It is amazing how the Torah sometimes subtly relays multiple messages—often even contradictory messages—at once in order to convey a nuanced approach to crucially important

Each name of a Jewish holiday is iconic. The name Pesach evokes the transformative sacrifice that launched our national liberation. The name Chanukah captures the

Rabbi Rafael Valls was rabbi to the Conversos (hidden Jews) in his Spanish town and one of the last to be burned alive at the

We like to think that a kiddush Hashem, a sanctification or glorification of God’s name, is perfectly good. It is the ultimate expression of religious

“By the work one knows the workmen.” -Jean De La Fontaine It is not coincidental that the Menorah (the Candelabrum) mentioned in this week’s parsha

One of the things I appreciate most about Judaism is that with each Yom Tov we have the opportunity to take time and reflect on

This article was originally written about one year ago, when a new virus from Wuhan was just starting to make the news, and whose destructive

So much of Parshat Tetzaveh appears out of place. The bulk of Tetzaveh deals with the special clothing worn by the kohen gadol and the

Pesachim 107a Just because God has given us a weekly, lifetime subscription to paradise, that does not mean that we may take the Shabbat for

After the miraculous sequence of events in the Purim story, the Gemara (Shabbat 88) writes that at that moment there was a dramatic turnaround in

Amalek attacked us at our most vulnerable moment. Viciously assaulting the newly freed slaves in an empty wilderness, the cruel guerrilla armies of Amalek were

A few weeks ago, a man who truly gave from his heart to family, friends, plus thousands of others in the local Clifton-Passaic community, around