Um, What Day Is It?
Living in the “Age of Information,” it is hard to imagine a person not being able to find out what day of the week it is. But in the days before data flowed across the airways, a person…
The Four Mitzvot of Purim
This year, Purim will be celebrated on Sunday, February 24th (beginning Saturday evening, February 23rd, after sunset). Four mitzvot are associated with the holiday: Megillah Reading -…
What’s in the Book – Malachi
The Book of Malachi is the last of the Twelve Prophets, and there is no reference to its historical period in the text other than the fact that sacrifices are once again being offered in…
Waiting For Ice Cream
According to the Talmudic sage Mar Ukva, his father waited an entire day between eating meat and eating dairy in order to avoid transgressing the prohibition of eating milk and meat…
It’s Just A Little Bit
Years ago, a popular ad for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups showed a person with a bar of chocolate accidentally plunging the chocolate into someone else’s open peanut butter container. The…
The Five Prohibitions of Yom Kippur
"...on the tenth of the month, you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all...for on that day God will forgive you and cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before…
Religious Recycling
Organized recycling is a development of the modern world, and from the current understanding of the concept, is not discussed in the Talmud. After all, in the era when the sages were…
Development of the Haggadah
On Passover night we are commanded "v'hee'ga'd'ta" and you shall tell, the story of the Exodus. (Notice the shared root of hee'ga'd'ta and Haggadah.) The Passover Haggadah serves as a…
The Four Mitzvot of Purim
Purim is celebrated on Thursday, March 8th (beginning Wednesday evening, March 7th, after sunset). Four mitzvot are associated with the holiday: Megillah Reading - Book of Esther - The…
Coveting
“Covet” is a strange word that is rarely used today except to cite the last of the Ten Commandments, “Lo Tachmod, Do not covet” (Exodus 20:14). The desire for things that others have is…