This Blog consists of Rabbi Eliezer Zalmanov's weekly column, as well as articles that appeared in various publications.
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Most of us leave home the same way every day. We grab our keys, lock the door, and head into a world filled with errands and responsibilities. It's easy to slip into autopilot. Judaism places something at the very spot where that transition happens. The mezuzah isn't just a decorative Jewish symbol. It sits on the doorway because that's exactly where we need it most. Maimonides explains that every time a person enters or leaves the house, the mezuzah is meant to awaken someth

The weeks leading up to Tisha B'Av are filled with sadness as we remember the destruction of the Holy Temple and the long history of Jewish exile that followed. Then, almost immediately afterward, we begin reading words of comfort and hope. That timing raises an important question. If exile is so painful, why has so much of Jewish history, and so much of our Torah learning, taken place while we have been scattered across the world? The Talmud tells of a time when the Sages we

After forty years in the desert, just before the Jewish people enter the Land of Israel, they are given instructions to pass through the territory of Edom, the descendants of Esau, but with the warning not to provoke them. This raises an interesting question when viewed alongside an earlier passage. After the splitting of the Red Sea, the Torah describes the reactions of surrounding nations: “The leaders of Edom were shaken, the mighty men of Moab trembled.” Yet the Jewish pe

This week’s Torah portion discusses the laws of vows, a subject that raises an interesting question. If a person voluntarily gives up a certain pleasure in an effort to become a better person, shouldn't that be considered admirable? Surprisingly, the Sages viewed this idea with caution. They questioned why a person would choose to forbid something that the Torah itself permits. Their words reflect an important principle in Judaism, that the physical world is not something we

One of the hardest things for any of us to do is to recognize when we’re not being completely objective. We like to think that our opinions are based on facts and careful reasoning. But anyone who has ever made a major life decision knows how easy it is for our personal interests and past experiences to shape the way we see things, often without us even realizing it. This week’s Torah portion offers a classic example of intellectual honesty. The daughters of Tzelafchad approa