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Jul 22, 2026, 10:57 AM

Fins and Scales, Hooves and Cud, Part II

Why split hooves and chewing the cud? Why these specific biological criteria? Photo: A male bighorn sheep (ram), a kosher land animal. © Jwanamaker, 2013. Licensed under CC BY 3.0. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

What We Still Don't Know About Kashrut In Part I of Fins and Scales, Hooves and Cud, I explored a question that is easy to overlook. If every fish with scales also has fins, why does the Torah mention fins at...

Allen S. Maller

Jul 21, 2026, 3:16 PM

Hajj and Hag as Centers of Our Spiritual World

“What need have I of all your sacrifices?” says YHWH. “Devote yourselves to justice; aid the wronged, uphold the rights of orphans; defend the cause of widows” (Isaiah 1:11) Always remember that God tells us that only on Judgement Day...

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...

Allen S. Maller

Jul 20, 2026, 5:09 AM

Gilgul Conversions Are Examples Of Kabbalah Miracles

A rather unusual form of evidence for reincarnation comes from the Jewish mystical tradition; the Kabbalah. Unlike Buddhism and Hinduism, Kabbalah does not teach that reincarnation (gilgul) occurs over the course of millions of years to millions of different...

Jul 20, 2026, 4:54 AM

The Strange Comfort of Explaining Suffering

On Tisha B'Av, the Book of Job reminds us that God rebukes those who rush to explain suffering more than those who dare to question it. There is something curious about the way we respond to suffering. Our own suffering...

Allen S. Maller

Jul 14, 2026, 8:51 PM

The 9th Of Av and the 10th of Ashura Are ‘Religions Surviving Oppression’

Shia Islam and Judaism share a yearly day of mourning and fasting for a very tragic, sad, historical religious event that happened many centuries ago. For the Shia it was the slaughter and the tragic martyrdom of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson...

Allen S. Maller

Jul 9, 2026, 5:33 AM

Av 9 Miracle Of Jewish Ongoing Survival

Shia Islam and Judaism share a yearly day of mourning and fasting for a very tragic, sad, historical religious event that happened more than 13 centuries ago. For the Shia it was the slaughter and the tragic martyrdom of Prophet...

Jul 7, 2026, 1:13 PM

Cosmic Moods: Reform Judaism Meets the Space Age

Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof in his younger years. American Jewish Archives. https://www.americanjewisharchives.org; https://press.huc.edu/pittsburgh-book-launch.
Rabbi Solomon B. Freehof, New Reform Responsa (Philadelphia: The Hebrew Union College Press, 1980), which included a responsum titled “Halacha and Space Travel.”

In 1970 – soon after the lunar landing – the most prolific respondent in American Reform Judaism and an expert on responsa literature, Rabbi Solomon Bennett Freehof (1892-1990), published an article in the Jewish Book Annual, titled “Recent Responsa...

Jun 30, 2026, 11:20 AM

Lunar Shield Bearers: Halakhic Warfare in Rabbinic Journals

Rabbi Kasher’s Man on the Moon, first published in Noam, reprinted as separate booklet.

Buzz Aldrin photographed by Neil Armstrong, NASA photo ID AS11-40-5903, https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?mission=AS11&roll=40&frame=5903, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AS11-40-5903_-_Buzz_Aldrin_by_Neil_Armstrong_(full_frame).jpg

In the 1969-1970 issue of the journal Noam: A Forum for the Clarification of Contemporary Halakhic Problems, Rabbi Benzion Firer (1914-1988) published a responsum addressing the question of whether Jewish law was applicable on the Moon. Firer reached a...

Allen S. Maller

Jun 28, 2026, 2:40 PM

Folk Religion Can Grow Piety

In the modern world, large scale emigration has brought many Muslims into close contact with other Muslims from distant lands. While all Muslims are united by Islamic law and daily prayer, many Muslims have discovered that some of the...

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