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"And if the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate unto the elders, and say:…
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Even those far removed from Jewish learning know that it is the mother who determines the Jewish status of a baby. Why this is so is not clearly…
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"Whoever starts in a mitzvah, we tell him to finish"; "a mitzvah that comes to your hand, do not let it wait". These and other…
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Innocent until proven guilty is a fundamental norm of Western jurisprudence. This concept goes back until at least Talmudic times, when our Sages…
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By dint of the fifth amendment to the Constitution, US citizens are protected from being forced to give self-incriminating testimony; pleading…
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All great pieces of literature can be understood on multiple levels, over multiple time periods, and by a variety of cultures. There is no greater…
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Life is not always fair. So much that befalls us--both positive and negative--is beyond our control. And there is little that is less fair than being…
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On Yom Kippur afternoon, the Torah reading focuses on the Jewish sexual ethic. The Torah has a relatively long list of relatives with whom intimacy…
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It is the Jewish woman who is privileged with bestowing Jewishness to her offspring. Yet while the mother determines the Jewish status--or lack…
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The assimilation and subsequent loss of Jews has been a problem since the beginning of Jewish history. Many of us were taught--in kindergarten, no…
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Our rabbis greatly extolled the virtues of arguments for the sake of heaven. In these disputes, the disputants not only do not take their opponents…
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Life is full of conflicts, contradictions, and challenges ,and it is our task to mediate them as best possible. Torah, our guide to life, is…
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Masechet Yevamot opens by listing the fifteen women who "exempt their co-wives and the co-wives of their co-wives from chalitzah and…