The Conjoined Twins Dilemma: Shnayim Mehalchin B’derech, T’nu Lanu Echad Mi’khem and Rodef In fall 1977, conjoined twin girls were born to a Jewish couple in New Jersey. A team of twenty leading doctors and nurses assembled in Philadelphia at Children’s Hospital to separate the twins in a difficult surgery that raised serious halachic and... Read more »
Ani Ha’Mehapech Be’Chararah – What’s Considered Fair Competition? Talmudic Intrigue in Real Estate, Party Brownies, Dating and Dream Jobs We live in a world of finite resources, and it is inevitable that we occasionally end up at odds with others, each side vying for exclusive rights to certain resources. These disputes may be over a house,... Read more »
Sho’el Shelo Mida’at – Borrowing Without Asking, Taking Your Friend’s Jaguar XJ for a Spin: Is this “Just Borrowing” or is it Stealing? Shoplifting is stealing. Taking out a book from the library is borrowing. But the borderline between borrowing and stealing is often blurred. Is borrowing without permission borrowing or stealing? In this... Read more »
The Star-K is known throughout the world as being a reputable kashrus organization. Rabbi Moshe Heinemann, the rabbi of Agudath Israel of Baltimore, has served as the Rabbinic Administrator since 1971. Today, it is one of the only kosher certification organizations with a dedicated customer service
The System of Halachah Schematic is a one-page chart of the key stages of the transmission of the Written Torah and Oral Torah from Mount Sinai until the present. This chart facilitates the teaching of the NLE Morasha System of Halachah Series. Also highlighted are the Rambam’s categories of the Oral Law and the process of redaction of the Oral Torah. The schematic... Read more »
Beginning in the Second Temple Period, machloket, Talmudic disputes, arose – a fact clear from the study of any page of the Talmud. The existence of these disputes may present two possible pitfalls. First of all, in light of the seeming uncertainty, someone might question the accuracy of the Oral Torah’s transmission. Certainly, if... Read more »
This page offers links to a multitude of websites, online tools, interactive media and blogs that will allow you or your student to walk away with a greater appreciation and knowledge of Halacha and how it shapes our daily life. Websites and Tools Aruch HaShulchan The Aruch HaShulchan, authored by Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein, is... Read more »
In this shiur we will focus on the authority and reliability of the bearers of the Oral Torah – the Sages. The Sages of Israel throughout Jewish history assumed three parallel responsibilities. They were at once 1) the carriers of the explanations of Torah laws, 2) interpreters of the Torah, and 3) legislators of rabbinical... Read more »
So far we have explained the meaning of the term “Oral Torah” and how the Oral Torah came to be written down. Now we will present a more detailed explanation of the content of the Oral Torah. This class will discuss both the legal components of the Oral Torah and the Aggadic (philosophic) components. We... Read more »
A fundamental principle of Judaism is that God taught Moshe a comprehensive oral explanation of the Torah along with the written text. God taught the Oral Torah to Moshe on Mount Sinai, repeated to him in the Ohel Moed, and again in the Plains of Moav. Moshe passed this tradition verbally to the people, who... Read more »
