After I’d been saying Kaddish for several months, it occured to me that I did not understand how the prayer related to my grandmother.

Torah refers to the Five Books of Moses, the entire Hebrew Bible, and the entire corpus of religious Jewish knowledge. Torah is how the Creator shares the purpose, intent, and desire behind all that exists.

The total number of lives cut short due to smoking is staggering. Do we find that cigarette smoking is indeed forbidden by leading halachic experts of the day?

The definition of a tree according to Jewish law affects our everyday Jewish observance.

Anyone with any knowledge about the natural way of trees would say it should have died.

It’s a lovely Wednesday summer afternoon in South Africa and I’m sitting at my desk thinking about what to write for my upcoming column…

G‑d’s compassion was not based on our “deserving” it. And that is the deep reality of compassion: It is not earned; rather, it is given.

Trouble was brewing in St. Petersburg, and the Tzemach Tzedek immediately set to work to have the decree abolished.