Torah Corner

The Torah blog of Rabbi Yosef A. Cohen, MD of the Fleetwood Synagogue

Below you can find links to blog posts covering a range of topics. Rabbi Cohen writes about the parsha, chagim, and halacha, as well as a range of medical questions and how these topics overlap. 

There are also posts available on YUTorah by both Rabbis Cohen and Dayan.

The top of the page displays the most recent posts, while the categories section below can connect you to summaries and posts on a particular topic. 

Recent Posts

  • The Fleetwood Synagogue SoundCloud Page

    In addition to the various blog posts directly on the Torah Corner here on the Fleetwood Synagogue website, there are a large number of audio files on the Fleetwood SoundCloud page. These are audio only, without written commentary beyond the file name. The entire page is embedded below, although only a […]

  • Parshat Zachor

    Three prominent enemies of the Jewish people appear throughout the Torah but only one bears the title of eternal enemy of the Jewish people. The מצרים enslaved us for hundreds of years. They drowned our babies and tormented our people. And yet, of them the Torah tells us לא תתעב […]

  • The Physical Informs the Spiritual (Tazria-Metzora)

    In today’s פרשיות, we encounter intricate instructions regarding the procedure for identifying a מצורע. Various verses elaborate on the specific criteria, such as changes in color, size, and hair, that must be met to diagnose someone as a מצורע. However, the practical applications of these regulations are not explicitly mentioned. […]

  • The Anticlimactic Seder

    The miracles were wonderous events that God performed for us. But they are not the point of the story. Now that He has redeemed us we must prepare to begin the next stage. We must discuss the technical details of the Seder so we understand the laws of how the celebration must be made. This…

  • Gozez

    Here we analyze the melacha of gozez and determine the biblically and rabbinically prohibited applications of the melacha.

  • Parshat Ki Tisa

    The elitism then of שבט לוי as opposed to the other שבטים is one of higher education. In a time when education was primarily a familial responsibility it was necessary to ensure one family retained the task of ensuring proper technical and detailed instructions were taught to future generations.

  • 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…

  • Halachic Implications of Transsexual Surgery

    Halacha’s confrontation with medical innovation is often complicated and very detailed. Here, we analyze halacha’s response to individuals who underwent transsexual surgery.

  • Combining Challah Dough

    Discuss which dough can combine together to qualify the requisite amount needed for hafrashat challah. Including, combining dough that different people make at a challah bake such as in Shul or at school.

  • Microblading

    An erroneous position attributed to Judaism is that tattooed individuals cannot be buried in Jewish cemeteries. Nevertheless, tattooing is clearly Biblically prohibited by Jewish law. Here, we define this prohibition and determine how those qualifications affect cosmetic tattooing, specifically, microblading.

Categories of the Posts of the Torah Corner

Tags of the Posts of the Torah Corner Blog

39 melachot (3) audio (2) beginning of life (1) chagim (5) chanukah (1) electricity (3) English (44) fast (1) gozez (1) Hebrew (3) Israel (1) medical halacha (14) medicine (1) microphone (1) migglah (1) parsha (1) Pesach (2) plastic surgery (2) Purim (3) residency (1) saris (1) Shabbat (6) shofar (1) surgery (2) talking (1) tattoo (1) wounding (1) writing (2)