Many are familiar with the “golden mean” or the middle path of the Rambam. Regrettably, some misunderstand this as a prescription for religious mediocrity. Under no conditions did the Rambam endorse lukewarm religious adherence or “middle of the road” religious passion. Lethargic or middling religious experience is anathema

“This is the statute of the Torah that the Lord commanded, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and they shall bring to You a perfectly red unblemished heifer, upon which no yoke was laid” (Num. 19:2).

The opening commandment of this parsha, to bring an unblemished red heifer in order to purify an

This column’s focus is on the people who appear on the page of Daf Yomi. Often, when learning Talmud, we focus on the shakla vetarya, the give and take, and focus less on the people who present the ideas. Yet, Chazal do consider attribution important, telling us that הָא לָמַדְתָּ שֶׁכָּל הָאוֹמֵר

Last month, Hamas fired thousands of rockets into Eretz Yisrael attempting to kill civilians—men, women and children. Most of the rockets targeting populated areas were shot down by the Iron Dome defense system. Still, Iron Dome was at times overwhelmed by huge simultaneous barrages of rockets. With Hashem’s help, there were only a

It’s been a rough 1½ years for all of us. So much loss, so much pain and so much devastation. With everything that’s happening (a pandemic, a number of horrific tragedies in Israel, a war in Gaza, and the growth of antisemitism worldwide), it’s not hard to question “where do we go from here?” I’m reminded of an Abie Rotenberg

We are about to observe the secular holiday of Father’s Day. To some it is only a Hallmark card tradition. To others it is a chance to pause and appreciate all that our fathers have done for us.

The verse tells us that “a son honors his father...” (Malachi 1:6). The Ten Commandments compels us to

“There is such a large crowd here, but I feel that there are much more than just a lot of people here tonight. I feel the presence of millions of dafim of Gemara here together with us tonight! I feel that millions of se’ifim in Shulchan Aruch have joined us tonight, and they are only here because of the organization

It was one of those long, summer afternoons that seem to go on forever. Aron and his younger brother Jack had run out of things to do and were bored. They had even dug through their old games closet that had the most boring games in the world. They were about to give up until Jack pulled something out of an old cardboard box. “Hey, look

The past three centuries have monumentally transformed the political landscape. In much of our world, democratic governments have replaced repressive monarchies, offering equality and dignity. After centuries of political persecution and institutional discrimination, man has fashioned a fair and equitable form of governance. This

My time learning in Eretz Yisrael is filled with vivid memories. I ate out one Friday night with a friend and as we were walking back to Har Nof we heard such beautiful singing coming through an apartment window. Pausing to savor the moment, I said to my friend, “Let’s see where the zemiros are coming from. We have to join them!” We

Surprisingly, during the entire Korach episode, the Torah does not record one word that actually comes from Korach himself. He does not inspire his followers, nor does he instruct them to do anything. He does not communicate anything to Datan, Aviram, the two hundred and fifty men, or to Moshe. Korach is definitely an unusual

Yoma 58b

It is a matter of dispute whether the rule of “ein ma’avirin al hamitzvot” (do not offend a mitzvah by postponing it) means that one should perform a mitzvah d’rabanan, of rabbinic origin, before a mitzvah d’oraita, of biblical origin, just because the mitzvah d’rabanan first came