2017-01-23

“Reish Lakish said: Whomever has a beit knesset in his city and he does not enter it, he  is called a bad neighbour” (Brachot 8a).…

2017-01-22

Throughout most of history wealth was primarily a result of land ownership. The more land one owned the wealthier one was. It is quite likely that it…

2017-01-16

We often imagine that the ancient world was one in which almost all lived on farms tilling their land, and only in modern times with the advent of…

2017-01-13

“Arba shomrim hem, there are four guardians, a shomer chinam, an unpaid guardian; the shoel, the borrower; the sachar, the paid guardian and…

2017-01-10

Our society venerates youth, with an entire industry dedicated to keeping people looking and feeling young. While youth is great, it is old age…

2017-01-08

“Everything goes according to the custom of the land (Bava Metzia 83a). As much as lawyers may try, it is impossible to contract for each and…

2017-01-04

One of the challenges of higher education is ensuring that one does not sit in an ivory tower where what one learns has little application to real…

2017-01-03

“Pray for the welfare of government for, if not fear of them, man would swallow his friend alive” (Avot 3:2). Law and order is the…

2017-01-02

Family owned businesses comprise some 90% of all business enterprises in the United States, account for about 65% of gross domestic product and 75%…

2016-12-29

The traditional way to study Talmud is with a chavruta, a study partner, someone with whom to bounce off ideas, debate, question and argue about…

2016-12-27

“’For they are My slaves’ (Vayikra 25:55) – and not slaves to My slaves” (Bava Kamma 116b). Our Sages understood that…

2016-12-22

Jews pray three times a day to be blessed with material wealth. Yet precisely because so much good can be done with money, it can be a great source…

2016-12-20

People convert to Judaism for all kinds of reasons. Ideally, one may accept only those who convert due to a love of Judaism; those who see the…

2016-12-18

One of the unique features of the prohibition of charging interest is that the prohibition cannot be waived by the debtor. Whereas Jewish law allows…

2016-12-15

The word damim in biblical Hebrew means both blood and money. Lo ta’amod al dam reacha (Vayikra19:16) means not only may we not stand idly by…

2016-12-13

Teaching in a community school, I often hear from many of my students that they are “not religious.” After all, they don’t observe…

2016-12-08

One of most difficult laws to comprehend, both technically and philosophically, is the Torah prohibition against charging interest – the…

2016-12-06

“If an oven is cut into rings, and sand is placed between the rings, Rabbi Eliezer says it is pure. But the sages say it is susceptible to…

2016-12-04

One of the most famous, powerful and tragic stories in all of Talmudic literature is that of the excommunication of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus, known…

2016-12-01

“Just as there is ona’ah, oppression, regarding commerce, so too there is ona’ah, oppression, regarding words. One should not say…

2016-11-30

There is not too much one can do with a penny; so little, in fact, that the Canadian government removed them from circulation in 2013 with purchases…

2016-11-28

“Ona’ah is four silver maot in twenty-four…1/6th of the price” (Bava Metzia 49b). The laws of ona’ah, price fraud,…

2016-11-24

The Ramban, in perhaps his most famous biblical comment, notes that one can observe every law in the Torah and yet be no better than a dead carcass (…

2016-11-22

In our last post we discussed the responsibilities of a shomer entrusted to guard produce. The Mishnayot continue with a discussion of one’s…