The table is considered an altar. Thus, we not only show appreciation before we eat, but also, as the Torah instructs us (DEUT. 8:10), after we have eaten.

It is a commitment of our own choosing, one that we have lovingly made; it is the manner in which we identify ourselves.

It’s not a superiority I feel over others: it is a symbol to me that the human mind and soul—in fact, my mind and soul, his mind and soul—have some mastery over our human drives. Does that qualify for holiness? I have no idea.

movements. The answer lies in a historic redefinition of the term “Orthodoxy.” In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, certain traditionalist rabbis began to reassess the fruits of Emancipation. And they found its social and ethical values not so wanting. Individualism, liberalism, and universalism—the hallmarks of modernity—turned ou

any heat source lit before Shabbat may be maintained as long as one does not have to reignite it on Shabbat.

Without mutual consent and responsibility, the whole thing would be reduced to a test of wills each month, a contest in which all who win would eventually lose. A man, therefore, must not only agree, but must be willing to assume personal restraint.

Permissible foods may be prepared only in utensils that are themselves kosher; in other words, utensils that are used exclusively to cook or serve kosher foods.

for an observant Jew, the law is given. Rather than reject it, rather than merely adjust to it, we try to apply it to our lives in a manner that sharpens our identity, refines our marriages, and strengthens our community.

We create islands of time.