Category: Science and Health

Sleeping pills are an effective tool for those who have trouble sleeping. New research, however, has shown that commonly-prescribed sleep aids could have negative cognitive effects later in life, which could cause some users to stop taking them.  Scientists have recently discovered that common sleeping pills can significantly increase the risk of dementia. In their […]

It’s accepted knowledge that New York City has great bagels and Los Angeles has great tacos (and celebrity sightings), right? In truth, Los Angeles has long been able to boast great Jewish food. It was with this in mind that I sat down over buttered sourdough toast, scrambled eggs and steaming mugs of hot coffee […]

A genome-study analysis conducted by scientists in China, where the COVID-19 pandemic began more than three years ago, has found that no new variants have appeared since the Chinese lifted their strictest control policies. It suggests that they all were caused by existing strains. The study, published in The Lancet medical journal, suggests two existing […]

It’s time for dinner, you put a plate of food on the high chair’s tray, you say that it’s time to eat and go to lift the baby into the chair and… you encounter firm resistance. A baby who isn’t ready to eat will rage and resist, shout “no”, and feel frustrated – and so […]

A quarter of Ukraine’s population is at risk of developing a severe mental health condition as the country grapples with the year-long Russian invasion, a senior health official said on Thursday. Michel Kazatchkine, a member of the Eastern and Central European and Central Asian Commission on Drug Policy, said the conflict in Ukraine had not […]

I was a remote worker long before the pandemic made it a thing, but it was only last month that I really took advantage of it. Early in the morning of New Year’s Day, I boarded a plane from Connecticut bound for Mexico, where I spent a full month sleeping in thatch-roofed palapas, eating more […]

We have already learned that a nazirite vow is completed in the land of Israel because a nazir had to offer their concluding sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem. But does that mean they have to observe their naziritehood there, or at least some portion of it? Or can they come to Israel after their naziritehood is over, offer their […]

As we’ve learned, one who takes a vow of naziriteship in a cemetery must exit the cemetery, purify themselves and then begin their term as a nazirite. Toward the bottom of yesterday’s daf, Rav Ashi asked a question: If one took a vow of naziriteship while in a cemetery, is he required to shave or not? Ordinarily, shaving […]

World tourism was crippled by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it has largely bounced back – yet traveling remains a serious challenge for a large group of people. These are the 20% of the world’s population who suffer from chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer or mental disorders. It is a group of people […]

We know from the Torah (Numbers 6) that a nazir is prohibited from becoming impure through contact with a dead body and as a result a nazir cannot enter a cemetery. If they do, they are punished with lashes for having violated a negative prohibition.  The Talmud determines that a nazarite vow taken in a […]