“Rabbi Yitzchak said: ‘Yitzchak our forefather was barren, as it is written ‘and…
Yevamot 44: The Practice of Law
Halacha, Jewish law, has a multiplicity of voices, each reflecting the word of the living…
Yevamot 40: The Economics of Chalitzah
"Ishto k'gufo, ba'al k'ishto", one's wife is like one's own self; a…
Yevamot 39: What Comes First?
"And if the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife…
It Costs Too Much to Convert
There has been much written – including a cover story in this newspaper (Canadian Jewish News…
Chayei Sarah: Coming Together
"And Abraham took another wife and her name was Keturah" (Breisheet 25:1). The Torah…
Yevamot 35: Whose Baby Is It?
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…