Chulin

Embark on a journey of Jewish learning and discovery, exploring the depth of our Chulin resources, where tagged items including audio, programs, and podcast episodes await your exploration.

Chulin 60: The Essence of Torah

Rabbi Jay Kelman

One of the teachings that is ingrained in us from a young age is that every letter, and surely every verse and story, found in the Torah is of great significance. We have elsewhere discussed that this premise is far from unanimous, with some of…
Article
Feb 13, 2019

Chulin 60: Once in a Blue Moon

Rabbi Jay Kelman

The least observed of biblical holidays is undoubtedly Rosh Chodesh. As a holiday based in the Temple, with no home or synagogue based rituals, there is little to distinguish Rosh Chodesh from any other day.  Yet in the Torah itself, Rosh…
Article
Feb 8, 2019

Chulin 54: We Can Talk Later

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Dan Arielly begins his best-selling book, Predictably Irrational, by noting that for we humans it’s all relative. We do not by evaluate A by looking at A alone, we do so by comparing A to B. Much the same applies in religious life.…
Article
Feb 1, 2019

Chulin 44: A Kosher Animal?

Rabbi Jay Kelman

That the “Orthodox” community is more careful about kosher food than kosher money is sadly obvious, and demonstrated all too often. Despite the Torah’s manifold commands relating to money, somehow these mitzvot are not…
Article
Jan 25, 2019

Chulin 42: Heavenly Truth

Rabbi Jay Kelman

In the introduction to his responsa, Rav Moshe Feinstein writes that the Sages of each generation are permitted and obligated to issue halachic rulings despite the fact that they may not “decide according to truth in heaven”. Applying…
Article
Jan 17, 2019

Chulin 17: I Would Love Some Pork

Rabbi Jay Kelman

“And it will be, when the Lord, your G-d, brings you to the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things…and you…
Article
Jan 13, 2019

Chulin 15: Please Be Quiet

Rabbi Jay Kelman

In a beautiful teshuva (Orach Chaim 4 #89) written during Chanukah 1960, Rav Moshe Feinstein was asked (by Rabbi Leo Yung, rabbi of the Jewish Centre in Manhattan) if one should protest the building of an eiruv in Manhattan. As Rav Moshe notes,…
Article
Jan 9, 2019

Chulin 15: Shabbat Slaughter

Rabbi Jay Kelman

“It is a sign between Me and the Jewish people that in ‘six days’ G-d created the heavens and the earth” (Shemot 31:17). Shabbat, more than any other mitzvah, marks the special relationship between G-d and the Jewish people.…
Article
Jan 7, 2019

Chulin 13: Family Traditions

Rabbi Jay Kelman

That one must be Jewish to shecht an animal is not necessarily obvious. One might have argued that as long as the meat is slaughtered properly, it matters little who actually did so. As we have noted, shechita itself is what…
Article
Jan 2, 2019

Chulin 10: Watch the Water

Rabbi Jay Kelman

When I mention to people that it is likely worse to smoke than to eat pork, I often get strange looks. And usually the more observant the person, the stranger the look. Knowing the centrality of kashrut—especially the aversion to eating pork…
Article
Dec 26, 2018