"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…
Brachot 38b: Practice, Practice, Practice!
As the Talmud is, at its core, an oral tradition—with the words before us a summary of…
Brachot 35: No, Thank You!
The opening Mishnah of the sixth chapter of Brachot discusses the various blessings one makes on…
Brachot 34a: Respect for the Congregation
In Talmudic times, the norm was that the chazzan literally prayed on behalf of the congregation.…
Ki Tavo: What a Waste!
Man has an innate desire to see the fruit of his own efforts. When life's blessings are handed…
Brachot 32a: Forcing G-d to Forgive
One of the exciting aspects of Talmud study is the range of ideas presented, and the openness to…
Brachot 31: Where to Pray
The Talmud spends a good deal of time discussing the proper frame of mind for prayer. In a rather…
Brachot 27: Too Close for Comfort?
The Gemara, in discussing the propriety of making an “early Shabbat”, records that Rav…