Torah 948 articles

The Coming Week’s Daf Yomi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim (original ideas) of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew...

The Coming Week’s Daf Yomi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim (original ideas) of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew...

A famous insider Jewish joke goes like this: (1) In shul, Cohen saunters over to Finkelstein and in a hushed tone asked, “Nit oif Shabbos g’redt, (It’s not really Shabbat-like speech,...

The Torah forbids judges from taking bribes in no uncertain terms: “Don’t accept bribes, for bribes blind the sighted and distort the words of the wise” (Shemot 23:8). The Torah reiterates...

The Mishnah (Ta’anit 25b) says that once the month of Av begins, during the Nine Days, we have to reduce our joy. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 551:2) rules according to...

The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 551:16) records a custom practiced by Ashkenazim of not bathing or showering during the Nine Days, from Rosh Chodesh of the month of Av until the...

The Coming Week’s Daf Yomi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim (original ideas) of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew...

The Shulchan Aruch states that in the series of benedictions recited each morning on awakening, a man thanks HaShem, “Who has not made me a woman”, whereas a woman thanks HaShem,...

A classic story: During wartime, a certain individual would come to the country’s border with a wheelbarrow full of dirt. The border guard looked at the man’s papers and all was...

For many details of the halakha, there is a special status for money. Basically, Jewish law distinguishes three categories of value: goods, which have inherent value; a note, which is a...