With only 10 days left in our journey, I am reminded of an important Talmudic passage: “רבי יהושע בן קרחה אומר כל הלומד תורה ואינו חוזר עליה דומה לאדם שזורע ואינו קוצר – Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha says ‘Anyone who learns Torah but does not review it is like a person who plants but does

The fifth of the Ten Commandments read (Exodus 20:11), “כַּבֵּד אֶת-אָבִיךָ, וְאֶת-אִמֶּךָ–לְמַעַן, יַאֲרִכוּן יָמֶיךָ, עַל הָאֲדָמָה, אֲשֶׁר-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לָךְ – Honor your father and mother so that you should live a long and happy life”. We see throughout the Torah how valuable this instruction is. In fact, even those characters who are regarded as

1. Having no curfew   2. Missing programing   3. Sneaking off   4. Hotels   5. Contact with members of the opposite gender   6. Unpunctual Havdalah   7. Cheers/clapping during Ebbing   8. Thinking Marc Fein is scary or taking Marc Fein Seriously   9. Not knowing everyone on any given shabbaton   10.

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  Previously, I mentioned the fact that if you are a Cohen you should avoid going to the cemetery. But who are Cohanim (the plural of Cohen) and why can’t they go to the cemetery? Basically, back in the day, there were twelve tribes, one for each of the sons of Jacob from whom we

Written by Liran Weizman, Former NCSYer Last summer I went to Hong Kong for three months because for me that’s home. Although I was born in Belgium and lived in Lexington, Massachusetts for high school, Hong Kong is my home base. Now Hong Kong may seem exotic to you, but when it comes to observing

King Solomon tells us (Ecclesiastes 7:2), “טוֹב לָלֶכֶת אֶל-בֵּית-אֵבֶל, מִלֶּכֶת אֶל-בֵּית מִשְׁתֶּה – It is better to go to a funeral than to a party.” What does he mean by this? Haven’t we said before that Judaism isn’t a negative philosophy? That we try not to focus on negativity? Today, I visited a cemetery with a group of