One of the painful realties of Jewish life is that the Jewish people are often judged by a double standard. What in other cultures is done with…
Our Sages attach the appellation Tzadik, righteous one, to Yosef, presumably because of his ability to withstand the sexual advances of Potiphar’s…
“And it does not leave the womb before it is made to take an oath…and what is the oath one is made to take? Be righteous and do not be…
How common it is for people to return from a funeral and realize how little they knew about the deceased. All too often, it is only after a person…
Being pregnant with one’s first child is the best of times. One imagines a talmid chacham, a nuclear physicist, a Nobel laureate, an…
“And Yaakov was a pure man, dwelling in the tents” (Breisheet 25:27). Like his father before him, Yaakov had little interest in the wider…
Our Sages identified each of our patriarchs and matriarchs with the character traits that they best exemplified. Avraham, the master of hospitality…
In our last post, we discussed that seven days after giving birth to a boy and 14 after a girl, the newborn mother purifies herself in a mikvah. Any…
Death, as we have often noted, is the primary source of tumah, impurity, with a corpse classified as avi avot hatumah, the grandfather of tumah.…
"And Sarah lived one hundred years, twenty years and seven years; these are the years of Sarah's life” (Breisheet 23:1). A famous…
It is hard to imagine more influential institutions of Jewish learning than those of Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai. These two great schools set in…
One of the fundamental issues of debate amongst observant Jews regards the degree of openness with which one meets the surrounding culture. Should we…
“And you shall live by them” (Vayikra 18:5). The mitzvot of the Torah are meant to enhance life, adding meaning and sanctity to our…
Our rabbis famously debate the righteousness of Noach. Was he a tzadik only relative to the corrupt society in which he lived, or was his…
Seder Taharot opens with masechet Kelim, vessels, which at 30 chapters and 254 mishnayot is far and away the largest of the 63 tractates of the…
For years, psychologists have debated the impact of the environment (nurture) on the development of human beings. Can we be inherently changed by…
Jewish law is generally divided into three distinct areas: issur v’heter, ritual law; dinei mammonot, monetary law; and tumah v…
The holidays of Tishrei—with their emphasis on sin, repentance, reconciliation, and joy—are behind us. It is time to get back to our “normal”…
Tomorrow is Shmini Atzeret. It is also Election Day in Canada. While that is no doubt unfortunate for (observant) Jews, these days, Election Day is a…
When writing a book, a good author will introduce the major themes of the book in the opening chapters, develop these and other secondary themes…
“The one sheep you shall do in the morning and the second sheep you shall do in the evening”. Cited twice in the Torah (Shemot 29:39 and…
Sukkot is a holiday full of contradictions. At the time we celebrate our harvest, we are bidden to leave the comfort of our home and expose ourselves…
“It was on the next day…” (Shemot 18:13). Apparently, something of significance had happened on the previous day, yet the Torah makes no mention of…
Our society worships greatness. Whether it be athletes, rock stars, actors or successful business leaders, they are showered with wealth and…
Integral to the teshuva process is the act of vidui, confession. One can intellectually know one has done something wrong; one can even feel…
"Now, write for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites, so that this song will be a witness for the Israelites" (Devarim…
"And on the seventh month on the first day of the month, it shall be a day of rest. It is a sacred day for remembrance and blowing" (Vayikra 23:24). …
"You are standing this day all of you before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel…
“Rabbi Shimon says: Kevasim, lambs, precede se’irim, goats, in all places” (Keritot 28a). Rabbi Shimon notes that while…
The transition from elementary to high school was quite a jarring one. My school day was some two-and-a-half hours longer, added to that was another…
Rav Chaim Soloveitchik, when asked to define the main role of a rabbi, responded that it is to help the poor, the widow and the orphan. This towering…
One of the key aspects of our being created in the Divine image is the gift of speech. As the world was created with ten Divine utterances (Avot 5:1…
One brings a korban for one of two reasons: either because one wants to or because one has to. One may offer a korban as a way of saying thank you…
Until modern times, travel was viewed as something best avoided. It was slow, uncomfortable, and often quite dangerous. Our rabbis even instituted a…
In our last post, we discussed the serious prohibition of issuing halachic rulings after having had even minimal amounts of alcohol. Yet the…
The basic duty of every government is to provide security and protect its citizens from both internal criminal activity and external enemies. Parshat…
Jewish tradition teaches that we are to celebrate joyous occasions—Shabbat and Yom Tov, brit milah, a wedding—by drinking wine…
The most basic rule of economics is that of supply and demand. The interaction between these two forces is the key—often the only—factor…
It is difficult to feel two contradictory emotions at the same time. Conflicting, if not contradictory, emotions such as joy and sadness,…
“One should be as careful with a light mitzvah as with heavy mitzvah” (Avot 2:1). Contrary to what is often taught, not all mitzvot…
"According to the days that you spent exploring the land, forty days, a year for a day, you shall carry your sin and you will know My actions…
Hillel Rapp has identified a serious impediment to solving the tuition crisis—namely, the spiraling costs incurred by day…
One of the lessons Nehama Leibowitz, z”l, drilled into us during the time I was fortunate to study with her was that if Rashi has two…
Our Torah encompasses all aspects of life: it regulates our existence from the day we are born until the day we die, and from the moment we awake…
With old age comes knowledge of life that can only be gained by experience. Thus, Jewish law insists that all elders, even non-observant or non-…
Night and day reflect polar opposites. The former symbolizes hope and excitement, the latter fear and trembling. They join together to form a…
“How do we know that one who sees something unseemly in his friend, that he must rebuke him? Because it says (Vayikra 19:17), ‘You shall…
The centrality of the land of Israel is a basic tenet of Jewish thought. Our Sages note that mitzvot performed outside the land of Israel are little…
Which would you prefer? That those who gossip about you do so behind your back and thus, you may never hear about it? Or that the gossip be said to…
“What is lashon hara?” (Erachin 15b). This is a most reasonable question—had it been asked at the beginning of a discussion on…