Author: Meghan Froy

Kibbeh cherry (or “geraz” in Arabic) is a classic Syrian dish. It’s made up of a kibbeh roll, essentially a meat jelly roll, braised in a tamarind-laced sweet and tangy sauce. The roll is complicated to make, using ground beef and a mixture of beef and rice ground together, called kibbeh dough. I strip away the […]

If you’ve been with us a while, you likely recall that after the destruction of the Second Temple, rabbinic Judaism coalesced in two major geographic centers, one in Babylonia and one in the land of Israel. Though separated by many miles, difficult terrain and a border between empires, the two rabbinic communities maintained a strong connection. […]

In 2011, a group of researchers published a study on the cognitive effects of Ramadan fasting on a group of healthy, able-bodied Muslim athletes in Singapore. Because Ramadan is the lunar month in which many Muslims refrain from eating and drinking during daylight hours, there is an enormous pool of people that researchers can study […]

Tisha B’Av (the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av) begins at sunset on Saturday, July 17, and continues until the evening of Sunday, July 18. What is Tisha B’Av? Tisha B’Av is the major day of communal mourning. First and foremost Tisha B’Av commemorates the destruction of both the first and second temples […]

“Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” With this unforgettable observation, Forrest Gump’s mother, played by the inimitable Sally Field, teaches her son (and us) that life can be both delicious and random. Such is the rhetorical power of a good analogy.  The rabbis don’t just enjoy analogies […]

On a recent flight, I rewatched a favorite movie of my teenage years: Dead Poets Society. All these years later, my eyes welled up just as they did at age 14 or so, as each of the Welton students ascended their desk to honor their beloved teacher, proclaiming Walt Whitman’s: “O Captain, my Captain.” The emotional conclusion […]

The Torah is an incredibly complex text. It is a product of a particular time and place but with timeless resonances. It contains narratives, laws and poetry. It tells the story of the Israelites and of the universe itself. Beyond these important thematic and generic issues, today’s daf reminds us of yet another reason that […]

A significant challenge facing the rabbis as they discuss the details of the Yom Kippur rituals in the Temple is that the vast majority of them did not witness these events with their own eyes. Only a few of the rabbis who appear in the Mishnah lived during Temple times, the rest rely on what […]

Virtually the entirety of today’s daf is taken up with a discussion about the animals offered by the high priest on Yom Kippur. According to the rabbis, the high priest is meant to slaughter a bull and bring its blood with him into the Holy of Holies. On yesterday’s daf the question was asked: What […]

Many a parent has told their reluctant toddler to “eat your greens!” There’s lots of scientific evidence that richly-colored plants are an important source of vitamins and minerals. Today’s daf echoes this wisdom with its own discussion of the healing properties of cress.  Garden cress, scientific name lepidium sativum, is native to much of the Middle […]