Vayikra

Why don’t we just make one bracha at the beginning of the count, on the first night, & then say a closing bracha on the last night? Why are there 49 separate brachot recited?!

Is it permitted to violate the laws of Shabbat in the process of sanctifying the new month? Why does the Torah repeat the introductory terms about the mo’adim and mention Shabbat in the middle?

How are the High Priest and the Holy of Holies connected to modesty and loyalty to one's spouse?

Who does God consider to be holy? What is a sanitation worker's job? What is Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu's response to someone who wants to be like a priest in the Temple?

In many places, the Torah forbids the consumption of blood. In the parsha of Acharei Mot, this prohibition of blood is mentioned. In Kedoshim there are nine references to blood, in the context of different prohibitions. This makes it appropriate to discuss the laws of preparing livers according to halacha.

Something fundamental happens at the beginning of this Parsha and the story is one of the greatest, if rarely acknowledged, contributions of Judaism to the world.

Why did the President of the United States Salute the Jews? and what does this have to do with Shmini?

‘Kedoshim Tehyu, Be Holy!” These opening words of our Sedra constitute the quint-essential “mission statement” of the Jewish People: Be holy throughout your life. But what does “holy” mean?

One of the very well-known commandments that appears in this week's reading of the Torah is the injunction not to place a stumbling block in front of someone who cannot see. Interestingly enough, Rashi in commenting upon and in explaining this commandment, does not treat it literally.