In the Hagada we are presented with what obviously must have been a very important historical seder, the seder of Rabbi Akiva and the other four sages. The question is: Why was the seder at Rabbi Akiva’s place? After all, the other sages mentioned were of equal stature. Among them was Elazar ben Azariah who became the head of the Sanhedrin at the amazingly young age of 18. ere teachers of Rabbi Akiva, founders of the Yavne Academy, the President of the Sanhedrin. There w

Back in 2011 I penned the below in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring. Though not directly parallel, some of the ideas might be relevant to the current protests in Iran. I recently became a global citizen. In search of an affordable graphic artist to design a new logo for Shir Hadash I came across a website that ‘puts out to bid’ various projects to freelancers throughout the world. The client – that’s me – gets to view all these bids and then decide on the best one. T

In Parshat Kedoshim, we are commanded to Love thy Neighbor as Thyself, or in the original, ואהבת לרעך כמוך. The question is: Is that even possible? Can I ever love a person as much as I love myself? Even Rabbi Akiva, who of course promoted this commandment above all others, understood there were limitations in applying it. For example, when two people are lost in the desert and there is only enough water for one of them to survive, Rabbi Akiva writes that if you are the on

The Torah tells us that Yitzchak re-dug many of the same wells that his father Avraham had dug in his lifetime, an act necessitated by the fact that these earlier wells were filled in by the local inhabitants in the interim. The Torah seems to emphasize the importance of these acts by having Yitzchak actually name the wells he re-digs. Many commentators ask why the Torah needs to tell us this seemingly mundane fact. Some even point out that doing so embarrasses Avraham; af

Parshat VaYetzei One of the famous scenes in this week’s Torah reading is Yakov’s dream of the Angels ascending and descending a ladder placed on the ground and whose top is somewhere in the heavens. And one of the most famous interpretations of this dream is provided in the Midrash: The angels represent different nations, such as the Babylonian and the Roman Empires. Their ‘Angels’ will ascend – they will conquer eretz yisrael and am yisrael and subjugate our people. But

With Purim approaching I thought perhaps a little Torah on happiness might be appropriate: The Talmud in Hulin (139) informs us that Haman is alluded to within the story of Adam and Eve. Where? you ask. According to Rav Matna, it is when God challenges Adam after he disobeys God and eats from the Tree of Knowledge. In the language of the Torah, “Ha’min ha’etz asher …” or in English, “Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” The first word of t

One doesn’t usually think of the rock group Supertramp when studying Mishna … but maybe we should. Towards that end, maybe you’d like to play this song in the background as you read the below post. The Mishna in question is the very first to appear in the Tractate of Shabbat, while the topic in question is the halacha relating to carrying on Shabbat, or more specifically, the prohibition of carrying on Shabbat. Here is the Mishna along with the translation provided by the