Judaism

The Rif offers a different rationale. He writes that the agent must share the extra items with the sender because the benefit came about through his money.

Soul Food ‘It Comes to Include a Fragrance’ (Niddah 52a)

She probably gave no conscious thought to the message that she broadcast. She did not mean to deliberately offend anyone; it just seemed like a cute thing to do.

“I came here to get a mask so…Moshiach won’t see my aveiros.”

Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz emphasized again and again when he taught this parshah that Yaakov moving the massive stone from the well was not a miracle. Yet, it was not a matter of physical strength either. It was a matter of heart and faith.

Halacha mandates that the anniversary of a miracle be celebrated, not only by its subject, but by his descendants and disciples in later generations.

Why was Avraham’s name completely changed and Yaakov’s merely added on to?

Question: Whenever an activity is prohibited because of kavod hatzibbur (the dignity of the congregation), may a kehilla decide that the activity does not offend them?Menachem

When we avoid talking poorly about other people – whether at our Shabbos table, in the coffee room at the office, or at the dinner table with a spouse – we are helping our brethren in Eretz Yisrael.

During the evening or at night, the lack of light makes everything appear mixed up and one cannot discern the differences between them. (“Erev” means both night and mixture.)

If a person relies on human beings, Hashem will remove His hashgachah and leave the person in the hands of those whom he is depending on…

Like the Slonimer Rebbe, Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz (Daat Torah p. 205-206) does understand "levado" as meaning alone. But based on the Midrash, he assumes that being alone is constructive. How can it be constructive?

Note, first, that this is not an adjustment of an existing name by the change or addition of a letter, It is an entirely new name, as if to signal that what it represents is a complete change of character. Second, as we have seen, the name change happened not once but twice. Third – and this is the puzzle of puzzles – having said twice that his name will no longer be Yaakov, the Torah continues to call him Yaakov. G-d Himself does so.

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Is the desire to be more machmir than one’s father good, bad, or neutral?

In one of the most mysterious verses in the Torah (Bereshit 35:8), we read about the death of Devorah the nursemaid, a character so minor that we have never really heard of her before

In a brilliantly creative rereading of the pasuk, Rabbi Shimshon suggests that alluded to in Yaakov’s word choice is this discovery of self-efficacy.

The Gemara (Meseches Megillah) wonders why Esther invited Haman to a private feast. How could she have sat at a private meal with such a monster?

We learn in this week’s parsha that when Leah realized that she was going to have her seventh son, and her sister Rachel would then only be able to have one of the Shevatim, she davened that her fetus be changed to a girl.

How do we schedule two bar mitzvahs in shul on the same Shabbos as well as two catered affairs on their birthday?... The Rabbi in a Small Community

Rachel only related to one purpose, that of giving birth, and ignored the second purpose – to learn, to become worldly wise and pious and, in the process, to bring more goodness into the world.

Rabbi Salanter said we must all act like poor men when it comes to matters of ruchniyus.

Immediately upon becoming Rebbe, he embarked upon the most ambitious chassidic publication program until recent times.

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You Can’t Have It Both Ways ‘A Minor Who Reaches Maturity’ (Niddah 46a)

Where were the righteous gentiles – the “Schindlers,” if you will – of Kristallnacht? My quest to answer this question revealed information I had not anticipated.

The Talmud (Rosh Hashanah 26a) points out that "yovel" also means ram, and was borrowed to mean a ram’s horn (Joshua 6:4-5), as well the 50th year – the jubilee, an English word derived from the Hebrew "yovel," when such a horn is blown.

What then are we to make of the phrase, “Pharaoh condemned only the boys to death, but Laban sought to uproot everything”?

We are a people bound by law as much or more than any other, our legacy also tells us there are times when those laws and norms are appropriately breached.

The next day, there was knock on their door. "Who is it?" asked Mrs. Levi, but no one answered. She asked again, and again no answer, so she looked through the peephole, but saw no one.