Blog
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What Is a Mamzer, and Why Is the Status So Severe?
Not the same as ‘born out of wedlock’ — the actual definition is narrower and more specific than assumed. Q. Is…
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Wasn’t Sending Away Hagar and Yishmael Wrong?
Avraham himself objected — the text is explicit that this was G-d’s decision, not his. Q. How could Abraham dismiss Hagar…
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Are Midrashim Meant to Be Taken Literally?
The Ramban disagrees with Rashi on this, and has a complex approach — a working test for telling which is which.…
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Should Jews Go Into Politics?
In a Jewish State, Rav Z.Y. Kook called it ‘G-dly politics’ — not a materialistic distraction. Q. Should Jews go into…
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Are Fewer Ba’alei Tshuva Religious-Zionist?
No hard data exists — but a theory for why an all-or-nothing reaction happens, and why it not only need not…
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Should You Pay a Stranger to Say Kaddish?
Three explanations for an old custom, and why it’s often better left unmentioned to a non-religious family. Q. Is it true…
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How Do You Choose an Hebraicized Last Name?
A working list of how great rabbis actually did it — by sound, by meaning, or by their father’s name. Q.…
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Is There Really No Tshuva for a Habitual Sin?
A mishna sounds like it closes the door on repentance — a closer read says it’s still ajar. Q. Is there…
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Should I Hebraicize My Last Name?
The Chatam Sofer did it, and so did many of Rav Kook’s students on making aliya. Q. Should I Hebraicize My…
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Why Are Some Moral Mitzvot Directed Only at Fellow Jews?
The Torah’s default assumption is a Jew living among Jews in Israel — exile was never the baseline. Q. Why are…