Why are people poor? It is, on the face of it, a simple question. People are poor because, in comparison to other people, they have less money. But the question is often asked in moral terms. What makes people poor? American political discourse, especially in conservative circles, views poverty as a moral failure of the…
When I first started studying Talmud regularly, I attended an otherwise all-male class taught by a rabbi in a local synagogue in Jerusalem. I sat in the back corner of the room, but the walls of the classroom were transparent and I was conscious that everyone walking in or out of the main building of…
Like it or not — and who among us actually likes it — come April 17 (website crashes notwithstanding), you will need to have filed your income tax return with the Internal Revenue Service. Perhaps one way to feel better about the painful and often inconvenient process is to recognize that it has roots in…
This article originally appeared in the Yiddish Forverts. On March 24th, together with my 14 year old daughter and 9 year old son, I will be spending Shabbat differently than we normally do, as participants in the March For Our Lives in Washington, DC. As a doctor, researcher, and a Jew, I believe gun control…
While In real life we carefully avoid rebuking others, with the advent of social media and its artificial nature, often vitriolic criticism has become an almost daily challenge. Criticism can serve as a tool for improvement, but online, it often makes the situation worse and becomes a destructive force that wrecks individuals, families, communities and…
As a part of our Rabbi Roundtable series, we brought together leading rabbis from all corners of the Jewish world to offer their thoughts on the big questions. This week, we asked our rabbis, “If there is one lesson Jews today should learn from the Talmud, what is it?” Here are their responses: Avram Mlotek,…
I am a much better parent in public. When I am home alone with my children, I am quick to anger and slow to forgive. When my son spills his water for the second time during dinner, I grow exasperated and yell at him instead of helping him find a better place for his cup;…
A volume of the first Talmud to be printed in Italy in 500 years has been donated to the Library of Congress. “Italy is the place where the Talmud was printed for the first time. … It is a very symbolic event that we wanted to share with the wider public,” Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni…
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