Nazir 54

We’ve by now spent quite some time on the issue of a nazir who accidentally contracts corpse impurity. We’ve discussed shaving the consecrated hair the nazirite was growing — which has now become impure and can no longer be offered — and the week-long purification ritual to reverse the corpse impurity of their body. This is […]

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Nazir 51

Is a fetus a part of the pregnant person or an independent entity? How we answer this question has important implications — morally, legally and ritually. Most of us are used to hearing this question asked in the context of modern abortion debates. But the rabbis of the Talmud also asked, and answered, this very question in another […]

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Haifa lab develops biological defibrillator to treat irregular heartbeat

Defibrillators that can shock a patient’s heart into restarting with an electric shock are finally appearing on walls around the country. But there is such a thing as a biological defibrillator to deal with irregular heartbeat (arrythmia).  Researchers at the Rambam Healthcare Campus and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa have succeeded for the […]

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Are Meat Substitutes Kosher for Passover?

Given the restrictions on eating hametz (leavened grains) on Passover, many Jews fall back on a meat-and-potatoes diet for the duration of the holiday. Barred from eating the products of five forbidden grains — wheat, spelt, oats, rye and barley — and with additional restrictions on grain-like foods (kitniyot) observed by many Ashkenazi Jews, Passover […]

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