Yisro 5780 “And Moshe brought the people forth from the camp towards Hashem, and they stood at the bottom of the mountain”. (Shemos 19:17) Matan Torah was an extraordinary event of Divine revelation, an otherworldly...
Yom Kippur 5780
Rabbi Yosef SprungThe Cheresh That Learned to Speak – Is He Still a Shoteh?
Mishpatim 5780 “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.” (Shemos 21:24) Chaza”l famously explain that this Pasuk refers to monetary compensation for physical injury. The Gemara in...
Halachic Measurements and Technology: Man vs. Machine
Trumah 5780 “Exactly as I show you – the form of the Mishkan and the form of all its vessels – so shall you do.” (Shemos 25:9) The Gemara in Bechoros (17b) discusses whether a human being is capable of acting with...
Women in Scrubs – Room for Slack?
Tetzaveh-Zachor 5780 “You shall make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; they shall extend from the hips to the thighs. They shall be worn by Aharon and his sons when they enter the Tent of Meeting or when...
Shinui and Shabbat: Knuckles, Thimbles, and Left Hands
Vayakel – Pekudei 5780 On six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be holy for you, a day of complete rest for Hashem; whoever does work on it shall be put to death. (Shemos 35:2) One of the...
Sleep, Anesthesia, and Mitzvos
Vayikra 5780 If one’s offering is a burnt offering from the cattle, he shall offer an unblemished male; he shall bring it to the entrance of the Ohel Moed voluntarily before Hashem. (Vayikra 1:3) The Gemara (Arachin...
Birchas haGomel & COVID-19
Tzav 5780 “If he shall offer it for thanksgiving, he shall offer with the thanksgiving offering unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafer smeared with oil, and loaves of scalded fine flour mixed with oil.”...
Do Ma’achalos Asuros Cause Diseases?
Shmini 5780 To distinguish between the contaminated and the pure, and between the creature that may be eaten and the creature that may not be eaten. (Vayikra 11:47) Following the spread of the novel coronavirus in...
Self-Endangerment and Participation in Coronavirus Vaccine Trials
Tazria – Metzorah 5780 Pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions around the world are rushing to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. As in previous vaccine trials, the development of the vaccine is taking...
Measuring a Hospital Visitor’s Temperature on Shabbos
Acharei Mot – Kedoshim 5780 And you shall not place a stumbling block before the blind. (Vayikra 19:14) This Pasuk defines the prohibition of Lifnei Iveir – causing another Jew to stumble in any manner...
