperation

Iyar as a month of healing is not merely a word play, but an essential time from Nissan to Sivan for national refinement and recuperation.

'Matza and maror before them' – Halakhically mandated props

Seder night is reliving a great story, becoming part of the night it all started. Read here about its meaning and foundations of our faith.

Rosh Hodesh Nissan Torah Essay: Taking control of time

Wouldn't the mitzva to love one's neighbor be a suitable first commandment to the Jewish people? Why the establishment of the new month?

Monthly Emunah essay: Joy brings multifaceted Redemption

We daven for a time in the future redemption when the moon’s light will once again be as bright as the sun.

Rosh Hodesh Torah Essay: Imitatio Dei and reciprocal love

Hashem expresses a double name and the names of a few characters in Tanakh are doubled as well. There is a pattern of meaning here.

The almond tree is blooming

Winter is a crucial part of spring, suffering a crucial part of celebration, failure an essential ingredient to success.

Emunah essay: A month of darkness

Hashem’s presence is in our midst even in the darkness and sometimes most especially in times of tragedy and hardship. Do we stop to listen?

Greeting the new month of Tevet

The first translation of the Torah, into Greek, was in Tevet and is part of the reason for fasting on the 10th of Tevet. What is so bad?

Rosh Hodesh Kislev Torah essay

Hanukkah is coming, the story reminding us that in the past, we have become enamoured with our own power and too secure in our position.

Rabbanit Malke Bina steps back as head of Matan Institute

Founder and Chancellor of the Matan Women’s Institute for Torah Studies announces that after 33 years she will step back.

Rosh Hodesh Sivan Torah essay

May the unity experienced at Mount Sinai envelop us once again as we study Torah on the holiday of Shavuot celebrating that event.

Women's Torah educator: Feminism empowers us for God

Arutz Sheva spoke to Rabbanit Malke Bina, founder of MaTaN, an institution dedicated to furthering women's Torah and Talmud learning.

Rosh Hodesh Shevat Torah essay

We must learn to 'pay it forward', realizing that many of the fruits of our labor won’t be ripe for years.

Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av Torah essay

What do we want to return to in Megillat Eicha?

Rosh Chodesh Tammuz Torah Essay: Sitting with broken hearts

“There is nothing more whole than a broken heart” -Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk.