Not Saying Hashem’s Name in Vain
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow The Gemara in Nedarim (7b) says, “Rav Chanin said in the name of Rav: Whoever hears the utterance of the Divine name [in vain] from his friend has to excommunicate him. If he doesn’t, he himself should be excommunicated.” The Ran there references the Gemara in Temurah (3b) that says that someone […]
Can a Kohen Go to a Tzaddik’s Funeral?
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow The great Rishon Rabbeinu Chaim HaKohen once remarked that had he already been born when Rabbeinu Tam passed away, he would have become tamei and gone to his funeral. (Kesubos 103b, Tosfos D”H Oso) Granted, Rabbeinu Tam was a great tzaddik and talmid chacham, but Rabbeinu Chaim HaKohen was, in fact, a […]
A Ring of Truth
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow Devin McLean and his store manager were about to close the AutoZone in York County, Virginia, when a gunman barged into the store. McLean was left in a restroom while the gunman made the manager open the store safe. That’s when McLean, a 23-year-old Air Force veteran, bolted through a side door […]
The Accidental Aveirah
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow Unfortunately, there was recently a restaurant that was found to be serving treif under the guise of kosher. Rav Moshe, zt”l, ruled that if an individual had a halachic basis to believe a restaurant was kosher and it turned out it wasn’t, then it is considered an aveira b’oines. There were two […]
A G-d-Based Moral Bucket List
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow David Brooks, a columnist for the New York Times, wrote an article entitled “The Moral Bucket List.” Soon after it was published, it climbed to number one on the list of New York Time’s most emailed articles. David Brooks comes to grips with the realization that there is more to life than […]
More Than Twenty Percent
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow The story is told of a man who approached a rabbi. He said to him, “Why are you always so machmir? Every time I ask you a question, the answer is always that it is forbidden.” The rabbi said, “I’m surprised to hear you say that. I indeed have many kulos! For […]
Draining the Swamp
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow Very often, the Gemara pairs together totally unrelated topics because they have one common denominator. Recently on the daf, we had a collection of unrelated beraisos. The only reason they were listed together is that in each case Rav Yosef said to follow the opinion espoused in the beraisa. A beraisa discusses […]
Charity with Uncharitable Intentions
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow One time, when all of Bnei Yisrael came up on pilgrimage (oleh regel) to Jerusalem, there was no water available for drinking. Nakdimon ben Gurion approached a certain lord and said to him: “Loan me 12 wells of water for the pilgrims, and I will repay you 12 wells of water; and […]
To Save a Life
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow One mantra that is often repeated in halacha is that nothing supersedes saving a life. Therefore, it is somewhat surprising that a recent Gemara (Kesubos 39a) seems to take a contrarian view. The question addressed by the Gemara is whether a certain intervention, which might very well be ordinarily prohibited, can be […]
Love Thy Neighbor
Rabbi Avrohom Sebrow It says in the Torah, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The Talmud (Kesubos 37b) has a very peculiar application of this verse. The Talmud discusses the proper manner of a court-mandated execution. The Talmud observes that there are two ways to perform the execution referred to as “sayef.” How do […]
