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Jul 21, 2026, 6:56 AM

The Courtyard Stands Open: Why Jews Must Teach the Nations Now

In the days when the Temple stood in Jerusalem, a vast Court of the Gentiles welcomed those drawn from the nations. This outer courtyard formed part of Hashem's design. Sincere seekers could bring offerings to any Israelite citizen standing...

Jul 16, 2026, 10:26 AM

Fins and Scales, Hooves and Cud

If every fish with scales also has fins, why does the Torah mention fins at all? Image: Black sea bass (Centropristis striatus). A kosher fish. Public domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Kashrut Through the Lens of Information Theory: The Hidden Logic of Redundancy The Torah is often admired for its brevity. Yet in some places, it appears surprisingly redundant. Consider the two most familiar signs of kashrut. Regarding fish, the Torah states: These you may...

Richard Diamond

Jul 1, 2026, 8:14 PM

What the Torah’s Animal Laws Were Always Pointing Toward

image by Google Notebook

Here is a paradox that Jewish tradition has lived with for centuries without fully confronting it. The Torah mandated animal sacrifice as the center of Israelite religious life for a thousand years. An entire tribe — the Levites — existed...

Jun 30, 2026, 5:53 PM

We Are All Changing Judaism. The Question Is Whether We Admit It.

Tefillin contain four passages from the Torah, one for each time the commandment to wear them appears in the text. Photo by Menachem Weinreb on Unsplash.

The Problem Isn't Changing the Tradition. It's Pretending You Didn't. Every morning I put on tefillin. Four compartments. Four passages from the Torah, one for each time the commandment appears in the written text. But here is something most people don't...

Jun 21, 2026, 7:07 AM

Book review – The Eyes of Isaac: Ophthalmic Care through the Prism of Judaism

Analogies use two main ideas: the target (what you want to explain) and the source (the familiar idea used to explain it). The Maharal, in his commentary on agada, notes that Chazal never chose a source at random. They...

Jun 18, 2026, 3:37 PM

Book review: The Jewish Woman’s Health Handbook

The All in the Family episode Gloria and the Riddle aired in October 1972. Gloria asked the following riddle: A father and his son are in a car accident. The father dies, and the boy is rushed to the...

Jun 10, 2026, 8:04 AM

Reading Texts Together: Service Year In Merhavim

A different kind of Sunday learning, my photo from a field trip to see the Gaza border and to hear testimonies about October 7

It’s almost the end of the service year, and I haven't written enough about one of our group’s most important activities: the Sunday meeting, held on the day we return from home to our service placement. Every Sunday, the Merhavim...

Sharona Margolin Halickman

Jun 3, 2026, 9:07 PM

Why were the scouts permitted to take the grapes?

In Parshat Shlach, we read about the 40 days that the scouts checked out the Land of Israel. We don’t know about all of the places that they went to but we do know the following (Bamidbar 13:21-24): They went...

May 31, 2026, 8:55 AM

Reality Gets the Final Vote

What a Talmudic story teaches us about labels, identity, and the danger of categories that become too small. Years ago, while living in Israel, a friend of mine was asked whether he would ever consider dating a non-religious woman. It seemed...

Shanee B. Michaelson

May 26, 2026, 8:48 PM

Naso: Birkat Kohanim in the Hospital

Parashat Naso, where we are this week outside of Israel, contains one of the most tender passages in the Torah: the priestly blessing, the ancient words spoken by the kohanim over the people of Israel. “May God bless you and...

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