Drinking on Purim [Megillah 7b]
Introduction One of the more familiar aspects of Purim practices is getting drunk, with Purim being one of the most…
Rabbi Drew Kaplan’s Textual Insights
Introduction One of the more familiar aspects of Purim practices is getting drunk, with Purim being one of the most…
I recently came across a rather curious text in the Shulhan Arukh (YD 134:5): מה יהא במים ויהא בהם כדי לבטל…
Having began working as a chaplain two years ago in a senior living facility, one thing I kept coming across…
Continuing on in my series on sleep in the Tosefta, the final order to discuss is Taharot. As we shall…
Continuing on in my study of early rabbinic attitudes towards sleep, we now move on to Seder Nashim in the…
Continuing on in my study of sleep in the Tosefta brings us to Seder Moed, the order dealing with holidays…
As I was about to turn thirty, I thought to myself, “What does the Jewish tradition have to say about…
White Days[1] There is a curious beraita that appears about menstrual impurity (Shabbat 12b-13a): תני דבי אליהו מעשה בתלמיד אחד…
Background Having first been curious about the appearance of an unnamed group just simply called “Sages” in the Mishnah, in…
Background One of the things that caught my eye in my counting up the frequency of the appearances of the…
Introduction Nearly a decade ago after having counted up all the sages in the Mishnah and seeing how many times…
When I first began my Rabbinic Popularity in the Mishnah Project nearly a decade ago,[1] I was curious to see…