The purpose of this article is to provide a general outline of the laws of Sefirat HaOmer and should not be used as an answer to practical questions that should be referred to your halachic authority.

In the movie “The Paper Chase,” the Harvard student rips out a page of the law report so that his

In last week’s parsha of Tazria-Metzora we read about the possibility of people experiencing tzara’at upon their houses. Chapter 14, verse 34, describes how some people would discover the affliction of tzara’at (translated by some as leprosy) in their walls as they took possession of their property from the Canaanites. Can

This week, April 19, was the first anniversary of my return home from the hospital, after being in the hospital for 32 days and being on a ventilator for 22 days. As I understand it now, all of you in the Jewish community were a big part in the reason I survived—with all of your prayers and campaigns for מצוות.

(Sponsored content courtesy of the Biale Rebbe) More than a year has passed since the Biale Rebbe of Bnei Brak has visited Passaic, yet hundreds are excitedly anticipating the return of their revered Rebbe. Although the Rebbe has been visiting not one year and not two, annually for some years now, every year the sensation repeats

Emma and her class went on a hike. At the hike, there was a mini-store with a lot of cool things. Emma saw a really cute polar bear teddy and looked in her bag to try to find her wallet. When she couldn’t find it, she asked her friend Lia if she could borrow some money. Lia asked how much and Emma said 12 dollars and 25 cents. So Lia

In life, before we move forward, we must take inventory. It is true in the business world just as it is true in many areas of life. Without examining and taking stock, we fail to learn from the past and risk repeating the very same mistakes. For religious people, “cheshbon hanefesh”—moral inventory—allows correction of

When I was in my late teens, I once asked my rosh yeshiva, Hagaon Harav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, zt”l, “What should I do? There are some people who annoy me and I have a hard time getting along with them. How can I ‘love them like myself?’” Rav Finkel advised me, “Do something for them—help them, do them a favor or buy them

By creation of both human and animal, the verses both state that each received a “living soul.” Rashi (Bereishit 2:7) points out, however, that the living soul mentioned in reference to humans refers to the function of intelligence and the ability to speak. Words are thus an essential aspect of being human. Our Torah portion contains

Is the glass half-full or half-empty? Well, that really depends on the training you got. Are you the one who sees every blemish, who notices every error and is quick to recognize and attempt to fix and heal? Or maybe you have the tendency to see things in a more wholesome light, always looking at the bright side of life, recognizing good

Every day during math class, Max goes to the building next to his school for speech.

One day when Max was leaving school, his friend Moshe saw him and thought he was ditching school. The next day, while Moshe was walking to school with Ari, he told him that Max skips math class every day for no reason.

Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, a leading chasidic rabbi, was one of the most prominent rabbinic victims of the Holocaust. A leader of the Warsaw ghetto, he secretly ran a shul as well as covertly supervised outlawed Jewish rituals such as marriages and milah. He also delivered weekly Torah lessons that addressed the terrible nightmare that

One of the more distinguishing life values that Judaism advocates is the type of food that a Jew eats. There are foods that a Jew is commanded to eat such as matzah on Pesach and, continuing with Pesach, there are also forbidden foods such as leavened bread. The laws and customs regarding kosher food are numerous and complex. Perhaps no