In years past, and occasionally in our own time, deals are solidified with a handshake. “I’ll bring the contract tomorrow, and if everything looks good,

Q: Dear Rabbi Hoffman. I have a question regarding deception and possible theft. There is a college professor who engages in a strange type of

Gittin 51b The general Torah rule is ,המוציא מחברו עליו הראיה, hamotzi mechavero alav hara’yah, that you cannot win a judgment for a debt unless

This Shabbat begins the Jewish month of Av, with its nine-day period of remembering and mourning the tragic destruction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem

  Then the word of the Lord came to him: ‘Why are you here, Elijah?’ He replied, ‘I am moved by the zeal for the

Editor’s note: This series is reprinted with permission from “Insights & Attitudes: Torah Essays on Fundamental Halachic and Hashkafic Issues,” a publication of TorahWeb.org. The

I decided to do something different on the last day of this year’s Chumash shiur in June at Torah Academy of Bergen County. I discussed

Leaders are only fully appreciated once they retire and Moshe—our greatest leader—was no different. Once it was announced that he would not direct us into

Parshat Pinchas This week’s haftarah is—in a number of ways—a story of beginnings, or, better yet, of introductions. As the first chapter in the book,

Rav Yosef Chaim Zonnenfeld, zt”l, the righteous “Guardian of Jerusalem”, was the revered leader of the Yishuv haYashan. One of the founders of the Eidah

I’ve been doing the bar mitzvah circuit a lot recently, and I noticed that there’s a big difference between the food being served to the

The other day, I was privileged to act in the role of “sandek” at my new grandson’s bris (religious circumcision). While I was honored to