The devar Torah is sponsored by Caron and Steven Gelles and Family in memory of their Grandparents…
A Love-Hate Relationship: Gittin 23
The commandment to love and care for others, perhaps the most important in the entire Torah, while…
Points for Penmanship: Gittin 22
One of the primary requirements of a get is that it be written lishma, …
The Syrian Refugees and The Giving Pledge
As Canada begins welcoming 25,000 Syrian refugees, it behooves us to think of the flourishing…
I Married My Niece: Gittin 17
Timing is everything. Not only is picking the right time to do something crucial but recording that…
Shemot: It's All In The Name
I imagine most of us have experienced being in a noisy room focusing on the conversation we are…
A Line in the Parchment:Gittin 6
How does one measure greatness in Torah learning? We can glean an important insight from the…
The Good Old Days: Gittin 5
We live in a generation in which many seek chumrot, religious stringency…
One is Enough: Gittin 6
One would not expect the laws of divorce to be affected by one's location. Thus it…
An Introduction to Masechet Gittin
After detailing the laws of the suspected adulteress the Mishna moves to masechet Gittin. While the…
The Comfort Zone: Sotah 44
Part of the purpose of the harsh treatment of the Sotah is convincing the suspected…
Chanukah: The Dark Days of Winter
Of all our holidays, only that of Chanukah begins in the second half of the month. Rosh Hashanah,…
I Thought I Was Humble: Sotah 40
In our last post we discussed the Talmudic tendency to group together sayings of…
Please Bless Me: Sotah 38
Originally meant as an oral “text” the Talmud features a number of mnemonic…
Vayeshev: Look Out the Window
Why was it that Abraham and Yitzchak had only one child who would remain within the Jewish people…
Do Not Pray: Sotah 37
It is an amazing aspect of the human condition that two people can see the same thing yet…