In Print

The more I read, the more confused I became. The sefer followed the same order of the Shulchan Aruch, chapter by chapter, but unlike the Shulchan Aruch’s matter-of-fact approach, this sefer included the reason behind each halacha.

.

The Jewish people's relationship to trees goes way back as far as the Garden of Eden where man's first mitzvah involved a tree. Maybe that's why Jews are so enthusiastic about tree planting.

We often think of technology as the barrier to mindfulness. Gunatillake argues that we need using technology as a tool for mindfulness can actually be helpful, rather than harmful.

.

Thank G-d, I was sitting by the window when you came in and I was able to save you from sin.

.

.

It sounds incongruous to say that Rav Shteinman who reached the advanced age of 104 was taken too soon but in fact it’s true; he was taken far too soon. That the rav was a great Torah scholar is a given. His true greatness, however, was in the humility, kindness, and understanding that animated his wisdom, guidance, and teaching.

Rav Shevach’s senseless murder will not change anything for Palestinian Arabs, who praised it, other than lead to more death; the terrorist who murdered him has already been found and, in the IDF’s lexicon, “neutralized.” The residents of the Balata refugee camp will continue to be “refugees” under the thumb of the PA with the help of the United Nations.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there could be norms and conventions that protected women from unwanted advances by men – and men from unfair accusations by women? Oh wait, there are-- being Shomer Negiah and Shomer Yichud!

With those two words, Pius X summed up the 1,900-year-old “special” relationship between the Jews and the Catholic Church – a tortuous theological and political relationship that would see tremendous changes before the century’s end.

.

So why sing it? If the second shirah does not add any new ideas or even words, what was its purpose?

.

More eternal wisdom from Rebbetzin Jungreis, a”h. This week considering how to become an agent of chesed (compassion) and rachamim (mercy)-continued from last week.

.

.

What happens if a Diaspora Jew refuses to appear before a Jewish court of law or refuses to honor its judgment?

The difficulty with this Rashi is that he lists all three reasons in same breath as if they are equal, and clearly they aren’t.

.

Question: Why do we cover the challah when we make Kiddush? Why don’t we cover any other foods on the table? Zelig Aronson

To Have Or To Hold ‘Renting Is Not Owning’ (Avodah Zara 15a)

Such a defense can only be raised at the end of the day because it is based on a migo. The migo is that if the borrower were lying, he could have come up with a better defense.

"It won't be easy to buy another one," said Mrs. Lieber. "It was an odd sale item I found in an antique store. It's not right to give away what I got special for them."

Of course, in our time Eretz Yisrael has begun producing fruits in an enormous abundance. That it has done so despite it being known as a barren desert for millennia is nothing short of an open miracle.

After being checked by a doctor, my father needed to undergo some minor surgery. It was clear to his two children in Israel that my father could no longer live independently.

Inspiring words from from Vice President Pence’s address to the Knesset earlier this week.

The genius of the biblical narrative of the crossing of the Reed Sea is that it does not resolve the issue of whether it was a miracle or merely natural, one way or another. It gives us both perspectives-you decide

In the midst of his writing, he chanced to look down at the dance floor. He noticed that from afar, it seemed like he was witnessing poetry in motion.