Rosh Hashanah marked 100 years of Daf Yomi. I have seen surprisingly little written about this important milestone. The thoughts below on this…
Isaac Rabi, winner of the 1944 Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance, was asked what inspired him to become a…
This past week, Daf Yomi began learning masechet Moed Katan, “the little holiday.” This signals that our two years’ study of seder Moed, the second…
One of the most well-known Talmudic passages of masechet Megillah is the teaching of Rava that “one is obligated l’beshumei, to drink, on Purim,…
“Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: One is obligated to read the Megillah at night and lishnota, repeat it, during the day” (Megillah 4a). While this may…
It would not be overstating the case to claim that the overarching goal of the Torah is creating a society in which G-d’s chosen nation can combine…
Whether one eats Special K or Rice Krispies (or scrambled eggs) for breakfast matters little. But whether one uses nuclear energy to provide clean…
“Meiemati, from when does one begin mentioning gevurat geshamim, the strength of the rain?” (Ta’anit 2a). The opening Mishna of masechet Ta’anit…
In the year 922CE a debate broke out that threatened to irrevocably cause the Jewish people to split apart. Pesach that year was scheduled to begin…
“There are four New Years…on the first of Shevat is the New Year for trees, according to the words of Beit Shammai. Beit Hillel says [it is on] the…
One of the fundamental debates in Biblical interpretation is whether the Torah is written in chronological order. Rashi often employs the notion of …
Debates between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai are the bread and butter of Mishnaic discourse. There are some 316 debates recorded between these great…
It is on Sukkot that we read sefer Kohelet. A devar Torah on masechet Beitza is not the place to discuss the reason for this custom. However, as I…
The State of California today is voting on whether to recall and remove its governor from office. This recall will be successful even if only 50%…
As most investors know, there is little that rattles the markets more than uncertainty. Fluctuations of the market are primarily based on future…
In our last post, we noted the principle milta d’lo schicha lo gazru ba rabbanan, that our Sages do not enact protective measures for rare events, a…
One of the manifold changes of modernity is manifest in the modern methods of food preparation. No longer must one literally spend pretty much the…
Those who have sat shiva know that the weeks after shiva can be much harder than the shiva itself. No longer are there people coming to visit, at…
It was not long ago that it was hard to find a minyan of people with a lulav and etrog in shul. Following on the heels of the High Holidays, Sukkot…
One of the unique laws of the arba minim, the four species, is that one can only fulfil the Biblical mitzvah with a set that one personally owns (…
Rabbi Yochanan ben HaChoranit must have been a great Sage. I imagine that many reading this devar Torah have never heard of him and there is in fact…
To state that Rav Yochanan ben Zakai is one of the most important leaders in all of Jewish history is nothing short of an understatement. Without his…
One of the requirements of a sukkah is that it be a dirat arai, a temporary dwelling. A permanent structure would be a bayit, a home, rather than a…
Psychologists have long known that two people can—and often do—see the exact same thing, and yet offer very different accounts of what they have…