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It is hard to imagine what the Jewish world would be like without Rashi. Well, maybe not so hard. Without Rashi our understanding of Chumash would be…
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Every once in a while one comes across a Talmudic story that makes one shake one’s head in disbelief. As we discussed in our last post, the…
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The opening Mishna of Bava Batra teaches that in the interest of privacy, one neighbour can force the other to build a wall dividing their common…
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Visiting Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin as Torah in Motion “Journeyed through Jewish History”, sitting in the beautifully rebuilt, but…
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The Ramah in his glosses to the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 249:1) rules that the mitzva of tzedakah can only be fulfilled by giving to the poor. This…
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“We force him [the resident of a courtyard] to contribute to the building of the guard’s gate” (Bava Batra 7b). When we think of a…
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The opening pages of Bava Batra discuss how neighbours can force one another to build a fence between their properties. As we discussed in a prior…
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“Rav Chisda said: One may not destroy a beit knesset until another one is built” (Bava Batra 3b). After spending close to two double-…
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There is a beautiful custom to recite “ma tovu, how goodly are your tents Jacob and your dwelling place Israel” (Bamidbar 24:6). These…
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The three Bavas - Kamma, Metzia and Batra - are the bread and butter of Talmudic learning. If I, like many others, began my formal learning of Talmud…
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“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).…
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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…
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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…
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“Arba shomrim hem, there are four guardians, a shomer chinam, an unpaid guardian; the shoel, the borrower; the sachar, the paid guardian and…
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Our society venerates youth, with an entire industry dedicated to keeping people looking and feeling young. While youth is great, it is old age…
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“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…
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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…
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“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…
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Family owned businesses comprise some 90% of all business enterprises in the United States, account for about 65% of gross domestic product and 75%…
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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…
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“’For they are My slaves’ (Vayikra 25:55) – and not slaves to My slaves” (Bava Kamma 116b). Our Sages understood that…
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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…
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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…
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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…