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"And you shall take for yourself on the first day a beautiful fruit of the tree, an unopened palm…

The Talmud spends quite a number of pages discussing dreams. Taking their cue from the Bible itself…

“From the blessings of man, we see if he is a scholar or not”. How, and more…

No one likes to pay taxes. Yet taxes are the lifeblood of our society, paying for our security,…

“For the sin we committed by wronging a neighbour, for the sin we committed by bribery, for the sin…

The term am ha'aretz has come to mean an ignorant Jew, and is generally used in a pejorative…

A common feature of Talmudic editing is to group together a series of statements made by the same…

We human beings are naturally biased. Products of our environment, we are influenced by our…

David, Karen, and Beca Bookman wish their parents, families, friends, and the Or Chaim Minyan a…

A striking feature of Talmud study is how it seamlessly moves from subject to subject; and how,…

Jewish law prescribes not only that we make a blessing on food, but that we do so in the correct…

As the Talmud is, at its core, an oral tradition—with the words before us a summary of…

The opening Mishnah of the sixth chapter of Brachot discusses the various blessings one makes on…

In Talmudic times, the norm was that the chazzan literally prayed on behalf of the congregation.…

Man has an innate desire to see the fruit of his own efforts. When life's blessings are handed…

One of the exciting aspects of Talmud study is the range of ideas presented, and the openness to…

The Talmud spends a good deal of time discussing the proper frame of mind for prayer. In a rather…

The Gemara, in discussing the propriety of making an “early Shabbat”, records that Rav…