“Based on the words of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established” (Devarim 19:15). While absent cause, we have little…
Over the last few posts (see here and here) we have been discussing those who are disqualified from giving testimony or sitting as a judge…
“Rav Nachman said: Those who eat davar acher, the other, are pasul, invalid to give testimony” (Sanhedrin 26b). As is often the…
Innocent until proven guilty is a fundamental tenet of the our secular legal system. It finds an antecedent in the rabbinic notion of a …
"And G-d blessed them and G-d said unto them: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the land and conquer it” (Breisheet 1:28). These are…
We are all products of—and greatly influenced by—our environments, which is why our Sages put so much emphasis on ensuring that we live…
Malcolm Gladwell, in his best-selling book Outliers, delineates how much of one's success in life is dependent on when one is born. Thus,…
I have long thought that far and away the best introduction to and overview of Judaism is the Sefer haChinuch, the great 13th century…
One of the areas of law that even otherwise non-observant Jews tend to observe are those relating to mourning[1]. Perhaps this phenomenon is based on…
Marshall McLuhan, the insightful Canadian philosopher, noted that with the rapid advances in technology and communications, we citizens of earth were…
Perhaps the fundamental difference between the Written Law and the Oral Law is that the former is “spoken” from a Divine perspective,…
One of the fiercest debates in medieval Jewish history was engendered by the attempt to reinstate full-blown semicha, rabbinic ordination, by…
It is in times of crisis that strong leadership is most needed. And up to that point in Jewish history, there was no greater crisis than that faced…
When things go well all are ready to take credit, even if they had little or no role to play in the success of the project at hand. At the same time…
Up until this point in Masechet Sanhedrin, we have been discussing the role of the court in resolving monetary disputes. But there is much more for…
Moshe Rabbeinu was about to die. Like many before him, he wanted to bless his “children” – the nation of Israel[1]. Yet before we…
“Rabbi Chaninah says: I learned much from my teachers, and from my colleagues more than my teachers, and from my students more than all…
“Thus said the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth [month] (17 Tammuz ), and the fast of the fifth (9 Av), and the fast of the seventh (…
How much would you be willing to sacrifice for the honour of another? Some money, a little bit of time perhaps. But few are those who would be…
“Rav Yochanan said: The Holy One, blessed be He, established the covenant with the Jewish people only because of the Oral Law, as it says…
“Dinei mammonot, monetary law [is adjudicated] with three [judges]; gezeilot vechavalot, theft and assault, with three [judges]” (…
The opening Mishna of Masechet Sanhedrin explains the workings of a three-tiered court system. One handled monetary law, and consisted of three…
In his 17th century collection of responsa (#93), the Chacham Tzvi, Rav Tzvi Ashkenazi, discusses whether a golem, perhaps best translated as an…
“The brothers who were groomsmen, shoshbanim, during the lifetime of their father—when the wedding gifts are reciprocated they…