Shabbat Heroics
Question: What does a Sabbath-observant doctor do when a friend or neighbor needs emergency medical assistance on Shabbat? The answer: Everything necessary. Call an ambulance, cut a…
Cut Off
"...Be as scrupulous in performing a 'minor' mitzvah as a 'major' one, for you do not know the reward given for the respective mitzvot. Calculate the...reward of a sin against its cost"…
Can Jews Be Part Of “No Beard Day”?
Today is National No Beard Day. The Torah states in Leviticus 19:27: "Do not cut the hair on the corners of your head; Do not cut the corners of your beard." This is one of the rare…
Avoid The Court of Sodom
Every once in a while, there are outlandish news reports that make people shake their heads, sigh, and wonder what the world is coming to. Preposterous stories such as a homeowner being…
Lose the Leather
Once a year, Jews around the world make a unique, and not always attractive, fashion statement by wearing clunky sneakers or fuzzy slippers. (The Talmud records that the sages wore…
Lose The Leather
Once a year, Jews around the world make a unique, and not always attractive, fashion statement by wearing clunky sneakers or fuzzy slippers. (The Talmud records that the sages wore…
Bankrupt
The concept of forgivable bankruptcy--declaring one’s self legally destitute and thereby being forgiven of one’s major debts, is a recent development in history. Until the mid-1800s (in…
Nu, Don’t Eat
A popular joke: Most Jewish holidays can be subsumed under the pithy phrase: “They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat!” For a nation obsessed with food, what’s with all the fasting?While…
Cleaning The Water
This year, National Geography Awareness Week (this week) has chosen the theme of “freshwater.” The Torah is laden with prohibitions against harming the environment. Soldiers may not cut…
Nu, Don’t Eat
A popular joke: Most Jewish holidays can be subsumed under the pithy phrase: “They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat!” For a nation obsessed with food, what’s with all the fasting?…