Tisha b’Av, the saddest day in the Jewish calendar, is not mentioned in the Torah. It is hinted at in Zechariah 8:19, which speaks of “the fasts of the 4th, 5th, 7th and 10th months,” as the Torah counts the months (Av is the fifth ...
Devarim is always the sedra read on the Shabbat before the 9th of Av. It is also one of the few Shabbatot that bears the name of the first word of the haftarah – Shabbat Chazon. The haftarah is the first chapter of Isaiah – Chazo...
The question of whether and how rabbis should speak out on controversial issues of the day has been with us for many centuries. If the subject has become especially contentious in America of late, it is probably because American Jews in 2...
