Shabbos Shuva is named for the first word in the Haftorah, but it also refers to the fact that the Shabbos falls between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, when we are experiencing the Aseret Y’mei … more

The biggest news story of the week was about a clerk in Kentucky with a fundamentalist understanding of the Bible. Among many reactions on social media, there was a clip from the “West … more

The concept of the Jewish people being Hashem’s am segulah is first introduced in Sefer Shemot 19:5: “And now, if you obey Me and keep My covenant, you shall be to Me a treasure out of … more

With the Ashkenazic community beginning Selichot this Saturday night, with Rosh Hashana around a week and a half away, bringing with it the Day of Judgment, we are left to examine our deeds, our … more

Everyone who is familiar with the story of Ruth knows the Talmudic sentiment (Yevamot 69a, 77a and Ketuvot 7b) that a Moabite female is permitted to join the Jewish people. The Talmud has a classic … more

A Jew defining (and dressing) himself as Ultra-orthodox goes on a stabbing rampage at the LGBT pride parade in Jerusalem, murdering a 16 year old girl and seriously wounding five others. Iranian … more

At the beginning of Parshat Behar, when the Torah describes the laws studied at Mt. Sinai, Rashi asks a question that is well-known by those who study his commentary: What does the topic of shmittah … more

Thousands of feet up in freefall, travelling over 100 miles an hour, Yosef Goodman had only seconds to make a decision. His parachute had become tangled in his commander’s chute above him, … more

“Don’t eat ‘neveilah’ (meat from the carcass of an animal that dies a natural death) – give it to the ‘ger’ who lives in your gates, and he shall eat it. Or … more

When Rav Yitzchak Hutner (author of the Pachad Yitzchak) was learning in Slobodka Yeshiva in the early 1900s, one of the students went from Slobodka to Berlin to be with Rav Dovid Tzvi Hoffman. When … more