The Babylonian Talmud (dated to 300 CE) lists seven laws which God gave to the Children of Noah (B’nei Noach): 1 Acknowledge that there is only one G-d who is Infinite and Supreme above all things. Do not replace that Supreme Being with finite idols, be it yourself, or other beings. This command includes such … Read more
Maimonides lists his Eight Levels of Giving, as written in the Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Matanot Aniyim (Laws about Giving to Poor People), Chapter 10:7-14: 1. Giving an interest-free loan to a person in need; forming a partnership with a person in need; giving a grant to a person in need; finding a job for a … Read more
The Chofetz Chayim enumerated thirty-one Torah commandments which may be violated when a person speaks or listens to loshon hora (gossip, slander). The number of infringements will vary in accordance with the circumstances, but on each occasion when loshon hora is spoken many commandments are violated… Refraining from loshon hora is not merely a meritorious … Read more
The Jew is a “resident” in the world, for the Torah instructs us not escape the physical reality but to inhabit it and elevate it. At the same time, the Jew feels himself a “stranger” in the material world — his true home is the world of spirituality, holiness and G-dliness from which his soul … Read more
