Life Propagates Through Smell
Oil is the soul’s matter and smell is its channel, and neither of those says why creation should be built…
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All the Oils Are Beautiful for the Lamp
Start with what the halacha says rather than what it is assumed to say. If the practice is forbidden, nothing…
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The Mashiach Judges by Smell
Yeshayahu describes the shoot that comes out of the stump of Yishai, and then says how he will decide cases….
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The Mushroom Rises Without a Root
A mushroom comes up overnight out of a dead stump, and the halacha looked at it and refused to call…
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At the Table: Why We Light
Why anyone lights A Jew is named for thanks. Leah named her fourth son out of the one sentence she…
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Under His Wings: the World Was Hatched, Not Built
Every description the Torah gives of divine protection is the same shape, and it is not the shape of a…
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Cheshvan: the Month the Deep Opened
Marcheshvan has no festival. It arrives after a month crowded with them and offers nothing, which is how it earned…
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Luz: Two Places Where Death Has No Jurisdiction
There are two coordinates in creation where death is said to have no jurisdiction. One is microscopic and one is…
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A Genizah Is a Vault, Not a Grave
Everyone assumes a worn sacred text is buried. Put in the ground, like a body, finished. The Hebrew does not…
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Why a Candle Is Lit for the Dead
A candle is lit for someone who has died, and a lamp burns continuously in places where nobody is standing…
