West Texas Intermediate sounds like a school for sixth to eight graders in a county where people wear cowboy boots to their wedding, their work, and their wake, but it actually describes a kind of oil. Even slightly more confusing…
Emor תשפ This week’s portion, Emor, contains the mitzvah to count the omer (Leviticus 23:15,16). (טו) וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת תְּמִימֹת תִּהְיֶינָה: (טז) עַד מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת הַשְּׁבִיעִת תִּסְפְּרוּ חֲמִשִּׁים יוֹם וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם מִנְחָה חֲדָשָׁה…
When you think of laundry, you probably think of piles of dirty clothing, sitting at the bottom of the laundry chute, waiting to be sorted into darks, lights, and whites. But to a very specific subset of human beings, laundering…
Emor תשע"ט The Counting of the Omer and the Authority of the Sages Around the year 235 BCE, Tzadok and Baytus, students of Antignos Ish Socho, misunderstood their teacher to say that there is no reward in the world to…
No one argued that Beth did something wrong, but billions of people around the world were profoundly uncomfortable with what she did. Beth was babysitting seven-year-old Zoe Anderson, while her mom worked a night shift at the local hospital. At…
Parshat Emor This week’s portion contains the commandment to sanctify Hashem’s name. The verse states (Leviticus 22:32): ספר ויקרא פרק כב לב) וְלֹא תְחַלְּלוּ אֶת שֵׁם קָדְשִׁי וְנִקְדַּשְׁתִּי בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲנִי יְדֹוָד מְקַדִּשְׁכֶם You shall not desecrate My holy…
The information in this essay is largely taken from an article called “What if we never run out of oil?” in the April issue of The Atlantic magazine. You will burn ice. Not soon, but G-d willing, if you stick…
The following historical fiction is based on a story reported by Reuters on May 6, 2009. It all started in late 2002. The money from their most recent refi had just about disappeared, undoubtedly lost somewhere between the outrageous dues…