The conflict between truth and peace dates back at least as far as the creation of the world, with “truth” arguing that being that man is…
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Sanhedrin 29: I Hate that Rabbi
“Based on the words of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established” (Devarim 19:15). While absent cause, we have little…
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Sanhedrin 27: I Love to Sin
Over the last few posts (see here and here) we have been discussing those who are disqualified from giving testimony or sitting as a judge…
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Sanhedrin 26: Eating Pork at the Food Bank
“Rav Nachman said: Those who eat davar acher, the other, are pasul, invalid to give testimony” (Sanhedrin 26b). As is often the…
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Sanhedrin 25: The Non-Kosher Butcher
Innocent until proven guilty is a fundamental tenet of the our secular legal system. It finds an antecedent in the rabbinic notion of a …
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Sanhedrin 24: Off to Vegas
"And G-d blessed them and G-d said unto them: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the land and conquer it” (Breisheet 1:28). These are…
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Sanhedrin 24: Down with Bavel!
We are all products of—and greatly influenced by—our environments, which is why our Sages put so much emphasis on ensuring that we live…
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Sanhedrin 22: A Beautiful Font
Malcolm Gladwell, in his best-selling book Outliers, delineates how much of one's success in life is dependent on when one is born. Thus,…
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Sanhedrin 21: What is the Reason?
I have long thought that far and away the best introduction to and overview of Judaism is the Sefer haChinuch, the great 13th century…
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Sanhedrin 19: Cemetery Etiquette
One of the areas of law that even otherwise non-observant Jews tend to observe are those relating to mourning[1]. Perhaps this phenomenon is based on…
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Sanhedrin 17: Where Should We Live?
Marshall McLuhan, the insightful Canadian philosopher, noted that with the rapid advances in technology and communications, we citizens of earth were…
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Sanhedrin 15: The Ox and I
Perhaps the fundamental difference between the Written Law and the Oral Law is that the former is “spoken” from a Divine perspective,…
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Sanhedrin 14: I Want a Real Rabbi
One of the fiercest debates in medieval Jewish history was engendered by the attempt to reinstate full-blown semicha, rabbinic ordination, by…
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Sanhedrin 11: Humble Pie
It is in times of crisis that strong leadership is most needed. And up to that point in Jewish history, there was no greater crisis than that faced…
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Sanhedrin 11: Please Don't Embarrass Me
When things go well all are ready to take credit, even if they had little or no role to play in the success of the project at hand. At the same time…
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Sanhedrin 11: An Extra Long Summer
Up until this point in Masechet Sanhedrin, we have been discussing the role of the court in resolving monetary disputes. But there is much more for…
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Sanhedrin 8: We Want Justice
Moshe Rabbeinu was about to die. Like many before him, he wanted to bless his “children” – the nation of Israel[1]. Yet before we…
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Sanhedrin 7: The Wisdom of the Simple Man
“Rabbi Chaninah says: I learned much from my teachers, and from my colleagues more than my teachers, and from my students more than all…