Torah 948 articles

Ensconced amidst the myriad civil laws that form Mishpatim’s essence are two cry-out sections. First we find the stark prohibition of oppressing the widow/orphan You must not mistreat any...

In our parsha we learn that we are not allowed to do “labor” (melakha) on Shabbat. But the Torah never specifies exactly what “labor” means. The mishna explains that there are...

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...

On return from a beautiful whirlwind trip in Eretz Yisrael visiting post-high school yeshivot, I do chazara (mental review) – trying to recollect the inspirational moments. [Full disclosure: as a Rabbi,...

The Shulchan Arukh tells us that we should be especially careful to avoid any immodest social mixing between men and women during a funeral procession. The Be’er HaGolah indicates that 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...

Twice in the Torah do our Rabbis find demonstrations of complete unity. One is very famous, the other quite surprising. On their way to receiving the Torah, the Jews encamp against...

The particular year a fruit belongs to is relevant for various agricultural laws. For tithes, since it is forbidden to tithe from the fruits of one year on those of another,...

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...

Chaim was on a tour of Paris’ Louvre. On the tour was an elderly American woman, whose appreciation for art must have begun and ended with her grandchildren’s works which hung...