Rabbi Dr. Ari Z. Zivotofsky

JEWISH LAW

What’s the Truth about… “Mar Cheshvan” ?

Misconception:  The complete and correct name for the month following Tishrei is Cheshvan, and it is a quaint tradition to call it Mar Cheshvan because it is bitter (Hebrew: mar)…

JEWISH LAW

What’s the Truth about . . . Kissing the Mezuzah?

Misconception: There is a Talmudic source for the common practice of kissing the mezuzah upon entering and exiting a room. Fact: There is no Talmudic source obligating one to kiss…

JEWISH LAW

What’s the Truth About…Seudah Shelishit?

Misconception: One can fulfill the obligation to eat Seudah Shelishit (The Third Meal) on Shabbat by studying Torah in lieu of eating. FACT: The third Shabbat meal, Seudah Shelishit (colloquially…

JEWISH LAW

What’s the Truth About…Rashi’s Daughters?

MISCONCEPTION: Rashi’s daughters wore tefillin. FACT: There is no evidence that Rashi’s daughters wore tefillin. BACKGROUND: Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, known colloquially as “Rashi,” is the commentator par excellence on both…

JEWISH LAW

What’s the Truth about . . . the Parah Adumah?

  MISCONCEPTION: The person who sprinkles the ashes of a parah adumah (“red heifer”) on a tamei (ritually impure) person becomes tamei himself. FACT: Most of the people involved in…

JEWISH LAW

What’s the Truth about . . . a Jew with a Tattoo Being Buried in a Jewish Cemetery?

MISCONCEPTION: A Jew with a tattoo may not be buried in a Jewish cemetery. FACT: This belief has no basis in Jewish law. Just as a Jew who violated other…

PASSOVER

What’s the Truth about . . . the Translation of Yam Suf?

MISCONCEPTION: Upon leaving Egypt, the Jews crossed the Yam Suf, which is translated as the Red Sea. This translation, however, is an error. Red Sea is a corruption of the…

HISTORY

What’s the Truth about… Rav Kook’s Hebrew University Invocation

MISCONCEPTION:1 In 1925, in Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook’s invocation for the inauguration of the Hebrew University, he applied the Biblical verse “Ki miTzion tetzei Torah, u’devar Hashem meYerushalayim, For…