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[in reality] a part of the fourth intention, because when the desire grows and the lust increases, comes that [medical] harm, and whoever keeps himself from [this increased lust] will be saved from that harm.} For Rabad, sexual relations can be motivated by various reasons. Having sex in order to
, a person who succeeds in rising to very high spiritual levels can reach yet another level of holiness. All these levels are worthy, and, for the vast majority of the population, there is no need to reach the highest of all. Living life according to Torah and Halakhah is a holy act, especially today
life in his nostrils; and the man became a living creature” (Gen 2:7). Other words that describe the animating spirit that defines life, נשמה and רוח, likewise relate to respiration. The מגוייד and the גוסס mentioned in our Mishnah are nearly dead, but they are still breathing
celebration of menses and immersion in the mikveh as a Jewish Our Bodies Ourselves , an affirmation of the wholeness of our bodies, created in God’s image and functioning according to God’s will, with the generative potential that enables us to be partners with God in creating life. 8 Some Jewish
unconventional opinions of some indi- vidual rabbis, have concluded a priori that abstinence—that is, some type of asceticism—was advocated and practised by the rabbis, and thus was part of their theology and of their theory on the optimal way of life. When the bulk of the evidence seems to oppose our
a woman אשה with her fellow woman, בחייה while your wife is living,” conflicting with the common interpretation which refers to a prohibition to marry two biological sisters at the same time. He came to this conclusion because the word בחייה in this verse is similar to בחייהם, used in the CD
-modern Judaism evinced intellectual stagnation and an antiquated rabbinic culture, he tended to view Jewish life in the last third of the eighteenth century largely through the lens of the maskilim (practitioners of Haskalah). 5 The present study approaches these issues from a different vantage point. It
Rabbi Roth in all these ways I take as a mark of a life well lived, for Rabbi Roth has modeled for two generations what it should mean to be a teacher, a rabbi, and a Jew. I treasure his deep learning and analytic mind, his remarkable teaching ability, his devotion to the Jewish tradition, his
-dwellers, like their non-Samaritan compatriots, thrived within a richly agrarian society; as Yizhar Hirschfeld writes, “The majority of village dwellers earned their living as farmers, cultivating grains, vegetables, grapes, and olives, herding sheep, and raising cattle. Numerous presses for wine and oil attest
salient features of Jewish communal life during the past two millennia. 1 With the firm support of the monarchy and, to a lesser extent, of the local authorities, Jewish communities exercised jurisdiction in both civil and religious affairs. Under the terms set forth in the royal privileges, they