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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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 "…
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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.…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…