Author: Meghan Froy

Whenever I had the slightest hint of a sore throat, the remedy in our Ashkenazi Jewish home was gogol mogol (kogel mogel in Polish). Gogol mogol is a Yiddish word for a shtetl recipe that dates back to 17th-century Central Europe. It’s a simple, sweet treat made with egg yolks and sugar that’s similar to […]

The ability to see flaws is both innate and easy; the crack or stain presents itself to our eye. The ability to see virtue is less easy, but practicing a vision of merit in others can change us as well. When I read the following testament, my sense is not that the author, almost 1,000 […]

In 2023, Hanukkah begins at sundown on Thursday, Dec. 7 and lasts until sundown on Friday, Dec. 15. Find a Hanukkah prep checklist here. What is Hanukkah? Hanukkah, which is Hebrew for “dedication,” is the Festival of Lights. It commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greek army, and the subsequent miracle of rededicating the Holy […]

I’m a collector of old knick knacks, as I suppose many Jews are. We collect stories, memories, and practices, but also family heirlooms: Shabbat candlesticks, old menorahs, seder plates, kippot from bar mitzvah celebrations across our lifetimes.  Prized among my collected memorabilia is a Hanukkah menorah that my great-grandparents brought with them from the old […]

Until fairly recently, the question of Judaism’s attitude toward recreational drug use would have been relatively straightforward. Judaism considers the preservation of human health to be among its highest values, and the prevailing opinion among health authorities has long been that recreational drugs are dangerous and lack any medical value. Judaism also mandates respect for […]

Today’s daf has a number of moving meditations on the value and power of Torah. If you haven’t read it yet, I want to encourage you to do so — both because they are beautiful, and because they are not the part of the daf that we’re going to focus on here. The Talmud today […]

Ancient Roman citizens had three names: the praenomen, the nomen and the cognomen. The praenomen was the name their parents gave them. The nomen was the name of their extended family (what today we might call their last name). And the cognomen was an additional name that gave further identifying information about an individual, either […]

The mishnah on our daf begins chapter 8 of Tractate Nedarim. The forsworn item in our mishnah today is wine. In recent weeks we have studied vows to abstain from cooked foods, pickled foods, fish, milk, meat, dates, grapes, olives, cabbage, beans, garlic, lentils, vegetables, and grains — among other consumables. Generally, commentators view this […]

The mishnah on today’s daf explores whether a dargesh is included in the category of bed. If someone vows not to use a bed, is that person allowed to use a dargesh? Rabbi Meir says yes, but the rabbis state that a dargesh is considered a bed and therefore not allowed. As we might expect, the mishnah doesn’t tell us which position […]