When discussing the transition of torah sheba’al peh from knowledge that was transmitted orally to…
Shabbat 3: Timely Questions
I had the privilege of learning in Rav Herschel Schachter’s shiur at Yeshiva University for four…
Breisheet: The Descent of Man
The creation narrative has the world in beautiful harmony. Heaven and earth, sky and water, sun…
Shabbat 2: Waiting Outside
Much of Masechet Brachot deals with non-legal matters - extolling the importance of prayers and…
Simchat Torah: Two Days or One?
This week’s d'var Torah is sponsored in honour of the 80th birthday of Bashi (Esther) Burack by her…
Brachot 61: For a Worthy Cause
The story of the martyrdom of Rabbi Akiva is well known. Defying the orders of the Roman government…
Brachot 59: What a Blessing
One of the most well known blessings is that of dayan haemet, the blessing said upon the…
Sukkot: Leaving Home
"And you shall take for yourself on the first day a beautiful fruit of the tree, an unopened palm…
Brachot 55: Turning Dreams into Reality
The Talmud spends quite a number of pages discussing dreams. Taking their cue from the Bible itself…
Brachot 50: Gratitude
“From the blessings of man, we see if he is a scholar or not”. How, and more…
Tax Evasion
No one likes to pay taxes. Yet taxes are the lifeblood of our society, paying for our security,…
Yom Kippur: The Month After
“For the sin we committed by wronging a neighbour, for the sin we committed by bribery, for the sin…
Brachot 47b: We Are All Am Ha'aratzim
The term am ha'aretz has come to mean an ignorant Jew, and is generally used in a pejorative…
Brachot 43b: A Shameful Smell
A common feature of Talmudic editing is to group together a series of statements made by the same…
Brachot 43: Love of Zion
We human beings are naturally biased. Products of our environment, we are influenced by our…
Rosh Hashanah: Time to Remember
David, Karen, and Beca Bookman wish their parents, families, friends, and the Or Chaim Minyan a…
Brachot 40: Getting It Wrong!
A striking feature of Talmud study is how it seamlessly moves from subject to subject; and how,…
Brachot 39: Eat First, Ask Later
Jewish law prescribes not only that we make a blessing on food, but that we do so in the correct…