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Today's Daf contains a ruling that Samaritan women are considered Niddah (impure because of menstruation) from their birth. In the Talmud Samaritans are referred to as "Cutheans". I had no…

One of my favorite movies is Monty Python's Life of Brian. I have seen it dozens of times. My wife won't watch it with me because I yell the lines…

Today, we have no choice but to go deep in the weeds. I will try to explain the laws of impurity for food, containers and liquids, but I am an…

The Talmud's version of marriage is very different than my marriage. I should not be surprised. The Talmud was written approximately 1500 years ago in an agricultural economy on a…

Yesterday, we discussed a Zav (a man who experiences a specific type of emission, which is sometimes associated with gonorrhea). The practice was for the Zav to wear a special…

"If all the seas were black ink, and all the marshes quills, and the heavens were parchments, and all the people were scribes, they would not suffice to record the…

I blame my wife for my inability to lose weight (not really, but she makes a convenient scapegoat). My wife, amongst her many talents, is a true foodie. She is…

Two weeks ago, Justice Roberts, the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, issued a rebuke to Senator Schumer, " Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening…

We have read many times about things that are biblically permitted, but the Rabbis prohibit. Rabbinical prohibitions arose because the Rabbis were acutely aware of human psychology and decision making.…

In American law, we look to what is private, as opposed to public, by asking where we have a reasonable expectation of privacy. If there is an area (or device)…