Ki-Tavo 5780 And among those nations you will not be tranquil, there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; there Hashem will give you a trembling heart, longing of eyes, and suffering of soul. Your life will hang...
Yom Kippur 5780
The Risk-Averse Physician
Ki-Teitzei 5780 “…and so shall you do for any lost article of your brother that may become lost from him and you find it; you cannot hide yourself.” Devarim 22:3 Many readers are familiar with the famous Derasha...
Dayan. . . M.D.?
Shoftim 5780 Judges and officers shall you appoint in all your cities which Hashem your G-d gives you for your tribes; and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. (Devarim 16:18) A Dayan (rabbinical...
Tattoo Removal and Erasing the Shem Hashem
Reeh 5780 You shall break apart their altars; you shall smash their pillars; and their sacred trees shall you burn in the fire; their carved images shall you cut down; and you shall obliterate their names from that...
Preventive Medicine and Disease Screening
Vaetchanan 5780 “But you shall greatly beware for your souls.” (Devarim 4:15) In our essay for Parshas Va’eschanan last year[1], we focused on the Mitzva found in the Posuk above – “v’Nishmartem M’od l’Nafshoseichem” –...
Fasting AMA (Against Medical Advice)
Devarim 5780 “You shall not tremble before any man, for judgment is God’s.” (Devarim 1:17) This Posuk obligates the Dayanim of Beis Din not to fear the litigants that stand before them, even if they are powerful or...
All in the Family
Matot-Masei 5780 The daughters of Tzelafchad, as described in the Posuk above, married their first cousins. Previously, Moshe Rabbenu had been told that they could “marry whomever was good in their eyes, but they should...
A Doctor’s Salary
Pinchas 5780 The Gemara (Bechoros 29a) famously rules that one may not take compensation for performing Mitzvos. This is derived from the Pasuk, “See, I have taught you statutes and laws just as Hashem...