Brock Turner: No Responsibility, No Redemption
Remember Brock Turner, the Stanford University swimmer-cum- rapist? There was outrage a few months ago when he was sentenced to a mere six months for raping an unconscious woman. He was eligible to...
Campers Receive a Hands-On Lesson in the Tradition of...
LAKEWOOD, Pa. — In the woods here on Tuesday, campers stood in a line holding quails, feeling their warm bodies and beating hearts in their hands. “Guys, do not bond with...
Chess in Jewish Law
The cerebral game of chess has long captured rabbinic minds. References to the game can be found even in Rashi’s writings (Kesuvos 61b sv. de-mitalela). However, its status within Jewish law...
A Lesson in Contrasts
Upon first glance, Parshas Acharei Mos appears to be extremely disjointed, for the first three aliyos of the parshah describe Avodas Yom Ha-Kippurim, the spectacular Yom Kippur Service in the Beis Ha-Mikdash,...
By Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer
2+2=5? Inconceivable!
A reader recently wrote me asking the following question: “Is God so powerful that He can change what is truth? Like 2+2=5? If God created something from nothing, does that mean...
Some Things Are Better Left Alone
The Torah’s treatment of a house that is contaminated by Tzora’as is quite unusual. Aside from the remarkable and exceptional notion of a house being afflicted with Tzora’as, Halacha states that...
By Rabbi Avrohom Gordimer
Preserving Privacy and Protecting Capacity for Intimacy
Despite what you may have been told as a child, sharing is not always caring. We are living in a transparent generation where the trend is towards sharing in the extreme....
How Much Would the Mishkan Cost Today?
The tent itself was made up of 48 gold plated beams that were connected. 20 on each side plus 8 across one wall. The beams were 10 x 1 x 1.5...
What is the Measure of a Great Community?
What is the measure of a great community? What are the metrics and tools we use to evaluate the success of a society? In this week’s parsha, Mishpatim, the Torah tell...
Is the Fake Excuses App Kosher?
We’ve all been in uncomfortable situations in which a well-intentioned but socially awkward person will not leave us alone. Sometimes we have other pressing business. Other times we simply have given...
