Object of a Mitzvah

Two cows, they were, sharing a paddock on the same farm...

Our Sages tell us that the Torah was studied and observed by our ancestors for hundreds of years before the revelation at Sinai. So why do we celebrate that event as the "Giving of the Torah"? What actually happened at Sinai?

"Creation" (beriah, in the Hebrew), which means bringing something into being out of a prior state of non-existence, implies a "before" and "after"; so to say that G-d created anything is also to say that He first (or simultaneously) created time...

Man turned away from G-d, searched for G-d, discovered truth, attained holiness. But the physical world had no part in this; it was just scenery, a backdrop painted with patches of withheld light, against which G-d/man saga played

It is a little known lowlight of history that the Nazis were avid Judaica collectors. Rather than destroy the artifacts and objets d'art they had captured, they preserved them and actively added to the collection...

When I was younger, guys like Superman and Batman were my heroes. Their big muscles gripping their huge guns made boys my age want to emulate them. Not much has changed since...

The light of the Menorah wasn't for G-d's benefit; it was for us. Same is true for all the commandments.

Question: Rabbi, 1. Sometimes I print out pages from the web that contain G‑d's name. If I need to discard them, should I give them any proper care? Is it necessary to even bury them like one does a prayer book? 2. A related question: Perhaps I'm being ...

Tzitzit in a cemetery; folding a tallit on Shabbat; proper disposal of tzitzit; and more...

Analyzing the details of when, how, who and where the mitzvah was performed provides us with inspiring reflections that enable us to fulfill the mitzvah of Hakhel today.