[Editor’s Note: With trepidation and pleasure, we bring news of the commemoration of the 100th yahrzeit of one of the most incredible Torah figures of the early 20th century. The commemoration will emanate from...
Folk maxims reflect truths, which is why the Talmud often invokes such aphorisms with the introduction“kidi’amri inshi” – “as people are wont to say.” One valuable truth is the subject of two English sayings...
Any “blemish” on a list of congenital or acquired conditions prevents service in the Mishkan or Beis Hamikdash (Vayikra 21:17-24). And there are dozens of other non-listed disqualifying blemishes (see Rashi, ibid 21, and...
“Love your fellow like yourself” (Vayikra 19:18) cannot be meant literally. Ultimate concern for oneself is ingrained in our essences. There is a striking Midrash on the pasuk “For my father and mother have...
[with apologies to Julie Andrews] Reasonable people ought to be able to debate the central issues around the charedi draft. Agree with them or not, there are indeed arguments that can be made for...
We instinctively think of nega’im as born of lashon hora, “evil speech,” and we’re not wrong. But there is another birther of the condition, one that is evident in the very word metzora: tzarus...
Tum’ah, or “ritual defilement,” is invisible but consequential in many contexts, especially, though not exclusively, with regard to kodoshim, material holding holy status. And, in most cases of tum’ah impartation, the defilement happens as...
When describing the camel and pig, animals that lack either of the two signs required for their species to be considered consumable by Jews, the Torah’s wording is odd. Kosher species require cud-chewing and...
The following is a document that slipped through a worm-hole from a parallel universe. Nothing in it occurred in the universe we know as our own. But it is something we can think about....
Among the various karbanos called shelamim, two are very limited regarding when their meat and accompaniments must be consumed – the day they are offered. Regular shelamim are permitted double that window of time....
