Attorneys must be zealous advocates, but that does not mean accepting every word our clients say. Keep that psychological grain of salt handy – and warn clients that they may sometimes be affronted by our questions and skepticism.

Today's Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 21 and 22, raise the question of divine reward: What, in other words, do we get if we’re very good and obey all the commandments? Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern joins us with a meditation on prizes, ...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Pesachim 103, gives us strange mnemonics, including one that is making a star turn this year. Dr. Chaya Sima Koenigsberg joins us to talk about the rabbis’ love of acronyms, and why one acronym in ...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shekalim 10, extols the unique sanctity of the Land of Israel, which is intricately tied to the Omer. Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern joins us to talk about the Omer, why we count it, and what the experience ...

Every tractate in the Talmud has its own flavor, its own essence, and its own soul. The secular background needed to fully comprehend a tractate will depend on the overriding theme of that tractate. For example, one ...

The history and development of the study of the Oral Law following the completion of the Babylonian Talmud remain shrouded in mystery. Although significant Geonim from Babylonia and Palestine during the eighth and ninth ...

George Eliot’s final novel, Daniel Deronda, tells of the eponymous Deronda’s discovery of his Jewish roots and of the moral coming-of-age he inspires in a British gentlewoman named Gwendolyn Harleth. Published in 1876, ...