As the parent of a preschooler, I am becoming well-versed in the prompt, “Please use your words.” What I’ve learned is that for a very young child who is just learning to speak, it often seems much ...

Death is not only a physical state of being. If you ever opened up your heart or expressed your passion and there was no one there to feel it and receive your emotions – you more or less were ...

The Torah reading of Chukat deals with the concept of purification. God prescribes the procedure of the Red Heifer to cleanse us from ritual impurity. The Bat Ayin on Numbers 19:1 expands the concept ...

Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its ...

Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its ...

Our guest this week is Rabbi Daniel Korobkin, senior rabbi of Toronto’s Beth Avraham Yosef Congregation. Rabbi Korobkin is a past executive board member of the Rabbinical Council of America, having ...

There are differing opinions concerning the meaning of chok (commonly translated as “decree”), the type of law discussed at the beginning of Parashat Chukat (Numbers 19:2). Some maintain that chok is ...

Parshat Chukat begins with the poignant words “Zot Chukat HaTorah”-- “This is the decree of the Torah”, and then proceeds to discuss the laws of Parah Adumah, the red cow. The commentaries grapple ...

Each week The Arty Semite connects the Torah reading — however tenuously — with a classic work of rock and roll. This week’s parsha, Chukat, begins with the “Chok” — or law for which no reason is ...