Menachem Mendel

Rabbi David Golinkin writes here about the origins of the Tikkun Leil Shavuot.

Posted on May 13th, 2013 under Customs, Kabbalah. Comments: None

Vered Noam recently wrote an article in Hebrew about women and Jewish law in the Israeli National-Religious community. The article, which I wrote about here, caused quite a large amount of discussion. You can read the responses (H) that were published in Musaf Shabbat of Makor Rishon, or some of the close to seven hundred [...]

Posted on March 11th, 2013 under Customs, Gender, Jewish Law, Rabbinic Authority, Religion in Israel, Religious Authority, Religious Zionism. Comments Off

The following illustration is from Friedrich A. Christiani’s Der Juden Glaube und Aberglaube (The Faith and Superstition of the Jews) in his description of Yom Kippur. In his book Judaism in Christian Eyes: Ethnographic Descriptions of Jews and Judaism in Early Modern Europe, Yaacov Deutsch brought the following Jewish sources that discuss self-flagellation on the day [...]

Posted on September 24th, 2012 under Customs. Comments Off

Daf Yomi has recently been learning about the case of the Ba’al Keri, a man who ejaculated and was required to immerse in a mikveh before learning Torah and praying. An interesting question is what happened to the requirement of immersion for a Baal Keri? Below is an old article by Meir Havatzelet who traced [...]

Posted on August 23rd, 2012 under Customs, Daf Yomi. Comments: 2

This past Shabbat my wife asked “Since when have Jews called the bread that we eat on Shabbat ḥallah (חלה)?” I had no idea what was the answer, so during the past few days I did a little searching and this is what I came up with. Many people associate Shabbat ḥallah with the ḥallah [...]

Posted on July 18th, 2012 under Customs, Hebrew, Shabbat. Comments: 5

In this week’s Torah reading the following verse will be read (Lev. 18:3): כְּמַעֲשֵׂה אֶרֶץ־מִצְרַיִם אֲשֶׁר יְשַׁבְתֶּם־בָּהּ לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ וּכְמַעֲשֵׂה אֶרֶץ־כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי מֵבִיא אֶתְכֶם שָׁמָּה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ וּבְחֻקֹּתֵיהֶם לֹא תֵלֵכוּ You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in [...]

Posted on May 2nd, 2012 under Ancient Judaism, Customs, Jewish Law, Jewish-Gentile Relations, New Books. Comments: 1

For people living in America who are looking for a kitniyot Passover, the following hotel option is available in New Jersey under the auspices of Avraham Ohavi. The advertisement says that its for “kitniyot eaters only,” although I am not sure how they define a “kitniyot eater.” The food may have kiyniyot, but it isn’t [...]

Posted on March 25th, 2012 under Customs, Passover, Sephardic. Comments: 2

Over the holiday I saw an advertisement for a Syrian synagogue, Magen David of Union Square, that described minḥa before Yom Kippur as being “with tefillin.” I had never heard of this custom before and a little searching found some discussion of this custom. In the always helpful Keter Shem Tov I found the following: [...]

Posted on October 2nd, 2011 under Customs, High Holy Days. Comments: 1

Below is a source sheet from a shiur that I’ll be teaching at tonight’s Tikkun. Hag Sameaḥ. Competing Communities

Posted on June 7th, 2011 under Customs, Halakhic Literature, Rabbinic Literature, Responsa, Shavuot. Comments Off