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Leftist Antisemitism

One of the most telling comments of the pre-eminent medieval commentator, Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhak of Troyes appears at the very beginning of the book of Genesis. Citing a question raised by an earlier midrashic authority, RaShI (the acronym by which he is known) asks...

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Tribute to Rav David Weiss Halivni

My revered teacher Rav David Weiss Halivni will be eulogized with many superlatives – all of them deserved. Since his earthly departure on June 29, 2022, the last day of Sivan and the first day of Rosh Hodesh Tammuz, tributes have been profuse. Rav Halivni has been...

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What Jews Learn from Swimming

What Jews Learn from Swimming

Whenever I teach about the obligations parents have to children I inevitably cite the alternative opinion in the Talmud (Kiddushin 29a) that states that in addition to the ritual obligations of circumcision and redemption of the firstborn (when applicable), and the...

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In Tribute to My Teacher

In Tribute to My Teacher

On June 10, 2020 the Jewish world has lost one of its greatest and least recognized thinkers. Hakham José Faur died in Israel at age 85. In a way, his life mirrored the trials and vicissitudes of diaspora Jewry. He was born in Argentina to a family from Damascus, he...

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Leaving a Legacy – Yom Kippur 5780

Leaving a Legacy – Yom Kippur 5780

Stan Boutin, a biological scientist at the University of Alberta has been researching red squirrels in the Yukon for more than thirty-five years. In the course of his work on the Kluane Red Squirrel Project he has documented a phenomenon important to the evolution of...

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Words to Live By

What lies behind you and what lies ahead of you pales in comparison to what lies inside you.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

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