In our last post, we noted the principle milta d’lo schicha lo gazru ba rabbanan, that our Sages do…
Rosh Hashanah: Sounding the Shofar
The blowing of the shofar is a most enigmatic mitzvah. The reasons we eat matzah, sit in the Sukkah…
An Introduction to Masechet Beitzah
One of the manifold changes of modernity is manifest in the modern methods of food preparation. No…
Sukkah 41: Offering Comfort on Sukkot
Those who have sat shiva know that the weeks after shiva can be much harder than the shiva itself.…
Sukkah 41: An Expensive Lulav
It was not long ago that it was hard to find a minyan of people with a lulav and etrog in shul.…
Ki Tavo: Year-End Readings
Observance of religious precepts is not an all-or-nothing proposition. Just because one is…
Sukkah 41: My Own Lulav
One of the unique laws of the arba minim, the four species, is that one can only fulfil the …
Ki Teitzei: Reach for the Top
One of the beautiful aspects of the Torah is its setting of high, perhaps even unattainable,…
Sukkah 28: Nice Guys Finish First
Rabbi Yochanan ben HaChoranit must have been a great Sage. I imagine that many reading this devar…
Shoftim: A Beautiful Animal
“Do not sacrifice to G-d, your Lord, an ox or sheep that has a blemish; any bad thing, it is an…
Sukkah 28: A "Weak" Student
To state that Rav Yochanan ben Zakai is one of the most important leaders in all of Jewish history…
Sukkah 26: Snack Time
One of the requirements of a sukkah is that it be a dirat arai, a temporary dwelling. A permanent…
Re'eh: It's Elul Time
"For the sin that we have sinned before You through hardness of the heart." With…
Sukkah 20: A Great Servant
Psychologists have long known that two people can—and often do—see the exact same thing, and yet…
Eikev: Missing Commandments
Had things gone according to plan, the chumash would be a much shorter book. If not for the sin of…
Tu B'Av: The Happiest Day
“Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel said: There were no days more joyous than the 15th of Av (Tu B'Av) and…
VaEtchanan: An Extra And
"Shamor v’Zachor b’dibur echad". This phrase, sung every Friday night, notes the most famous…
Tisha B'Av: Greetings and Salutations
Judaism places great emphasis on the proper greeting of people. The Talmudic term for a greeting, a…