by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | May 2, 2014 | Lifeline
The story is told of the uninformed Jewish fellow who desired to be a Kohen… a Priest. He went to a Rabbi, who told him that that’s impossible: a child is a Kohen at birth or not at all. But the fellow persisted, even offering huge sums of money if the...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Apr 25, 2014 | Lifeline
Exercise more! That two-word synopsis of what the doctor told me is probably familiar to many readers. What differs from patient to patient is which muscles and bones need the exercise, but by a certain age most of us are told to work on something or other to stay...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Apr 11, 2014 | Lifeline
In the Haggadah, we recount the Ten Plagues that G-d inflicted upon the Egyptians. The Toldos Adam quotes the Medrash which says that these plagues, like all of G-d’s rewards and punishments, were done “measure for measure.” The Egyptians made the...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Mar 28, 2014 | Lifeline
Having discussed whether animals are pure or impure, whether they are kosher to eat or not, the Torah now turns to discuss the purity and impurity of human beings. Yet there is a fundamental difference between the purity or impurity of man vs. animal. An animal is...
by Rabbi Yaakov Menken | Mar 21, 2014 | Lifeline
A friend took the attached photo at the enclosure for the collared peccary, a species native to Central and South America (as you can see on the map), in the Jerusalem Zoo. In red letters and in three languages, the sign declares: the peccary is not a pig!!...
