Looking around the country today, the America we Jews have come to know, appreciate, and love is becoming increasingly unrecognizable. While this may have been true the last several years on a cultural level with the move towards more...
This past Friday night, many people followed the big game and eagerly awaited the scores. From a Torah perspective, one should ideally not be preoccupied with sporting events, especially on Shabbat. Nevertheless, many people are deeply attached to their...
Dear Rabbi and Shira, My son has a friend who lives from outside the new york area who she knows from camp. He comes for shabbos a lot and due to her...
Throughout the ages, there have been different practices regarding keeping tzitzis tucked into pants or out. In addition, Chassidim wear their tzitzis garment over their shirt, while Ashkenazim wear it under the shirt. Sefardim do not keep their tzitzis out, while many...
I. AI as a Human Tool Lately, people are rightly debating the moral and philosophical questions raised by Artificial Intelligence (AI). We need to keep one point firmly in mind and all other conclusions follow: AI is a...
Parashat Shelach is famous for the story of the meraglim – the spies sent by Moshe Rabbenu to scout the land. They returned with a frightening report, insisting that Beneh Yisrael were incapable of capturing the country, and...
HOW DOES ONE DETERMINE WHAT BRACHA TO MAKE ON A PRODUCT? If it’s not obvious, you have to know the ingredients that are used to make the product and you have to understand the processes used to make the product. Without both...
We read in Parashat Behaalotecha of the formal consecration of the Leviyim as G-d’s special servants who would work in the Mishkan. This process included the offering of sacrifices – specifically, one bull as an Ola (burnt- offering), and...
We all have memories of firsts. For a child, it may be something as simple as opening a brand-new box of Crayolas. The wow of seeing the crayons seamlessly lined up, with their pointy...
Open-Mindedness Much has been written about the apparent absence in our society of passion directed toward any ideal beyond our personal needs and pleasures. Nothing in the contemporary secular conversation calls on us to give up or sacrifice anything truly valuable...