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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…
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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…
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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…
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Everybody loves a good story. And what one cannot accomplish through direct teaching, one can often accomplish through a story. Yet it is…
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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.…
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"One may use as an opening [to annul a vow] one's own honour or the honour of one's children" (Nedarim 66a). Our…
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"If only I would have known.." After many pages delineating the parameters of various vows the Talmud discusses when and how one…
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It is always fascinating how a most technical, even obscure, discussion can reveal and lead to a discussion on fundamental concepts of Judaism…
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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…
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Sadly, some people need stimulants--be they (legal) alcohol or (illegal) drugs--to stimulate themselves and put themselves in a good mood. Others,…
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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…
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In our last post we discussed the renewed interest today in the study of Tanach. Concurrent with that, for the first time in…
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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.…
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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…
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The Mishna Berura - the most widely used halachic code of the 20th century - in his introduction to the laws of Shabbat explains the crucial…
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Imagine if instead of twenty-four books the Tanach consisted of only six. Strange as it sounds that was the original plan. "Rav Adda…
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The 1960's sitcom Get Smart[1] had as one of its heroes Hymie the robot. Lacking full human intelligence, he understood language only…
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In the siddurim commonly in use today, on the Shabbat before Rosh Chodesh, we pray that we should be blessed to have "chaim she'…
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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…
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In our second to last post of Masechet Ketubot we discussed the decision of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi to put the Oral Law into writing.…
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“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…