There are two Biblical roots with the letters ישׁן. One has the meaning “sleep.” The other has the meaning “old.” An issue had always been

At Leviticus Chapter 16, there is a strange ritual that takes place on Yom Kippur. The high priest takes two goats. After a lottery, the

There is a famous Rashi at Devarim 32:17. This verse describes the Israelites as sacrificing to gods that לא שׂערום אבותכם. What does that middle

Someone in our family in Israel was in Acco recently. This led my wife Sharon to suggest to me that I write about Acco. Acco

I base most of this column on an article by Aaron Demsky, “The Hebraization of Names in Modern Israel,” Brown Journal of World Affairs 25

Parshat Shoftim ends with an unusual mitzvah. If a slain man is found in an open area in Israel, and the murderer is unknown, the

There is a root in Biblical Hebrew גדד. It often appears in the “hitpael” form and means “cut,” i.e., “cut oneself” (self-mutilation). The “hitpael” form

The Urim and the Tumim are first mentioned at Ex. 28:30. Unfortunately, there is no description of what they look like or how they were

In this column, I am going to summarize an article from Hakirah, vol. 25 (2018) by Meir Loewenberg. (The article is online at hakirah. org.)

The name of this Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem comes from Isaiah 56:5. Here is the first part of this verse: “Ve-natati lahem be-veiti u-ve-chomotai

The precise meaning of this word is very relevant to us daily. In the prayer “Vayivarech David” we assign to God “ha-gedulah, ve-ha-gevurah, ve-ha-tiferet, ve-ha-neitzach,