Divrei Torah for the Growth-Oriented Jewish Teen
The Avodah of a Woman on Shemini Atzeres & Simchas Torah
Sep 30, 2026 · 18 min · 8 segments
Recording of a mussar schmooze given to alumni of Baer Miriam Seminary
Divrei Torah for the Growth-Oriented Jewish Teen
Sep 30, 2026 · 18 min · 8 segments
Recording of a mussar schmooze given to alumni of Baer Miriam Seminary
Uh, we talked about last time that Hoshana Rabbah, first of all, right, is, uh, a tremendous day of judgment, right? Uh, that, uh, we talked about in the Zohar, right, the, the, the Petachim, the Pesukim, the, the, the letters and the telegrams, whatever it is, right, are given out, uh, on Hoshana Rabbah.
For Ashkenazis, I think most of us say a lot of Tehillim, a lot of learning and stuff going on.
Um, Hoshana Rabbah is a Yom Din, right? Uh, and then after that, right, the HaKadosh Baruch Hu sends out, uh, you know, the gezar din, right, on Shemini Atzeret, and the shluchim have permission to fulfill Hashem's decisions, et cetera, et cetera.
Uh, you know, we've all talked about Rashbam HaZaken who used to daven, right, tremendously, said a lot of Tehillim, et cetera, et cetera.
Um, Rav Melach points out that Shemini Atzeret is also, uh, a day of tremendous davening, but not out the, the fear and perhaps trepidation of Yom Din of Hoshana Rabbah but the opposite.
Uh, and similar in the vein of, uh, Sukkot being zman simchateinu, as we'll get to in a second, we'll talk about, uh, uh, Shemini Atzeret is also zman simchateinu.
It says on Hoshana Rabbah, again, like you said, [inaudible] finish the din, but then on Shemini Atzeret is the brachos start, right? We don't, uh, we don't have the fear, uh, of the, the gezar din, but the brachos start on Shemini Atzeret.
It says on HaKadosh Baruch Hu invites us in for one more day, right? No mitzvahs, uh, excuse me, on Shemini Atzeret, it's just Yom Tov.
It's easier to understand that in the Chutz La'aretz 'cause you literally have nothing to do.
So Women sadly are stuck staring at, you know, all the proceedings from the women's section, uh, and sitting and gossiping and, and, you know, whatever, God knows what, right? Don't waste this valuable opportunity, right? You literally have hours to daven.
Now, sometimes it's the man job to daven, right? The men in Yom Kippur, for example, the man's job is to be in shul, right? The woman's job is to be home with the kids.
Very different experiences, and that's okay because there are different jobs to be done.
On Simchas Torah, the jobs are reversed, sort of, right? The men have what they are doing, women are free to daven.
Uh, we talked about last time that Hoshana Rabbah, first of all, right, is, uh, a tremendous day of judgment, right? Uh, that, uh, we talked about in the Zohar, right, the, the, the Petachim, the Pesukim, the, the, the letters and the telegrams, whatever it is, right, are given out, uh, on Hoshana Rabbah.
For Ashkenazis, I think most of us say a lot of Tehillim, a lot of learning and stuff going on.
Um, Hoshana Rabbah is a Yom Din, right? Uh, and then after that, right, the HaKadosh Baruch Hu sends out, uh, you know, the gezar din, right, on Shemini Atzeret, and the shluchim have permission to fulfill Hashem's decisions, et cetera, et cetera.
Uh, you know, we've all talked about Rashbam HaZaken who used to daven, right, tremendously, said a lot of Tehillim, et cetera, et cetera.
Um, Rav Melach points out that Shemini Atzeret is also, uh, a day of tremendous davening, but not out the, the fear and perhaps trepidation of Yom Din of Hoshana Rabbah but the opposite.
Uh, and similar in the vein of, uh, Sukkot being zman simchateinu, as we'll get to in a second, we'll talk about, uh, uh, Shemini Atzeret is also zman simchateinu.
It says on Hoshana Rabbah, again, like you said, [inaudible] finish the din, but then on Shemini Atzeret is the brachos start, right? We don't, uh, we don't have the fear, uh, of the, the gezar din, but the brachos start on Shemini Atzeret.
It says on HaKadosh Baruch Hu invites us in for one more day, right? No mitzvahs, uh, excuse me, on Shemini Atzeret, it's just Yom Tov.
It's easier to understand that in the Chutz La'aretz 'cause you literally have nothing to do.
So Women sadly are stuck staring at, you know, all the proceedings from the women's section, uh, and sitting and gossiping and, and, you know, whatever, God knows what, right? Don't waste this valuable opportunity, right? You literally have hours to daven.
Now, sometimes it's the man job to daven, right? The men in Yom Kippur, for example, the man's job is to be in shul, right? The woman's job is to be home with the kids.
Very different experiences, and that's okay because there are different jobs to be done.
On Simchas Torah, the jobs are reversed, sort of, right? The men have what they are doing, women are free to daven.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.