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So what do Yankees games, old time kibbutzim in Eretz Yisrael, and this year’s Lag BaOmer m’durah (fire) in New Square have in common?

You guessed it: They all play Havah Nagilah!

There are certain people whose accomplishments seem to traverse normal human limits. They seem to possess uncanny and selfless devotion to their causes, which influence klal Yisrael and promote Torah. What is the secret to their unmitigated energy?

It’s that time of year again. It actually happens twice – once in the spring and once in the summer. It’s the periods of national mourning when Jewish barbers are on vacation and many Jewish men’s beards look scruffy and somewhat unkempt.

There’s a classic story about two beggars – one Jewish, the other non-Jewish – who would make their rounds begging together. One night, they were sitting on a bench commiserating about how hungry they always were. The Jewish beggar then told his companion that at least the following week, on the night of the Pesach Seder, they would have a good meal. The non-Jewish beggar countered that he would never be invited to a Seder. The Jewish beggar reassured him that if he put on a kipah and imitated whatever everyone else did, no one would realize he wasn’t Jewish, and he would eat like a king.

When I was younger, I was told that if a person eats too much of a certain food, he will eventually start to look like that food. Pesach proves the fallacy of that idea: The more matzah I ate over Pesach, the more I felt like a fluffy piece of chametz. If only eating matzah made you look like matzah (without the holes)…

I’ve always been fascinated by Pharaoh’s pajamas. Every little kid loves to sing about “Pharaoh in pajamas in the middle of the night.” On the night of the Exodus, at the stroke of midnight, the final plague – the Death of the Firstborn – began. The obstinate and brazen Pharaoh finally broke. His resolve was gone, as was his dignity. He ran through the streets of Goshen in a frenzied panic, screaming out to the amused Jews to tell him where Moshe and Aharon lived. The former slaves decided to recapture some of their dignity and they began pointing him in all directions. When Pharaoh finally discovered the home of Moshe and Aharon, he cried out that they and their people were free, and they should leave immediately. Moshe replied that they would not leave until the morning.