The Reliability Of the Moral-Intellectual Compass
A recent discussion on the putative attitude of some (religiously traditional) Jews that the more sense something makes, the less “frum” it is: R. Natan Slifkin: Pesach is approaching, which means...
View ArticleThat’s What He Meant, More Or Less
Update: As ER explains in a comment, I made a grave cognitive error in formulating this post; the תפארת יעקב clearly meant exactly what the text says, although my point about the Tosafos in Eruvin...
View ArticleThat Damned, Elusive π
We seek him here, we seek him there, Those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Is he in heaven? — Is he in hell? That damned, elusive Pimpernel The previous post featured Rav Ya’akov Gesundheit’s...
View ArticleMathematical Reasoning and Its Discontents
In the course of preparing the previous post, I encountered this bizarre passage in the commentary to the mishnah of Rav Shimshon b. Avraham (the Rash) of Sens: ובני אדם חכמי המדות אמרו דכל מרובע ב’...
View ArticleChanging Places
קיבלתי עונש קצת מוגזם שפטו אותי למוות. ישבתי על כיסא חשמל נפרדתי מהפרייבט. לו יכולתי לפחות להחליף ת’כיסאות, כי אומרים בדרך כלל משנה מקום משנה מזל. The emphasized phrase, from Poogy / Kaveret’s smash...
View Articleלחמי במזרח ואני בסוף מערב
Kikar Shabbat reports: הרב פסק: הקונים נכשלו באיסור חמץ מספר אברכים שרכשו במוצאי החג מוצרים באחת המאפיות המוכרות בארץ נכשלו באיסור חמץ, כך פסק הרב שריאל רוזנברג. הסיבה: בעל המאפייה שהה בחו”ל במהלך...
View ArticleThe Steipler Explains Geometric Progression To the Ungvarer
The year 5736 saw a great debate between several deeply pious and traditional Halachic authorities over the contemporary application of Hazal’s deprecation of the בן נדה / בני תשע מידות: while Rav...
View ArticleLiebes On Women’s Lib
C.S. notes this New York Times article on the history of the title “Ms.”: In the Nov. 10, 1901, edition of The Sunday Republican of Springfield, Mass., tucked away in an item at the bottom of Page 4,...
View ArticleAvoiding צרעת Like the Plague
Artscroll declares: For hundreds of years, the popular translation of צרעת [tzaraas] has been “leprosy,” and it was commonly accepted that prevention of the disease’s spread was the reason for the...
View ArticleFlattery Will Get You … A New Judge
א וַתִּקְרַבְנָה בְּנוֹת צְלָפְחָד, בֶּן-חֵפֶר בֶּן-גִּלְעָד בֶּן-מָכִיר בֶּן-מְנַשֶּׁה, לְמִשְׁפְּחֹת, מְנַשֶּׁה בֶן-יוֹסֵף; וְאֵלֶּה, שְׁמוֹת בְּנֹתָיו–מַחְלָה נֹעָה, וְחָגְלָה וּמִלְכָּה וְתִרְצָה....
View ArticleTrue Neutrality
Our previous post noted the idea, attributed to the Sanzer Rav, that Zelafhad’s daughters’ assurance to Moshe that their father had not been involved in Korah’s rebellion constituted “verbal bribery”...
View ArticleThe Virtue Of Those Common Flowers
[A pendant to this post.] Dracula “That night we were just in time. One more so small child was missing, and we find it, thank God, unharmed amongst the graves. Yesterday I came here before sundown,...
View ArticleTheology From the Rocks Whence We Are Hewn
A few years ago, we noted Rav Yitzhak Arama’s vehement rejection of Ramban’s famous adjuration against seeking medical, as opposed to prophetic, counsel and treatment for maladies. I recently...
View ArticleRisking One’s Life For Fun and Profit
There is a well known medrash that Esav murdered Nimrod out of lust for the latter’s wonderful Hunter’s Garment: ר’ מאיר אומר עשו ראה את הכתנת על נמרוד שהיו מצויירין עליה כל החיות והעופות שבעולם...
View Articleוכל מעשיך בספר נכתבים
We recently deployed the Piwik web analytics framework to track our readership. For more information, see our privacy page. Apropos to the topic of communications privacy, here are (in rough...
View ArticleThe Dextrocardian, Or the Man Whose Heart Was Not In the Right Place
A remarkable, albeit grotesque, example of Polish halachic man: a young man is hospitalized, and the doctors discover that he has dextrocardia (it is unclear whether we are dealing with dextrocardia...
View ArticleThe Serious Consequences Of Playing Favorites
From last week’s parshah: וְיִשְׂרָאֵל, אָהַב אֶת-יוֹסֵף מִכָּל-בָּנָיו–כִּי-בֶן-זְקֻנִים הוּא, לוֹ; וְעָשָׂה לוֹ, כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים.1 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he...
View ArticleDon’t Forget Me Knots
From last week’s parshah כִּי אִם-זְכַרְתַּנִי אִתְּךָ, כַּאֲשֶׁר יִיטַב לָךְ, וְעָשִׂיתָ-נָּא עִמָּדִי, חָסֶד; וְהִזְכַּרְתַּנִי, אֶל-פַּרְעֹה, וְהוֹצֵאתַנִי, מִן-הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה. … וְלֹא-זָכַר...
View Articleמאי חנוכה?
During this holiday season, we are perennially bombarded with a trite Manichean view of a grand dichotomy between Judaism, Light, and Spirituality versus Classical Greek Culture, Darkness and...
View ArticleReliance Damages and Promissory Estoppel
From this morning’s parshah: כִּי עַבְדְּךָ עָרַב אֶת-הַנַּעַר, מֵעִם אָבִי לֵאמֹר: אִם-לֹא אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֵלֶיךָ, וְחָטָאתִי לְאָבִי כָּל-הַיָּמִים.1 For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my...
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