"A child who knows how to shake [the lulav] is obligated to take the lulav" (Sukkah 42a). As we noted in our first "daily daf" on…
We tend to view the mitzvoth of sitting in the sukkah and the arba minim (henceforth referred to as the "lulav") as distinct…
The Rambam in his introduction to the Mishna divides the Oral Law into various categories. He begins with what he terms peirushim hamekubalim…
"And you shall take for yourself on the first day pri etz hadar, a beautiful fruit tree, kapot temarim, branches of date palms, …
My first introduction to the writings of Rabbi Soloveitchik was in yeshiva in Israel when I read Rabbi Abraham Besdin's Reflections of…
Considering that one is supposed to live in one’s sukkah as one lives in one’s home one need spend very little time in the sukkah. One…
"Rabbi Yossi Haglilee used to say: One who is involved in a mitzvah is exempt from another mitzvah" (Sukkah 26a). A mitzvah is entitled to…
One of the basic requirements of a sukkah is that the s'chach provide more shade than sun. This requirement, however, is more…
“Reish Lakish said: It was well known beforehand to Him at whose word the world came into being that Haman would one day pay shekels for the…
As important as classroom education may be, informal education is often more valuable. "The service of Torah is greater than the study thereof…
"For G-d is bringing you to a good land...a land of wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates; a land of olive oil and date honey" (…
The halachic system, like all legal systems, is on based on verifiable actions. What one may think when signing a contract is of little bearing;…
While the Jerusalem Talmud rules that one makes a bracha upon construction of a sukkah (Sukkah 1:2), our practice is not to do so, seeing…
In 1878, Yehuda Leib Gordon published a poem, Kotzo shel yud, in which he pokes fun at the technicalities of halacha. In his poem, a…
The Gemara derives the minimum height of a sukkah from two separate and very distinct sources. In fact, the first “source” is no source…
We eat matza on Pesach to commemorate the matza eaten by our ancestors as slaves in Egypt and as newly freed people. The blowing of the shofar on…
Masechet Sukkah holds a special place in my heart, being the first tractate I learned cover to cover. Its topics are interesting, wide-ranging,…
Masechet Yoma deals almost exclusively with mitzvoth between man and G-d. Most of the tractate painstakingly records the intricate details of the…
“Our Sages compared the (positive) mitzvoth in the Torah to the limbs of the body and (the negative) to the days of the year” (Makkot 23b…
Immediately after the Divine revelation at Sinai, the Torah in Parshat Mishpatim presents a long list of mitzvoth, highlighting the link between…
One of the most challenging roles for a parent or teacher is to figure out how to administer discipline that it fair, effective, and meaningful. The…
Thanks to Rabbi Jonathan Ziring for his help with this Daily Daf and with countless other divrei Torah. After seven chapters detailing the Temple…
"Any Torah scholar whose inside is not like his outside [whose piety does not match their learning] is no Torah scholar" (…
"Do not be a follower of the majority for bad, do not respond to a grievance by yielding to the majority to pervert [justice]" (Shemot 23:2…
Torah reading as we know it today is a rabbinic innovation, beginning with Moshe Rabbeinu who--in his rabbinic role (as opposed to his role …
The ritual of the sa'ar la-azazel is a most incomprehensible one. Howcan atonement of the Jewish people be in any way connected…
"Some of the nobility of Jerusalem would escort him to the first booth" (Yoma 66b). The "temple" ritual was not complete until…
"And Yitro, the priest of Midian, the father-in-law of Moshe, heard all that G-d did for Moshe and to Israel his people, that G-d had taken the…
"Everybody is eligible to walk it, but the kohanim made a permanent rule not to let an Israelite walk it" (Yoma 66a). The …
One of great and tragic figures in our Talmudic corpus is that of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrkanus. Hailed by his teacher, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zackai, as a…
For years, one of the most anticipated dates on the Jewish calendar was Rabbi Soloveitchik’s annual teshuva derasha given during the aseret…
This week's devar Torah is dedicated in honour of the upcoming wedding of Miriam Libman and Ephraim Leiderman. May they merit to build a…
The relationship between G-d and the Jewish people is often compared to that of a husband and wife. Full of love and even desire, it is meant as a…
Mashechet Yoma delineates the special Temple service performed on Yom Kippur in great detail--and includes much discussion relating to the daily…
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We are offering a free download of the mp3 recording of our recent program, The Agunah Crisis: New Opportunities to Solve an Old Problem. To download…
Great literature lends itself to multiple, even contradictory, interpretations. And the Bible is--in addition to everything else--great literature.…
This d’var Torah is sponsored by Claire and Howard Glowinsky l'ilui nishmas Chanah bas Rachel a”H, their dear aunt who passed away…
One of the major debates in Jewish law is whether mitzvoth require kavanah, intent to fulfill the mitzvah (see for example Brachot13a). As a general…
There is nothing more challenging and important, for a parent and for a community, than raising children. There is no formula for producing…
It’s always important to remind ourselves to be thankful for those things we take for granted—like having electricity. As many of you…
It’s always important to remind ourselves to be thankful for those things we take for granted—like having electricity. As many of you…
"And [we remember] these for degradation: those of Beit Garmu didnot want to teach on the matter of the lechem hapanim; those of Beit…
One of the central features of the Yom Kippur service was that involving the two goats: one offered as a sacrifice whose blood was sprinkled on…
"And he saw an Egyptian man hitting a Hebrew of his brothers" (2:11). To the slave in Egypt, being beaten up by our tormentors was the norm…
The kohen gadol performed vidui, confession, three times on Yom Kippur. The first two were done using his own personal bull offering,…
One of the most difficult things for we humans to do is to admit that we are wrong. Even when we know we have acted in ways that leave much to be…
Between the time of my writing my last article on making Jewish high school free and its appearance in the paper, I was thrilled to see the…
Between the time of my writing my last article on making Jewish high school free and its appearance in the paper, I was thrilled to see the…
Dr. Marc Shapiro will be scholar in residence at Kehillat Shaarei Torah (KST) on Shabbat, December 14. KST, 2640 Bayview Ave., Toronto. Watch this…