Even those far removed from Jewish learning know that it is the mother who determines the Jewish…
No Time to Waste: Yevamot 29
"Whoever starts in a mitzvah, we tell him to finish"; "a mitzvah that comes to your…
Yevamot 25: Conflict of Interest
Innocent until proven guilty is a fundamental norm of Western jurisprudence. This concept goes back…
Yevamot 25: Pleading the Fifth
By dint of the fifth amendment to the Constitution, US citizens are protected from being…
Yevamot 24: A Great P'shat
All great pieces of literature can be understood on multiple levels, over multiple time periods,…
Parshat Lech Lecha: This Is for You
The Divine choosing of Avraham marks the beginning of Jewish peoplehood. Tellingly, this…
Yevamot 22: Brotherly Love
Life is not always fair. So much that befalls us--both positive and negative--is beyond our control…
Yevamot 21: The Limits of Teshuva
On Yom Kippur afternoon, the Torah reading focuses on the Jewish sexual ethic. The Torah has a…
Yevamot 17: Living Together
It is the Jewish woman who is privileged with bestowing Jewishness to her offspring. Yet while the…
Noach: It's the Small Stuff
Much of Parshat Breisheet details the moral failings of many of the individuals whom we meet: Adam…
Yevamot 17: Are You Jewish?
The assimilation and subsequent loss of Jews has been a problem since the beginning of Jewish…
Yevamot 13: Learning to Differ
Our rabbis greatly extolled the virtues of arguments for the sake of heaven. In these disputes, the…
Hoshana Rabbah: Water Falls
"On the Yom Tov of the last day, we read 'Kol Habechor, every first born'" (Devarim 15:19, Megillah…
Yevamot 4: Conflicting Mitzvot
Life is full of conflicts, contradictions, and challenges ,and it is our task to mediate them as…
Sukkot: The Twin Pillars
Pesach and Sukkot are the twin pillars of the Jewish year. They are exactly six months apart, each…
Yevamot 2: Yours to Discover
Masechet Yevamot opens by listing the fifteen women who "exempt their co-wives and the co-…
Some Opening Thoughts on Masechet Yevamot
Masechet Yevamot gets a bad rap. Many consider it amongst the most difficult masechtot to…
Some Concluding Thoughts on Seder Moed
The Jewish people had sinned, and their future stood in the balance. G-d'…