Embark on a journey of Jewish learning and discovery, exploring the depth of our Kiddushin resources, where tagged items including audio, programs, and podcast episodes await your exploration.
We are creatures of habit. We tend to do what we have done in the past, which is why it is so important to get things right the first time. Learn it wrong initially, and the mistakes can stay with you a lifetime. Practice does not make perfect. It…
There is no more tragic figure in Talmudic literature than that of Acher, the Other. Destined for greatness, the teacher, colleague and friend of Rav Meir left the path of Torah, becoming perhaps the most famous apostate in Jewish history. Yet…
In our last post we discussed the extraordinary efforts to which Dama ben Netinah went to honour his father including his willingness to forego a huge monetary windfall.
While there are times when we must spend money on others -…
There are few mitzvoth more important than that of kivud av veim, honouring parents. “Our Rabbis taught: There are three partners in [the creation] of man. The Holy One blessed be He, one’s father and mother. When one…
Our evil inclination is most powerful and capable of causing so much harm. So much so that when G-d saw “that the inclination of man is bad from his youth...He regretted that He had created man.” (Breisheet 6:5-6)
The …
Practice what you preach is always sound advice, especially if one hopes to have any influence on others. This axiom is more than a moral exhortation and takes on legal significance regarding one of the best-known teachings of the Talmud. …
"More than the calf wants to suck, the cow wants to give milk.” (Pesachim 112a) So said Rabbi Akiva to his student Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai noting the truism that it is the teacher who has more desire to…
One of the best-known "facts" about the Torah is that it contains 613 mitzvoth. Even Jews who are not very learned tend to know this. They are often somewhat surprised to discover that it was not until the 8th century that…
"From here it was said: Whoever acquires a Hebrew slave is as if they acquired a master for themselves." (Kiddushin 20a) "From here" is the verse in the Bible "And it shall be, if he say unto you: 'I will not go…
One of the sacred and most enjoyable aspects of the rabbinate is being amesader kiddushin, joining two people together in marriage. Yet for many rabbis acting as a mesader kiddushin would seem to be in violation of a rabbinic…