The Book Of Esther Explained On Purim night, there you are in the synagogue, listening to the Megillah reading, a story you’ve known since childhood, and perhaps you’re kind of… bored? Reading the Megillah year after year feels a bit like being back in primary school. But that’s because the story we learn as a child shouldn’t be the story...

Firstfruits was a Jewish feast held in the early spring at the beginning of the grain harvest. It was observed on Nissan 16, which was the third day after Passover and the second day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Firstfruits was a time of thanksgiving for God’s provision. Leviticus 23:9-14 institutes the firstfruits offering. The people were to bring...

The Bible tells us that the Israelites were to eat only unleavened bread every year during Passover as a commemoration of the Exodus from Egyptian bondage. Since the children of Israel left Egypt hastily, they did not have time for the bread to rise, so it was made on that very first Passover without leaven, also known as yeast. In...