The story of Akhnai’s oven is one of my favorite Talmud passages to tell non-Jews, because it so perfectly captures the contrast between Judaism and the dominant understanding of religion in the West. In it, a group of rabbis disagree with God, and God, in response, smiles and states, “My children have triumphed over Me;…
The Torah demands of us: “Justice, Justice, you shall pursue” (Deuteronomy 16:20). We are not told to sit back and wait for justice to come to us. In fact, midrash in Sifrei Devarim explains that this biblical verse means that we should strive to achieve justice specifically through the finest of courts. As our nation…
In the wake of his passing on August 7, 2020, I remember Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz in conversation, as the ever youthful rebel, questioning the whole universe, with a biting sense of humour. In the Orthodox world, where clothing defines the person, he made sure to stand out as a unique creature, combining worn jeans with…
I didn’t talk to my roommate for an entire year. I was in 11th grade, at a Yeshiva where the students lived in dormitories on campus. Early in the school year, Sruli and I got into a fight. We were taking turns on a handheld electronic football game we had borrowed from a friend and,…
This weekend, we celebrate July 4, on which the founders signed The Declaration of Independence and proclaimed as self-evident “that all men are created equal,” despite the fact that they themselves were slaveholders. As protests underscore the cognitive dissonance between this country’s enlightened founding principles and the fact that “Black Lives Matter” is still a…
There’s something simultaneously ironic, funny, sad and fascinating when a student messages me asking if they are white. Now this isn’t, of course, a question about physical colors, in which I’m no expert; any of my peers will attest to the fact that I wasn’t blessed with an eye for color schemes. Rather, they are…
Human life is so sacred that Jewish tradition is famously reticent about criminal punishment in general and capital punishment in particular. Thus, Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva said, “If we would have been on the Sanhedrin, no one would ever have been executed” (Mishnah Makkot 1:17). To be tried criminally, Jewish law requires that a…
Welcome to the first of what we hope will be a recurring feature in which we explore a passage from the Talmud that resonates with current events. The goal is not to determine “the Jewish view” but to prompt thought and discussion. You can find more about this passage — Sanhedrin 74a-b — at the…
במשך פֿון זיבן יאָר האָט דזשעף לויִס אַוועקגעגעבן צען טויזנט שפּײַזקאַרטלעך.
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