Tzav: Fighting Evil
We are surrounded by evil; every so often, it rears its ugly head as it did on Simchat Torah—the October 7 massacre. Pure evil raped Jewish mothers, burned Jewish babies alive, mutilated their fathers, and beheaded their neighbors. Pure evil burned loving couples clinging to each other, to …
Perfection Lost
The laws of family purity prohibit intimate relations during the menstrual cycle and for several days following. To appreciate the spiritual dynamic of these restrictions we must first understand the spiritual dynamic of menstruation itself.
Any discussion on menstruation must begin at the beginning. We must return to the source …
Disclaimer: There are
myriads of laws that govern the many dimensions of Family Purity and
they are beyond the scope of this presentation. The intention here is
to to offer a brief glimpse of the Family Purity life style.
During the period of menstruation husband and wife should refrain from intimacy together.
After a …
The
Torah commands us to be fruitful and multiply. As long as a family
plans to have even one child they have fulfill their obligation to this
Mitzvah. Some commentators feel that one must have a son and a daughter
before one is considered to have fulfilled this obligation.
However, Jewish
tradition has always encouraged large …
The
Jewish view on an unborn fetus is the following. An unborn fetus has an
intermediate status of life. It is not yet considered an independent,
and therefore never takes precedence over the mother’s life. Neither is
it considered to be a non-life, thereby prohibiting the indiscriminate
use of abortion.
There are
specific instances when abortion is …
Divorce
In its ultimate
wisdom, the Torah understood the need for Get (Hebrew for divorce) in
human life. One must realize that a marriage made according to the
Torah can only be annulled by Torah. Conversely, a Get executed
according to the Torah can only annul a marriage made by the Torah.
Couples who
choose to …
The Leap Year
The Jewish religion has its own calendar with an independent system of months and dates. The Jewish calendar follows the lunar cycle and is, on average, eleven days longer then the solar calendar. To adjust the Hebrew and secular calendars a complex system of leap years was
established. On …
10 Tevet
There are a
series of fast days that commemorate the destruction of the holy
Temple. The first one falls on the tenth day of the Hebrew month of
Tevet. This fast begins at sunrise and ends at nightfall.
On this day the
Babylonian army laid siege to the holy city of Jerusalem. The siege
lasted …
Shavuos is the holiday in which our ancestors received the Torah at Mt. Sinai. This holiday marks the end of the seven-week period of the Omer and is celebrated with great festivity and joy. The holiday lasts for two days (one day in Israel) and falls on the sixth and …