The sacral calendar in chapter 23 of the Book of Leviticus includes mention of what is subsequently called Yom Kippur. It is intended to be a day of “affliction” as well as a day of cessation from labor (Lev. 23:27-28). But what, exactly, constitutes “affliction” goes...
The Torah emphatically teaches that “the alien must not be wronged” (Leviticus 19:32). The Hebrew word for alien is “ger.” The quintessential Biblical commentator, Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac of Troyes, known by his acronym RaShI (1040–1105), notes that the word “ger” is...
One of the most celebrated rabbis of the early twentieth century was Rabbi Abraham Isaack Kook. Born in Poland in 1865, his genius was recognized before he enrolled in the fabled yeshiva of Volozhin. After serving a congregation in Lithiania at the age of 23, he soon...
As the YIVO institute describes him: “Nachman Blumenthal was especially interested in the power of language.” That is why he made it his lifelong mission to collect, categorize, and define the terms Nazis used in the pursuit of the Final Solution. By training,...
In its discussion about preparing for Passover, the Talmud (Pesahim 4b) concludes that according to the Torah a verbal renunciation of all leaven in a Jew’s possession is all that is required in order to fulfill the Scriptural requirement to destroy all hametz....
Swedish film star Greta Garbo was widely acclaimed for her beauty and elegance. She left behind a lasting impression in such films as the 1927 Flesh and the Devil and the 1935 screen version of Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel Anna Karenina. She retired from the movie...
Each of us is a source of contagion. Whether or not we are aware of that fact, something passes from us into the life of every person we encounter. Though there is no instrument capable of measuring our effect upon others, we feel we affect and probably infect those...
One of the more common explanations for the dietary laws in the Torah is hygiene. Restrictions on the eating of certain animals and animal parts was intended to protect Israelites from a rash of diseases common to the ancient world. The fact that Maimonides (Guide of...
Having just celebrated the joyous holiday of Purim, the words of the Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni, Proverbs 9) sound very much like an ardent wish: When all the other Jewish holidays disappear, Purim will remain. More likely, it is a cynical observation that antisemitism –...
The Book of Leviticus begins with a series of rules regarding the various kinds of sacrifices and the occasions on which they are to be offered, the first of which is the burnt offering or ‘olah, in Hebrew. In A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, authors...