In our last post, we discussed the need to have an expert examine a bechor in order to declare that it has a mum, thus allowing…
Bechorot 28: Donkeys for Sale
A rabbi, dayan, shochet, doctor, and matir bechorot—these are some of the licensed functionaries needed to fully run a Jewish…
Bechorot 25: Bad Politician: Great Teacher
Sometimes the most obscure of arguments can teach the greatest of lessons. That Rabbi Eliezer’s “proofs” from heaven were rejected…
Bechorot 13: All Mitzvot Are Not Created Equal
It is not uncommon to hear people define a mitzvah as a “good deed”. And there is little doubt that many mitzvot are, in fact, very good…
Bechorot 2: All Are Welcome
Amongst the many wonderful opportunities and challenges wrought by the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel is that of running our…
An Introduction to Masechet Bechorot
The privileges and obligations of the firstborn are a major theme of Pesach. Most famously, the proximate cause of the Exodus was makat bechorot, the…
Chulin 142: Do You See What I See
It is an amazing but all too common phenomenon that two people can witness the same event and yet “see it” very differently. This is the…
Chulin 139: Where is Moshe?
“Where is Moshe [mentioned] in the Torah?” It is hard to imagine a more—let's be gentle here—superfluous question. A…
Chulin 109: Can I Have Some Udder Please
When I ask ba’alei teshuva what the hardest thing for them to give up is, the most common response I receive is "…
Chulin 105: Time for a Field Trip
It is an often-cited truism that the Orthodox community, most ironically, tends to place much greater emphasis on kosher food than on kosher money.…
Chulin 105: Can We Drink Milk Yet?
“Mar Ukva said: I am, with regard to this matter, like vinegar, son of wine, with respect to Father. Father, if he were to eat meat…
Chulin 100: Torah at Sinai
“Because of this the children of Israel, to this day, do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the socket of the hip, since Jacob’s hip…
Chulin 97: It Tastes Great
Rabbinic debates are not for the faint-hearted. They can be most intense, and sadly, can lead to tragic consequences. One of the most famous of…
Chulin 94: Let's Have Some Wine
In our last post, we spoke about geneivat da’at, generating false goodwill, in the context of gid hanasheh. I imagine very few people…
Chulin 94: What a Nerve!
One would not normally associate the prohibition to eat the gid hanashe, the sciatic nerve, with issues of business ethics. But related…
Chulin 83: Cow and Calf
One of most famous mitzvot of the Torah is that of shiluach haken, the obligation to send away the mother bird before taking her little chicks…
Chulin 60: The Essence of Torah
One of the teachings that is ingrained in us from a young age is that every letter, and surely every verse and story, found in the Torah is of great…
Chulin 60: Once in a Blue Moon
The least observed of biblical holidays is undoubtedly Rosh Chodesh. As a holiday based in the Temple, with no home or synagogue based rituals,…