Sefer Bamidbar can be viewed as a book of missed opportunities. A small group of Jewish slaves—the midrash claims no more than one in five—showed…
The Jewish people have never been a large nation. Our strength lies in quality, not quantity. Nonetheless, precisely because we are so few in number…
Judaism measures greatness by spiritual achievements. It should come as no surprise that many of our founding fathers suffered from physical ailments…
Here is a great trivia question to try on a friend. Who was Noach’s wife? What was Abraham’s mother’s name? Don’t feel bad if…
In our last post, we discussed the Gemara’s claim that the punishment for false weights is greater than that for sexual immorality. As the…
All too often, we equate being a religious Jew with the observance of Shabbat, kashrut and taharat hamishpacha. Without at all minimizing these…
We live in an age of great skepticism—often for good reason. In a time where science-with its demand for rigorous proofs, detailed…
Pesach is the Jewish holiday of hope. It marks the beginning of the Jewish (lunar) year – and new years are always times of hope. It is celebrated in…
Our images of Egyptian slavery are those of forced labor and murder by a ruthless tyrant and his many followers. Despite Joseph literally saving…
Thank you! The Toronto Jewish community owes a tremendous collective thank you to the Jesin-Neuberger family for their ten million dollar gift, and…
"He made a feast for them and baked matzah and they ate" (Breisheet 19:3). The "angels" had come to Sedom to rescue Lot from…
"He made a feast for them and baked matzah and they ate" (Breisheet 19:3). The "angels" had come to Sedom to rescue Lot from…
The third chapter of Bava Batra is some 30 pages long, making it one of the longest in the Talmud. It is focused on the rules of acquisition of…
Our tradition seems to have a somewhat ambivalent view regarding sacrifices. The Torah devotes many chapters to describing—in great detail…
It was at the well that Abraham’s servant met Rivka, Yaakov met Rachel and Moshe met Tzippora. It is hard for us--who, when thirsty,…
Sefer Vayikra serves as the “central” book of the Chumash; on one side flanked by Breisheet and Shemot, which detail the founding of the…
If you are going to pick a fight with someone, it’s best to know who your adversary is. There are certain people with whom it just doesn’…
Canadian law requires one to keep tax records for six years, after which time they can be destroyed and government audits are no longer possible.…
What should one do when the needs of the Jewish people conflict with the needs of Judaism? When the only way to keep our people Jewishly involved is…
Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, posits that it takes 10,000 hours of practice for people to become expert in any field, be they NHL hockey…
The prayer for the welfare of the State of Israel recited in many of our congregations assumes that the modern-day state is the "beginning of…
It is unlikely that Yehoshua ben Gamla would make very many listings of the five or even ten most important Sages of Talmudic times – let alone…
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…
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…
“Moses went to greet his father-in-law, bowing down low and kissing him” (Shemot 18:7). Unfortunately, relations between children…
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…
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…
Visiting Yeshiva Chachmei Lublin as Torah in Motion “Journeyed through Jewish History”, sitting in the beautifully rebuilt, but…
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…
“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…
The land of Egypt and the people of Egypt had undergone tremendous hardship and suffering. Their economy had been destroyed, their material…
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…
“Rav Chisda said: One may not destroy a beit knesset until another one is built” (Bava Batra 3b). After spending close to two double-…
The story of the slavery and subsequent redemption of the Jewish people focuses almost entirely on Moshe, Aharon and Pharaoh. Strangely, the thoughts…
There is a beautiful custom to recite “ma tovu, how goodly are your tents Jacob and your dwelling place Israel” (Bamidbar 24:6). These…
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…
“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).…
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…
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…
“Arba shomrim hem, there are four guardians, a shomer chinam, an unpaid guardian; the shoel, the borrower; the sachar, the paid guardian and…
Our society venerates youth, with an entire industry dedicated to keeping people looking and feeling young. While youth is great, it is old age…
“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…
“And you shall surely know that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs for 400 years” (Breisheet 15:12). The…
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…
“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…
Family owned businesses comprise some 90% of all business enterprises in the United States, account for about 65% of gross domestic product and 75%…
Yosef was a most charismatic figure. How else to explain the appeal he had to so many people? The Torah wastes little time in telling us that, both…
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…
“’For they are My slaves’ (Vayikra 25:55) – and not slaves to My slaves” (Bava Kamma 116b). Our Sages understood that…
Perhaps the greatest challenge facing Jewishly conscious people in the modern world is figuring out the proper relationship we are to have vis a vis…