Professor Dr. Solomon Schechter
Born to a Chassidic family in Romania, Solomon Schechter (1847-1915) grew up to be a great scholar whose work had a deep and profound impact on Jewish life. After following the…
Facing The Challenge
Laws about food, business, relationships, worship, time and even the way one should speak...Is Judaism all about laws, about doing this and not doing that? Human nature resists laws and…
The Ban on Philosophy
Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet (a.k.a. the Rashba 1235-1310) was born in an age of controversy. The Jewish world was still unsettled over the first blend of “philosophy and Torah” produced by…
Chief Rabbi of New York
The position of Chief Rabbi is to be found in almost every major Jewish community except in the United States. Perhaps this is due to America’s separation of church and state, as the…
The Meat of the Matter
There are few more specific kashrut laws in the Torah than the prohibition known as the “gid ha’nasheh” (the sciatic nerve). The Torah states “. . . a man wrestled with him [Jacob] until…
The Seven Mitzvot
Jewish law places great emphasis on the way a Jew must live and the rewards for living according to Jewish law. Laws such as Shabbat and kashrut create a lifestyle in which Jews mingle…
Always (Kosher) Coca Cola!
I’d bet you never heard of the Pemberton Medicine Company! Perhaps you have heard of the company into which it was incorporated on January 15th, 1889? That would be the Coca Cola Company…
Midwestern Sour Cream
There are a host of Jewish foods that are associated with the American Jewish experience. Most of these, such as blintzes with sour cream, sour cream and bananas, and (of course)…
The First Rabbi in America
The first ordained rabbi to serve in an American congregation was Rabbi Abraham Joseph Rice (originally Reiss, 1800-1862). After studying in Germany, in Wurzburg and then Fuerth, Rice was…
The Rebbe
Jews worldwide observe the yahrzeit (anniversary of death) of the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of blessed memory, on the 3rd of Tammuz, which is observed…