Articles in the Featured Category
Featured, Jewish Law »
Minimum Wage in Halakha (Hebrew)
Published in ‘Shabbaton,’Parshat Vayishlach, 14 Kislev, 5772.
Featured, Festivals, Jewish Thought, Rosh Hashana »
Rosh HaShanah is a strange mix of emotions. The day is almost schizophrenic. Even the melodies of the Chazzan ride up and down an emotional rollercoaster. In the morning, we evoke the fear of the day and exclaim: “…and from the fright of the judgement my soul trembles…” “…Angels will hasten, a trembling and terror will seize them…behold it is the Day of Judgment.” Then we return home from the Synagogue, dip apples in honey and eat a festive meal!
How should we feel on Rosh HaShanah? Is it a day …
Audio, Featured, Jewish Law, Jewish Thought »
An honest look at the role of chumra (stringency) in Jewish Law & Life.
Audio, Bamidbar, Featured, Korach, Parsha »
Exploring Korach’s rebellion and his religious philosophy, its relevance and danger, Rabbi Nadel also addresses some issues the NY Jewish Community is struggling with today – Charter Schools and “Half-Shabbos.”
Audio, Featured, Festivals, Jewish Thought, Shavuot »
A famous yet difficult passage in the Talmud expresses how we relate to God and His Holy Torah.
Audio, Featured, Festivals, Israel, Jewish Thought, Yom HaAtzmaut »
Reflections on Yom HaAtzmaut 5771, given at Beit Knesset Kol Rina, Nachlaot, Jerusalem.
Bo, Featured, Parsha, Shemot »
What can we learn from locusts?
In describing the severity of the Plague of Locusts, the Torah tells us, “…Before it there was never a locust-swarm like it, and after it there will not be anything like it” (Ex. 10:14). The Torah seems to be saying there never was and there never will be anything as severe. The apparent difficulty is that the book of Yoel, one of the trei assar or twelve prophets, describes a plague of locusts “great and numerous, its like has not been from eternity, and after …
Featured, Jewish Thought, Parsha, Shemot, Va'eira »
This Shabbat we read the Four Expressions of Redemption (or, Four Redemptions), Exodus 6:6-7, which serve as the source for the Four Cups of wine at the Pesach Seder (Rashi to TB Pesachim 99b; TY Pesachim 10:1; Bereishit Rabbah 88).
What follows is a fifth expression, “And I will bring you to the Land…”So why don’t we drink a fifth cup of wine at the Seder?
1) According to one version of a beraitta in Pesachim 118a, we should indeed have five cups (Rambam, Rif, Ba’al HaMaor, Ra’avad to Rif), the fifth …
Audio, Bereishit, Featured, Jewish Thought, Parsha »
In our study of Torah, how are we we to view the Avot and other Biblical figures? Are they to be put on a pedestal? Are they infallible? Or, are they human beings like us, and subject to human frailty?
Audio, Bereishit, Featured, Jewish Thought, Parsha »
The Sages teach in the Midrashic and Talmudic literature that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob kept all 613 mitzvot of the Torah. How are we to understand this?
