Free Download of the Soncino Talmud in English Online at Halakhah.com: 25,000+ satisfied customers a month

The Soncino Babylonian Talmud English translation is online - at a site that is not anti-Semitic or polemical.Download the Talmud in English free at http://www.halakhah.com/ - 25,000+ downloads each month! 300,000+ each year.TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH WITH NOTES, GLOSSARY AND INDICES UNDER THE EDITORSHIP OF RABBI DR. I. EPSTEIN B.A., Ph.D., D. Lit. FOREWORD BY THE VERY REV. THE LATE CHIEF RABBI DR. J. H. HERTZ. INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITOR. THE SONCINO...

Read More

Selichot are Not Outcries

My teacher, Rav Soloveitchik taught that the selichot prayers are an outcry to God, a form of prayer that is out loud and hence a blatant public event. Outcry prayers he says, are different from more ordinary request prayers, more dramatic and more emotional.The obvious repetition in those liturgies makes sense to the Rav because outbursts expressing needs and drama and emotion are repeated.I disagree. Outcries ordinarily are one-time events....

Read More

Is Google NOW incredible or creepy? Is NOW kosher?

There sometimes is a fine line between incredible and creepy.The Times hints at this in a review of phone app technology that seems to know what you are thinking, especially Google NOW. Case in point. Yesterday I had to go from Teaneck, NJ to Forest Hills Queens, NY to attend the funeral for my sister's father-in-law. Knowing the possible traffic situations I figured on leaving my house an hour earlier, at Noon. I actually left about 12:15.The event...

Read More

Is Israel's National bird the Hoopoe - Duchifat - Hud Hud Kosher?

No, in fact Israel's National bird, the Hoopoe - Duchifat - Hud Hud, is not kosher. It is "an unclean animal that may not be eaten."The Times had an editorial in June 2008 that talked about the newly designated Israeli National bird, the Hoopoe - Duchifat (Hebrew) - Hud Hud (Arabic). The writer proposed that this decision on the bird would help Israel achieve peace with its neighbors.In June 2008 Stephen Colbert quipped caustically that the bird...

Read More

JStandard: My Dear Rabbi Talmudic Advice Column for August

Published in the Jewish Standard, Dear Rabbi: Your Talmudic advice columnDear Rabbi, My son, his wife and children have decided to make aliyah to Israel. My husband and I understand their practical and idealistic motivations for this decision. We applaud what they are doing and feel pride in their Judaic and Zionist ardor. We plan to visit them in Israel periodically, but we have no plans to move there. At times we both admit to ourselves that we...

Read More

The Incredible Pebble Watch and the Free Caddie Golf App and the Pebble Bike App

I play golf, I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 android smartphone. I started to use the Free Caddie app for determining distance to the green. The problem was that the phone is hard to see in the bright sunlight and it is awkward to keep pulling out your phone to see the distance to green.Then I discovered that the new Pebble smart watch can connect via bluetooth to the golf app. So I bought one at Best Buy. And I opened it and played a round of golf with...

Read More

Is Ice Hockey Jewish?

I never thought of ice hockey as a Jewish sport, even when I played it as a kid in rented ice rinks at midnight or on those rare frozen winter days in central park. There simply were no Jewish professional hockey players that I knew of.But now my friend Sharon has provided indisputable evidence that yes ice hockey is a Jewish sport (on an amateur level) with her brilliant photos from the Maccabiah in Israel.Please purchase God's Favorite Prayers...

Read More

Caroline Kennedy: the Daring Swimmer

The Times profiled Caroline Kennedy on the occasion of her nomination as ambassador to Japan, "Caroline Kennedy, Catching the Torch".In the article we read about a surprising facet of her life. She is an avid open water swimmer....A few years ago, Mr. Hughes made an offhand comment that he and his partner, Dr. Richard Friedman, a psychiatrist who directs the psychopharmacology clinic at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital, made a ritual of...

Read More

New Yorker Cartoon: The Origin of Midrash

Hat tip to Barak.Experience God's Favorite Pray...

Read More

NYC Triathlon Swim: My Hudson River Diary

New York City Triathlon, July 14, 2013, 6:45 AMMinute Zero: Coming down the ramp onto the race-start-barge in the Hudson River at 99th Street.Goggles, check; swim cap, check; stopwatch on zero, check. Interview with the race announcer over the public address, I’m Tzvee from Teaneck, New Jersey. Yes, it’s my first triathlon; yes, I’m on a relay team.Line up, look into the river. Fourteen other swimmers in my wave and many of them sit down on the barge...

Read More

Trayvon and the Talmud

According to the Nation of Islam web site www.FinalCall.com you ought to blame the tragic killing of Trayvon Martin on the Jews and the Talmud. The NOI is the organization of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, Hon. Minister Louis Farrakhan, Jabril Muhammad and Mother Tynnetta Muhammad, all known for their lifelong anti-Semitism and racism.It is not a surprise that in the article "Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman, the American Legal System and The Jewish Talmud,"...

Read More

Is Basketball Without Yarmulkas Kosher?

In a post called, "Chief Rabbis, Basketball and Tolerance," blogger Andrew Griffel in Ops and Blogs in  The Times of Israel argues as follows.Once upon a time long long ago Rabbi Soloveitchik told MTA orthodox high school students that they could play in Madison Square Garden with or without wearing their yarmulkas and tsitsis. It was up to them.The chief rabbis in Israel are not as tolerant as Rabbi Soloveitchik. Therefore the chief rabbinate...

Read More

Times' Frank Bruni on the Tragic Yeshiva University Sex-Abuse Scandals

There's not much I can add to this op-ed except for this. When Bruni asked Yeshiva University Rabbis Hershel Schachter and Norman Lamm for comments, he reports, "Schachter, ...didn’t respond to my request Monday for comment. Neither did Rabbi Lamm."Both of these men continue to claim "true character" and "true leadership." Schachter likes to be called a Gadol - a great man. And yet how sad that given a chance to show character and leadership, neither...

