Rabbi Aaron I. Reichel, Esq., is a New York attorney who has written many articles on secular and Jewish topics, and has written, edited, and/or supplemented various biographies, most notably of Rabbi ...

Dr. Jeffrey Folks is the author of Heartland of the Imagination (2011).

Saul Jay Singer serves as senior legal ethics counsel with the District of Columbia Bar and is a collector of extraordinary original Judaica documents and letters. He welcomes comments at at sauljsing ...

Jews who live in the Diaspora sometimes ask, “Is it a Mitzvah to live in Israel in a time of danger?” Occasionally the question takes different forms. “Is it permissible to live in settlements in ...

Another explanation for the custom is based on a concern that a woman’s hair might become unintentionally exposed from under her wig or other hair covering. 17 There is also a theory that women began ...

Abortion is complex on many levels – halachically, hashkafically, emotionally, and politically. For the American Jewish community, the issue is fraught because of the secular laws and politics ...

Tashlich (“and you shall cast”), the Jewish ceremony of symbolically casting away sins into a body of water, usually by shaking out their garments or tossing breadcrumbs into a body of flowing water, ...

Our Gemara on amud beis quotes a proof text that a knife must be used to slaughter the Olah sacrifice: “Slaughtering may be performed only with a knife and not with a sharp stone or reed. The Gemara ...

“Male adult goat,” from Naples, Italy, second half 18th century. A goat represents impetuousness, as it jumps about and often in the Gemara is a symbol of an animal that breaks boundaries (Sukkah 14b) ...

In the financial world, few things offer more comfort than receiving a large sum of cash. The challenge is how to handle a windfall responsibly based on the markets, economic environment, and personal ...

The Mishna (Sanhedrin 9:1) states that a murderer receives his death penalty via sayif (execution via sword, one of the four methods that a Jewish court would carry ...

Maintaining faith through almost two millennia of persecution in exile was a monumental challenge. Yet, with unwavering courage and resilience, our ancestors found strength in Torah and mitzvot and ...