May 20, 2024

Maintaining Enthusiasm

I feel compelled to start with a brief digression. I missed you all last week, and my children especially missed being in shul the past few weeks. Nowhere else have we found a place where kids gather around the Bimah during Kiryat HaTorah or come up together to sing. Where […]
March 4, 2024

A Note on Shomer Shabbas Residency

There is much discussion regarding the attitude religious medical students should have when considering ranking shomer shabbas residencies. There are two components to keeping shabbas. One is the prohibition from doing certain actions (basically, the 39 melachos) and two is the obligation to celebrate shabbas (rest, make kiddush, not fast […]
March 4, 2024

The Purpose of the Ten Plagues

The dramatic and exciting exit from Egypt is quickly undermined by the Egyptian’s almost instantaneous regret of allowing the Jewish people to leave. Furious by the departure of their slaves, seeking revenge for the utter destruction on their land and people, the powerful Egyptian calvary, led by Paroh, geared up […]
November 6, 2023

Avraham Woke Up Early: a model of compassion

Jews have always responded to tragedy and triumph in similar ways, namely, understanding the events through a halachic prism. The recent war has resulted in the reproduction of halachic literature not seen in some time either condemning or praising the Israeli army’s careful consideration of the targets it picks in […]
October 13, 2023

Halachic Talking Part I

A. Background Production of sound by biological species requires phonation, the production of primary vocal tones by the vocal folds. Arytenoids, pyramidal shaped cartilages on the upper border of the cricoid cartilage, serve as the attachment sites for some of the intrinsic muscles of the larynx which allows for the […]
May 9, 2023

Halachot of Zoom

Many interesting halachic questions suddenly became relevant to many more than previously with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic where people were told to remain home and isolated from others. One such issue that within a few hours became a global controversy is the permissibility of using Zoom during the Pesach seder. For many families the idea of not spending the holiday with their extended relatives is completely foreign. The seemingly simple idea was to allow people to follow health protocols by leaving Zoom on before chag so they can, at least virtually, be with their extended families.
March 12, 2023

Kotev

כותב is doing an action that will form permanent words, numbers or pictures. That action does not necessarily need to be a form of writing. Instead, any action that will form words will be an איסור מדאורייתא. מוחק is the reverse of כותב. That is, the removal of letters in order to make space for new letters to be written down.