Judaism

It is possible to teach a child a Divine crash course in metalwork or stone masonry overnight, but you cannot give a crash course in childlike innocence.

Let’s be honest. Corn on the cob has always been consumed, along with many other fruits and vegetables that Rav Vaye’s rulings have forbidden (or considerably regulated).

As human beings, we have the remarkable ability to jump to conclusions, assuming that we know the truth of a situation when we, in fact, have completely misjudged it.

We cannot see G-d’s face; we cannot understand G-d’s ways; but we can encounter G-d’s glory whenever we build a home for His presence here on earth.

The Torah is based on the spot-on premise that basic features of the human condition remain constant throughout history

Before I left, my father – who saw in which direction I was heading – told me: Yossel, you’re going to Eretz Yisrael, and we will be separated. It is possible that this will be the last time we will see each other. Please, I beg you, come with me to the Rebbe of Slonim to get his bracha.

When Maimonides (Laws of Klei HaMikdash 2:4) translates the ingredients for the ketoret into Arabic, he renders tzari as al-balasan (i.e., balsam), but the Biblical term for this ingredient is actually nataf (Exodus 30:34), literally meaning the thing that drips.

Even Queen Esther went to the king, which she was forbidden to do, in disguise. She dressed up. Yes, she was a queen and she dressed up as a queen. However she was Jewish and nobody knew that, so she was dressing up.

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Many Jewish communities have their own unique stories of salvation. When faced with calamity, either from a tyrant, war, or some other impending danger, these communities miraculously escaped. This is the story of a small-town in Galitzia

As we celebrate Purim, perhaps we should look at the Talmudic interpretation of the holiday to better understand our contemporary era.

Purim Sameach

“The joy of Purim, the merrymaking, the food, the drink, the whole carnival atmosphere, are there to allow us to live with the risks of being a Jew – in the past, and tragically in the present also – without being terrified, traumatised or intimidated.”

Wishing all a Freilichen Purim!

The International Halacha Institute offers personalized online training in French, English, Hebrew and Spanish.

From the very beginning, I felt that our kitten was a gilgul, a Jewish soul sent back to earth to rectify his past.

Shmuel the Amora rules that although most people buy oxen for work, not meat, we do not follow the majority likelihood in monetary issues.

Curling Peiyos “Hair of a Nazir” (Nazir 42a)

If we are deficient in one of these strengths, we cannot sidestep our moral obligation to cultivate them and decide instead to focus on building our sense of humor (no matter how valuable a sense of humor may be psychologically or morally).

After Esther hesitates due to the danger involved, Mordechai responds with sharp rebuke. He emphasizes the personal responsibility she has to use her position on behalf of her people and explains that it is, in actuality, Esther, not the Jews, whose fate hangs in the balance.

Question: I understand that in the time of Moshiach we will return to the offering of animal sacrifices. But on the other hand, if, as we are told, those will be times without sin, then what will we sacrifice? In this modern world, some also argue that animals have rights and thus animal sacrifice is wrong. How do we answer them as well? Menachem Via Email

It’s enough to look at the picture of Hallel Menachem and Yagel Ya’akov Yaniv in order to appreciate the immensity of this loss. You see the sweetness and goodness that radiates from their faces.

Though we live in times of incredible chaos, and there are layers of darkness obscuring Hashem’s light in this world, there are moments of great light where we see the power of hashgacha pratis, a hug from Above.

One of the chief ways to frustrate the Hamans of our time, bring about their downfall and bring light and joy to our people is to gather Jewish children and teach them Torah and Yiddishkeit!

Upon a surface reading of the text, Aharon appears to have lacked the readiness for ultimate sacrifice.

These were all innovators, pioneers, ground-breakers, trail-blazers, who formulated new ideas, originated new forms of expression, did things no one had done before in quite that way. They broke the mold. They changed the landscape. They ventured into the unknown. Yet their daily lives were the opposite: ritualized and routine.

Although the Jewish People won, Amalek showed the other nations that the Jews were not as invincible as they seemed.

Nature that framed us of four elements, warring within our breasts for regiment, doth teach us all to have aspiring minds. -Christopher Marlowe

An individual may desire to do teshuva, but once he is in the “grip” of aveiros it’s more difficult; it’s as if he is handcuffed.

What’s a chesed tov, a good kindness? Is there such a thing as bad kindness?