One of the primary messages of masechet Nedarim is how negatively [most of] our Sages viewed the taking of vows. More often than not a vow reflected…
Just this past Shabbat, we read of the mitzvah of tzedakah. The Torah describes the case where the poor are our neighbours, and we must…
Adam and Cain, Noah and Cham, Abraham and Yishmael, Yitzchak and Eisav. Our children do not always turn out as we would like. Even children…
Everybody loves a good story. And what one cannot accomplish through direct teaching, one can often accomplish through a story. Yet it is…
In our past couple of posts (here and here), we have discussed the notion of a petach, an opening to allow one to annul a vow.…
"One may use as an opening [to annul a vow] one's own honour or the honour of one's children" (Nedarim 66a). Our…
"If only I would have known.." After many pages delineating the parameters of various vows the Talmud discusses when and how one…
It is always fascinating how a most technical, even obscure, discussion can reveal and lead to a discussion on fundamental concepts of Judaism…
It is not uncommon for someone to lose their job due to something stupid they do at an office party. People are much more apt to let their guard…
Sadly, some people need stimulants--be they (legal) alcohol or (illegal) drugs--to stimulate themselves and put themselves in a good mood. Others,…
At first glance one would not expect a Talmudic discussion on the mitzva of bikkur cholim in the midst of a discussion of vows. However…
In our last post we discussed the renewed interest today in the study of Tanach. Concurrent with that, for the first time in…
Over the past generation - primarily in Israel but also to a lesser extent in the Diaspora - there has been a renewed focus on the study of Tanach.…
Dina demalchuta Dina, the law of the land is the law, is one of the most famous teachings of Jewish jurisprudence. While ostensibly a law relating to…
The Mishna Berura - the most widely used halachic code of the 20th century - in his introduction to the laws of Shabbat explains the crucial…
Imagine if instead of twenty-four books the Tanach consisted of only six. Strange as it sounds that was the original plan. "Rav Adda…
The 1960's sitcom Get Smart[1] had as one of its heroes Hymie the robot. Lacking full human intelligence, he understood language only…
In the siddurim commonly in use today, on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh, we pray that we should be blessed to have "chaim she'…
The mitzvah of Talmud Torah has a dual objective. First and foremost, one learns so one will know how to act: "an ignoramus cannot be a…
In our second to last post of Masechet Ketubot we discussed the decision of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi to put the Oral Law into writing.…
“Better is it that one should not vow, than that one should vow and not pay” (Kohelet 5:4). This truism, enunciated by Shlomo HaMelech…