Category: Science and Health

It may be that the most important biblical passage for our time is found in the book of Joshua: …he looked up and saw a man standing before him, drawn sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and asked him: Are you one of us or of our enemies? He replied: No! I am captain […]

Today, we encounter a teaching of Rabbi Meir about the language one should use when attaching a condition to a legally binding statement. Rabbi Meir says that any condition that is not like the condition of the sons of the tribe of Gad and the sons of the tribe of Reuben is not a valid […]

Many books of the Hebrew Bible are read in synagogue. The Torah is read in full on a yearly cycle, with one of 54 Torah portions read each week (sometimes two are combined so that the Torah is completed in the year). Likewise, selections from the prophets (haftaraot) are also read each week. Five megillot […]

Job is one of three books in the Bible which, collectively, are known as the Wisdom Literature. (The other two are Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.) Unlike the other books of the Bible which deal more specifically with the Jewish people, these deal with universal questions about justice, piety and the nature of the universe. In fact, […]

Job’s wife has no name and only a single line in his story, and yet I find her unforgettable — one of the most enigmatic characters in the entire Bible. Recall that Job’s story begins when God makes a bet with Satan that his pious servant Job will continue to be faithful even if his […]

The ideas of the Book of Job have always been challenging. How can a just God not only permit but orchestrate the terrible suffering of a truly righteous person? It is hard to get one’s head around that question. But no less challenging is the language of the book. The grammar and vocabulary go far […]

In a mishnah at the bottom of yesterday’s daf, we learn a fairly straightforward rule: A person may not say to a butcher on a festival: Weigh for me a dinar’s worth of meat. But the butcher may slaughter an animal and apportion it without stipulating a price. As has been well established by our […]

Today’s daf introduces us to two people we may not have met before in our journey through the Talmud — Rabbi Malkiyu and Rabbi Malkiyah. Neither appears a lot in the Talmud, so their mention here is an opportunity to explore them in more depth.  We first meet Rabbi Malkiyu, a fourth-generation Babylonian Amora (later rabbi) in […]

Don’t chew with your mouth open. Keep your elbows off the tables. Don’t begin eating until everyone’s been served. Every community has its guidelines for proper manners. Today’s daf takes a breather from detailing halakhic requirements to consider some of these softer rules in rabbinic life. Here is how the rabbis come to the discussion: A mishnah […]

Job is the biblical poster child for acute suffering. When Satan makes a bet with God that the righteous and prosperous Job will cease to praise God in the absence of worldly comforts, God takes the bet and allows Satan to torment Job, to remove his wealth, kill his children and destroy his health. Job’s […]