Read More

Is the Chief Rabbi of Israel Kosher?

No, the chief rabbi of Israel is not kosher.Increasingly Israelis are growing tired of their failed institution of the Chief Rabbi. The Times reports on the chief rabbi selection process -- regarding David Stav "currently the rabbi of Shoham" -- "Promising ‘Real Revolution,’ Israeli Jolts Race for Chief Rabbi" that the nuclear option is on the table - namely the dissolution of the institution of chief rabbi....All of which has made many here...

Read More

Is the Dot-Kosher Internet Domain Extension Kosher?

Some rabbis say yes; other rabbis say no.Here's a both ironic and Talmudic kosher story to end your week from Bloomberg ("It’s Rabbi Versus Rabbi in $17 Billion Dot-Kosher Battle"). "The Internet’s organizing body, called Icann, is meeting this week in the South African port city of Durban to begin a major expansion of domain names. That may include a decision on who can operate and license “dot-kosher” as a suffix for Web addresses, the same way...

Read More

Times: Lap Swimming in the NYC Outdoor Public Pools

From The New York Times: "The Water's Fine, and So Is the Competition - Lasker Pool is part of the city's Lap Swim program, where outdoor swimmers can compete."...It’s no secret that New York has outdoor public pools that are open throughout the five boroughs in July and August. What you generally find are parents and young children, and teenagers horsing around. Lesser known is the Lap Swim program, open from 7 to 8:30, a.m. and p.m. for Early...

Read More

Are personal lubricants kosher?

The Guardian reported ("Kosher lube puts oral sex on the menu for Orthodox Jews") that yes, now some personal lubricants are kosher.The US-made Wet range of lubes now has eight lines that have been given a religious stamp of approval, including its "Ecstasy" product. This means that rabbis from the Rabbinical Council of California have inspected Wet's 52,000 sq ft production plant and researched the origins of every ingredient...

Read More

Rabbi Abraham Rosenfeld's Nachem Prayer for Tisha B'Av

Rabbi Abraham Rosenfeld's Nachem Prayer for Tisha B'Av inserted in the Amidah for Minhah.From “The Authorised Kinot for the Ninth of Av,” London, 1979. I believe that Artscroll censored out this version in their reprinted edition. This liturgy in our view is more authentic to historical reality.Click to expand.44 New Talmudic Books for Kindle | The Amazing 36 Volume Kindle Talmud in English | Whence and Wherefore | God's Favorite Prayers...

Read More

Free Kinnos Kinnot Lamentations Elucidations for Tisha B'Av

Reuven Brauner wrote to us from Raanana, Israel about his publication on the lamentations (Hebrew: kinnot or kinnos) for Tisha B'Av, "Key Notes for Kinnos." The work is available in PDF format for free downloading at http://www.halakhah.com/: The Tisha B'Av poems of lament, the Kinnos, like all our Piyyutim and Selichos, were written in a poetic language and style containing hinted references to verses in Tanach, stories in the Talmud and Midrashim,...

Read More

The Parable of the Rabbi Who Thinks He's a Cop

New York Magazine has and article that seems to me to be a perfect parable (Beware the Bipolar Rabbi Trying to Pull Over City Drivers by Delia Paunescu). Actual news story that serves as a parable:It seems impersonating a police officer isn’t just a recent problem in Queens. As the Associated Press discovered, it’s been a busy summer for Alfredo Borodowski, a city rabbi who’s suspected of trying to pull over other drivers who raise his ire by cutting...

Read More

Team One Family Triathlon Special: Free Kindle Book: God's Favorite Prayers

I swam in the Hudson on a rally team with Team One Family in the NYC Tri this Sunday. Yitz did the whole tri.So here is my Triathlon Offer: God's Favorite PrayersFree Kindle Book from now until Sunday Night July 14.Make a contribution to Team One Family to sponsor Yitz to help victims of terror.Purchase all of Our Talmudic BooksBuy the Kindle Talmud in EnglishPonder the Questions of Whence and WhereforeExperience the paperback of God's...

Read More

Dear Rabbi Swims in Hudson River on a Triathlon Relay Team

It happened on Sunday, July 14! We did it!And believe me - it was tough! Update: Yitz's dad (that's me) swam 1500 meters in the Hudson as part of a relay for Team One with teammates Harvey (bike) and Leiba (run).Yitz completed all three legs of the tri in excellent time.Yitzhak Zahavy's Team One Family Fundraising Triathlon Event. Help Celebrate Three Lives with Three Sports.Yitz Tells What HappenedOn October 27, 2002 my platoon in the IDF...

Read More

The Tie Rule is Bad and the Jacket Rule is More Nonsensical

We stirred up quite a controversy with our "Dear Rabbi" column where we offered advice regarding a rule requiring the wearing of a necktie in a local synagogue on the Sabbath in order to receive an aliyah - a Torah honor.A local synagogue which has such a rule took this as a direct criticism and published an odd rebuttal letter in its bulletin, sent out to all its members. (Yediot Yeshurun, see the scans to the right.)The synagogue action was strange...

Read More

Former Students File $380 Million Sex Abuse Lawsuit against Yeshiva University

This is a sad story about the school that I attended for eleven years, from high school through rabbinical school.An attorney in New York has filed suit against Yeshiva University on behalf of a group of students who were sexually abused while attending the school.The Forward newspaper reported on this legal filing, "Former Y.U. High School Students File $380M Suit Claiming Sex Abuse Cover-Up".The 148 page legal filing is detailed and graphic and,...

Read More