The Egla Arufa The egla arufa (Devarim 21:1-9) is known as one of the strangest mitzvot in the Torah. A dead body has been found

It is striking that in the 21 times that Sefer Devarim refers to Jerusalem, it describes this special city as “HaMakom Asher Yivchar Hashem, the

  Shemitat Kesafim Last week we noted that many misunderstand Shemitat Kesafim as the cancellation of loans at the end of the shemitah year. The

Shemitat Kesafim seems utterly irrational. The Torah seems to call for the cancellation of loans at the end of the shemitah year. How is this

Bar Kamtza (Gittin 56a) is incensed by the rabbi’s silence in the wake of his humiliating expulsion from the grand party. He interprets their silence

The Gemara’s stories are very terse, but extremely rich. Each time we delve into them, we can uncover more and more insights and teachings from

It was a very exciting visit to the Chabad community of Myrtle Beach to explore the possibility of creating an eruv. I had several interesting

There is a glaring contradiction in our Friday night beit knesset practices. On the one hand, at Arvit, we continue to say the “Bracha Achat

Halachic authorities have debated the permissibility of squeezing lemons into a liquid (such as tea) on Shabbat since the Rishonim. This issue is an interesting

A few weeks ago, I took my younger son Hillel for a post-bar mitzvah trip to Israel. The visit was very short, so we had

One of the Gemara’s most charming and well-known stories involves a non-Jew who sought to be converted on condition that he be appointed as Kohen

Sephardic and non-Chasidic Ashkenazic Jews follow the custom recorded in the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 270) to recite the Mishnayot of the second perek of