July 2024

This week we read the double parsha of Mattos-Massoy thereby concluding the Sefer {Book} of Bamidbar. The nation of Moav, afraid of Bnei Yisroel, joined… Read More »‘I Didn’t Take Your Spoons!’

Oaths and vows are very sacred things, so sacred that it is unthinkable that someone would violate them. In fact, no matter how skeptical and… Read More »The Human Ingredient

This week we read about the cities of refuge. A man who kills someone accidentally is exiled to an Ir Miklat, a city of refuge.… Read More »Kinder and Gentler Killers

THE LAWS OF kashering are many and confusing, and learned from this week’s parsha. Thanks to Midian, we’re still in exile. Bilaam sent them in,… Read More »Kosher Extraction

The Almighty said, “Let us make adam (man) in our image and our likeness.” (Bereshith 1:26) The word “adam” is used again in Vayikra: “When… Read More »Burnt Offerings

In the late 1980s a massive monetary fraud took place, whose main perpetrator was Jewish. The news rocked the financial world, and many people were… Read More »Taking Care of One’s Needs before Tefillah

As a supplement to our recent discussion on the Jewish approach towards suffering, we include an article written by Mrs. Leah Kohn several years ago,… Read More »A Jewish Approach to Death

Last class, we took a break from any textual analysis and instead introduced the third and final section of the Shemoneh Esraei prayer, our focus… Read More »Our Sacrificial Alternative

The Story Naftali had just taken his final math exam of the year. He had been preparing for months and he was so nervous that… Read More »Parshas Pinchas – Tashlumim

He [Yehuda ben Taima] used to say: The boldfaced are destined to Gehinnom (Hell), and the shamefaced are destined to the World to Come. May… Read More »Chapter 5, Mishna 24: Righteous Indignation