Blog
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Is a Midrash About Avraham Really First Found in the Quran?
The actual rabbinic source predates it by centuries — it just wasn’t in the midrashim you’d think to check. Q. Someone…
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Why Do We Read the Tochecha Quietly?
Not to hide from it, but not to dwell there either — plus the Sanzer Rebbe’s post-Holocaust reversal of the custom.…
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Are Some Mitzvot ‘Outdated’?
‘Eternal’ means relevant 3,300 years ago too — what that implies about mitzvot like the laws of slavery. Q. How can…
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Why Eat Dairy on Shavuot?
Thirteen various explanations for a custom nobody’s fully certain about, and how to cover all of them anyway. Q. Is it…
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What Should Israel Offer Its Arab Citizens?
A proposal tying full civic benefits to full civic obligations. Q. What can we offer the Arabs? I think the most…
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Why Don’t Women Lay Tefillin?
Various Halachic, kabbalistic, and educational reasons harmonize. Q. Why Don’t Women Lay Tefillin? Women aren’t allowed to lay Tefilin for several…
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How Does the Torah Relate to Homosexuality?
Whether one understands or not just defines whether it’s a Chok or a Mishpat, but in any event the mitzvah must…
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A Kohen’s Wife Concealed a Past Relationship — Now What?
The halachic status doesn’t hinge on what she knew — and the fallout reaches grandchildren. Q. If a woman had intimate…
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Can a Convert Serve as a Dayan?
A real range of opinions, and a practical answer for a convert who wants to sit on a Beit Din. Q.…
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Did Rav Kook Wear a Beard and Payot?
Yes — but the Rav redirects us to what really mattered to him. Q. Did Rav Kook have a beard before…