Kitniyot and Stimulants: Coffee and Marijuana on Passover
…and grasses are in rows, and everything is so clean, it is a testament to human intelligence. Every plant is labeled. There are plants from America, Portugal and Turkey all…
Who was Reb Shlomo?
…rolled into one, with a touch of Sholem Aleichem and Mark Twain.[1] Indeed, Shlomo just didn’t seem to fit into any restrictive defining label. Menachem Daum, in a video report…
Candles on Yom Kippur: Reinstating a Lost Minhag
…13th Century France, Rosh (Yoma 8:9) also recognizes this minhag, indicating that an abundance of candles were typically lit in synagogues. Unlike Machzor Vitri, however, Rosh places this custom into…
The Rogochover and More: Excursus on Fasting
…Tzom Gedaliah. 1. It is a nidcheh (as he was killed on Rosh ha-Shanah).[33] 2. Even if he was not killed he would not have been alive today. 3. He…
Ancient Jewish Poetry & the Amazing World of Piyut: Interview with Professor Shulamit Elizur
…find any such midrash. Eventually I found that Machzor Vitry and others write that Hashem established Rosh Hashanah on Rosh Chodesh so that when the Satan will try to prosecute…
Some Memories of Reb Dovid Feinstein zt”l: Instead of a Hesped
…Cornell University. His latest book is *Yeshiva Days: Learning on the Lower East Side*, available here. My Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Dovid Feinstein zt”l, was no longer with us on…
