Behar – A Saying That Says Much
There are a number of common English aphorisms that parallel (or are sourced in) Talmudic statements. What Chazal said in Avos (1:15), “Say little and do much” echoes in “Actions speak louder than words.”...
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Two Rabbis, Three Opinions Episode 20
Have we become hooked on segulot? Why have they become the rage in recent decades, with no end in sight to their popularity? What does this tell us about the current state of emunah...
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Emor – When Shabbos Arrives on Tuesday
The term “afilu biShabbos shel chol” – “even on a weekday Shabbos” – is from the Zohar (Korach 179), as the end of the statement beginning:“The Shechinah has never left Yisroel on Shabbosos and...
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Berlin In The Promised Land
Berlin In The Promised Land < A conference was held in Berlin on September 21st 1939 at which the long-term future of Jewry was duscussed…..In Berlin on April 29th, 1945, Adolf Hitler dictated his political testament….Hitler...
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Acharei Mos – When Life is the Equal of Death
Faced with a forced choice between continuing to live or committing one of three sins – idolatry, murder and arayos, forbidden sexual relations – a Jew is commanded to forfeit his life. In the...
Behar – A Saying That Says Much
There are a number of common English aphorisms that parallel (or are sourced in) Talmudic statements. What Chazal said in Avos (1:15), “Say little and do much” echoes in “Actions speak louder than words.”...
Two Rabbis, Three Opinions Episode 20
Have we become hooked on segulot? Why have they become the rage in recent decades, with no end in sight to their popularity? What does this tell us about the current state of emunah...
Emor – When Shabbos Arrives on Tuesday
The term “afilu biShabbos shel chol” – “even on a weekday Shabbos” – is from the Zohar (Korach 179), as the end of the statement beginning:“The Shechinah has never left Yisroel on Shabbosos and...
Berlin In The Promised Land
Berlin In The Promised Land < A conference was held in Berlin on September 21st 1939 at which the long-term future of Jewry was duscussed…..In Berlin on April 29th, 1945, Adolf Hitler dictated his political testament….Hitler...
Acharei Mos – When Life is the Equal of Death
Faced with a forced choice between continuing to live or committing one of three sins – idolatry, murder and arayos, forbidden sexual relations – a Jew is commanded to forfeit his life. In the...
Two Rabbis, Three Opinions Episode 19
Now on Spotify. Does everyone need a hashkafa? Can’t my avodas Hashem focus exclusively on living according to the dictates of halacha? And if I think that I do need some sort of hashkafic...
Metzora – Mitigating the Miser’s Mindset
Nega’im, “plagues” that consist of certain types of spots of discoloration that appeared on the walls of a house after Klal Yisrael entered their land, signaled tzarus ayin, literally “cramped-eyedness,” what we would call stinginess....
Shemini – The Abominable Eight’s Missing Member
The nachash, the snake, makes two appearances in the parsha. Actually, one is better described as a conspicuous non-appearance and the other is one where it is described in words but not by name....
My Father’s Matzo
A Pesach -themed piece of mine appeared in the Boston Globe and can be read here. If you’re denied access, just let me know ([email protected]) and I’ll happily share a PDF.
Tzav – The Import of the Ashes
An interesting Midrash is cited by Rav Yosef Nechemia Kornitzer (1880-1933), a great-grandson of the Chasam Sofer who served as the av beis din of Cracow before World War II. The Midrash is found...