I imagine most of us have experienced being in a noisy room focusing on the conversation we are…
A Line in the Parchment:Gittin 6
How does one measure greatness in Torah learning? We can glean an important insight from the…
The Good Old Days: Gittin 5
We live in a generation in which many seek chumrot, religious stringency…
One is Enough: Gittin 6
One would not expect the laws of divorce to be affected by one's location. Thus it…
An Introduction to Masechet Gittin
After detailing the laws of the suspected adulteress the Mishna moves to masechet Gittin. While the…
The Comfort Zone: Sotah 44
Part of the purpose of the harsh treatment of the Sotah is convincing the suspected…
Chanukah: The Dark Days of Winter
Of all our holidays, only that of Chanukah begins in the second half of the month. Rosh Hashanah,…
I Thought I Was Humble: Sotah 40
In our last post we discussed the Talmudic tendency to group together sayings of…
Please Bless Me: Sotah 38
Originally meant as an oral “text” the Talmud features a number of mnemonic…
Vayeshev: Look Out the Window
Why was it that Abraham and Yitzchak had only one child who would remain within the Jewish people…
Do Not Pray: Sotah 37
It is an amazing aspect of the human condition that two people can see the same thing yet…
Language Barriers: Sotah 33
One of most bitter and divisive (Jewish) fights of the 19th century was that…
Mind Your Own Business: Sotah 21
In our last post we discussed how a rasha arum, a cunning evildoer, is amongst the…
The Tuition Crisis: Leaving a Lasting Legacy
Most Canadians in turning 71 get a monetary windfall as they begin to cash in the savings…
The Religious Hypocrite: Sotah 22
“He [Rabbi Yehoshua] used to say: a pious fool, a cunning evildoer, an ascetic…
The Bare Torah: Sotah 21
In our last post we discussed the view of Rabbi Eliezer that one who teaches his daughter Torah is…
Our Daughter's Torah: Sotah 21
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. It is this notion that lay at the heart of one of the most…