Prior to Shavuos, our family went to a Sunday brunch celebrating the Bat Mitzvah of a cousin. At some point, I found myself in conversation with the uncle of the honoree, also a cousin and, of course, of my own generation. One of us got a text message, I believe,...

The monumental day of Shavuos approaches, marking G-d's giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai. Torah is G-d's instructions for living, and we certainly recognize the benefit of having this Divine book -- but perhaps we don't recognize what a crucial difference Torah can...

Last week, I had the opportunity to speak with a visitor to our website, a woman in her mid-50s. Sarah* was baptized as a child and grew up "in the church," but always felt an affinity to the Jewish People. She even recalls mentioning to her parents that she wished...

As mentioned previously, the 50 days between the holidays of Passover and Shavuos are known as the time of "Counting the Omer." Today is the 33rd day of the count, the holiday of Lag B'Omer, which is notable for two reasons. Twenty-Four thousand students of Rabbi...

On Monday, Paul Miller, a Senior Editor at a "technology-focused news publication" called The Verge, announced that he was quitting the Internet for a year. He's switched to a "dumb" phone, and has pledged to neither use the Internet nor ask others to use it for him,...

One finds an interesting theme in regards to the Metzora, one physically stricken with the spiritual disease of Tzara'as which causes blemishes to appear on skin, clothing, or the walls of the home. The word "Metzora", the Talmud writes, can be understood as a...