Leave it to the Jews to have a cookie inspired by cultural annihilation! Hamantaschen are the triangular pastries associated with the holiday of Purim, when Jews read from the Book of Esther, the ...

Leviticus 21:17–21 establishes that a priest with certain physical features cannot serve in the Temple and provides a list of those disqualifying features and the people who have them, including the ...

A central figure in the development of Jewish mysticism, Luria died at 38 and left behind no significant writings. Isaac Luria was a 16th-century rabbi whose teachings exerted an enormous influence on ...

On today’s daf, the Gemara discusses the consequences for selling a range of products that should not be consumed: The sages taught in a beraita: In a case where one sells meat to another and it was ...

A blemish on the study hall. Today’s daf offers us a peek into the fascinating social dynamics of the rabbinic community. Rabbi Tzadok had a firstborn animal. He placed barley in baskets for it, and ...

This Chinese parlor game found Jewish enthusiasts in the Catskills. Four women sit around a table, each with a card of various numbers and colors, arranged like a secret code. Tiles are exchanged like ...

The idea that a person or supernatural being can cause harm with a mere look — and the practices believed to ward it off. The “evil eye,” ayin ha’ra in Hebrew, is the idea that a person or ...

This renowned scholar led the non-Hasidic Jewish world into modernity. Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman Kremer — better known as the Vilna Gaon or sometimes as HaGra, an acronym for his Hebrew title, ...

According to most Jewish thinkers, Islam is not idolatry; but authorities have disagreed as to whether it's better to convert or be martyred. Islam presented a challenge to Judaism which it had not ...

It was actually a Sukkot celebration. This — not the Talmudic legend of the cruse of oil — explains the eight day length of Hanukkah. The use of candles may reflect the later reported tradition of ...

“Praised be You, God…who commands us to busy ourselves with words of Torah.” Talmud torah (that is, the study of sacred Jewish texts) is so important in Jewish tradition the daily liturgy begins with ...

Gabbai (pl. gabbaim) is an Aramaic word that means tax collector, but today a gabbai is someone who assists with the reading of the Torah. In many communities the gabbai is charged with making sure ...