Talmud

What honoring our parents teaches us about faith, logic, and Judaism

The mitzvah of honoring one's parents is not a narrow religious demand but a foundational moral duty.

RED HEIFER
Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir walks inside the Knesset, on the day US President Donald Trump delivers remarks, in Jerusalem, October 13, 2025.

Moral, legal issues with Israel’s terrorist death penalty - opinion

Candace Owens urges audience read antisemitic book, asserts Jews controlled slave trade

Candace Owens urges audience read antisemitic book, asserts Jews controlled slave trade

Former high Court president Aharon Barak is seen at a conference of the Israeli Association of Public Law (IAPL) in Haifa, earleir this month. Arguments over judicial overreach and activism in Israel have been ongoing for years, the writer notes.

Israel’s 'supreme' democracy: Who really decides the nation’s values - opinion


Hadassah University Medical Center solves biblical mystery with ancient seed

The first 2,000-year-old date seedling was named Methuselah (after the longest-lived person in the Bible) and is now impressively tall at Ketura.

 DR. SARAH SALLON (right) and Dr. Elaine Solowey at  Kibbutz Ketura.

This week in Jewish history: The start of the IDF draft and the Daf Yomi cycle

A highly abridged version of the daily Dust & Stars.

 CELEBRATING SIYUM HASHAS, the completion of the ‘Daf Yomi,’ a seven-and-a-half-year cycle of studying the Talmud, at Har Etzion Yeshiva.

Jewish texts permit celebrating the death of enemies - opinion

If Rabbi Boteach does not want to rejoice at the demise of one of humankind’s evilest men, that is his prerogative, but the Jewish sources as they actually appear give the green light.

 Demonstrators pray near a mock coffin during a protest against the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, in Lebanon's capital Beirut, August 2, 2024.

'The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic': Gila Fine’s fine book on women in the Talmud  - review

Gila Fine’s The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic reexamines Talmudic women, challenging stereotypes and offering fresh, scholarly perspectives on their roles and stories.

 Author Gila Fine.

Meet the teenaged girl who read the Talmud in two-and-a-half years

Though women have been historically forbidden or discouraged from learning the Talmud, Elke Bentley's family has always supported her pursuit of Torah study.

 Elke Bentley, 18, completed reading the Babylonian Talmud in just two-and-a-half years.

The red heifer: A statute with a cause - opinion

As a people bound to our Jewish texts, we question and delve into the unknowable to understand our relationship to God and mitzvot more fundamentally.

 The red heifers brought to Israel from Texas.

Newly discovered link between Hercules, Israel suggests cultural exchange in region - study

2,800-year-old stamp in Tel Hazor connects Hercules to northern Israel, depicting a hero battling a seven-headed serpent, reflecting Levantine visual culture and myth transmission complexities

 The scene depicted on the surface of this black-figued amphora shows Heracles and his servant Ialous fighting the Lernean Hydra and the giant crab. Behind the hero the goddess Athena.

Could pages from the Talmud assist in dealing with problems Israel has today? - opinion

As much as many of us might like things to be black and white or exactly fit how we think the world should be, life is rarely ever like that.

 MEN STUDY the Talmud and other holy books at a Beit Midrash.

‘Suffs’ creator Shaina Taub cites Jewish text in Tony Awards acceptance speech

Shaina Taub, celebrating her Tony wins for "Suffs," quoted the Talmud in her speech, emphasizing unity for change amid challenging times in the US and globally.

Shaina Taub at the 2022 Drama League Awards

Finding purpose in cheesecake on Shavuot - opinion

As we once again accept the Torah, let us take it upon ourselves to find new ways to infuse holiness into our routines, to feel the presence and the relevance of the Torah in everything we do.

 CUSTOMERS SHOP in the dairy section of a supermarket ahead of Shavuot. The Torah calls on us to find holiness in our every action – our meals, our work, our everyday interactions with others, and beyond, says the writer.