All Essays — Daf Aleph

Welcome to Daf Aleph, an educational resource on the fundamental topics in Judaism and Jewish philosophy. Covering both timeless subjects, conversations, and debates, as well as more modern and contemporary issues, Daf Aleph was created for anyone interested in learning more about a particular topic in Jewish thought. Founded after the recognition that no such easily-accessible online resource on matters of Jewish thought and machshavah exists, Daf Aleph aims to be just that — a website of Jewish thought for thoughtful Jews.

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Over the coming months we plan on building out our library, adding new topics, series, and essays as we go. We hope you'll join us.

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All in Parsha

Jul 15
Jul 15 Parshas Chukas: The Snake Above

In this week’s parsha the Jews complain yet again. Incredulously, the nation protests that they have no bread or water. So, as punishment for this complaint, God sends a plague of snakes that bite and kill many of them...

Jul 8
Jul 8 Parshas Korach: Aharon’s Silence In The Face Of Dispute

In this week’s parsha comes the latest in a series of complaints from the Jewish people against Moshe and his leadership. Korach rallies the nation behind him, attacking the priestly status of Aharon...

Jul 1
Jul 1 Parshas Shelach: You’re Not Going To The Land Of Israel

The meraglim return from their exploration of the land of Israel with rather slanderous things to say about it...

Jun 24
Jun 24 Parshas Behalosecha: The Ascension That Torah Causes

The opening verse of this week’s parsha contains a rather strange word...

Jun 17
Jun 17 Parshas Naso: Chasidic Perspectives On Why Confession Is Rooted In Theft

This week’s parsha is one of the longest and most repetitious in the entire Torah. This is due to the list of gifts the nesiim bring at the end of the parsha...

Jun 10
Jun 10 Parshas Bamidbar: Who Is The Torah Calling A Bechor?

There is little question that this week’s parsha is more dry than others, but this affords us the opportunity not to be distracted by an interesting storyline and to instead focus on the nuances of the text itself...

Jun 3
Jun 3 Parshas Bechukosai: Your Very Own Rain

This week’s parsha opens as follows...

May 27
May 27 Parshas Behar: Shabbos, Shemitta, & Teffila

Israel, Parsha, Tefillah

One of the longest-standing, most complicated, and ideologically driven halakhic debates since the turn of the Twentieth Century, Heter Mechira, has surrounded one of the most oft-repeated mitzvoth in the Torah, Shemitta...

May 20
May 20 Parshas Emor: The Perfection Of The Kohein

This week’s parsha includes a number of laws that are unique to the kohein. For example, kohanim are not allowed to come into contact with dead bodies and tumah...

May 13
May 13 Parshas Kedoshim: The Challenging Requirement To “Be Holy”

This week’s parsha opens with God issuing the following command to Moshe...

Apr 28
Apr 28 Parshas Acharei Mos: The Mysterious Cloud Of The Holy Of Holies According To Pshat, Drash, & The Sadducees

This week’s parsha discusses various laws pertaining to the Beis HaMikdash. Specifically, it deals with when the kohanim were allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, and how they were to do so...

Apr 21
Apr 21 The Awkward Requirement Of Reclining At The Seder

Holidays, Parsha, Pesach

The requirement of haseibah, or reclining, during the Pesach seder is a rather interesting one...

Apr 15
Apr 15 Parshas Metzora: When Destroying A Home Is The Only Option

The laws dictating what one is to do in response to contracting tzara’as are rather extreme when it comes to tzara’as of the house...

Apr 8
Apr 8 Balancing Tradition & Intellect: A Case Study Of The Difficulties Of Thinking Jews

Parsha, Guest Essays

In this week's parsha, Tazria, we are quickly confronted with laws and procedures dealing with tzarat. The initial verse regarding this phenomenon is as follows...

Apr 7
Apr 7 Parshas Tazria: Understanding Bris Milah

In this week’s parsha the Torah commands bris milah, or circumcision. In a parsha, and series of parshios, dedicated almost exclusively to dealing with the laws of tumah and taharah, one wonders how bris milah fits into the picture. Herein we shall examine the mitzvah of bris milah and see if we can come to a better understanding of what it is really all about, and how to understand this pervasive, but seldom contemplated, practice...

Apr 1
Apr 1 Parshas Shemini: Ramban, Aaron’s Psychologist

This week’s parsha begins with Moshe’s instructions (in the name of God) to Aaron as to how he is to commence his inauguration as kohein gadol...

Mar 30
Mar 30 From Yaakov To Yisrael (Part 5): Bridging The Gap — The Legacy Of Yehuda & Peretz

Parsha, Yaakov To Yisrael, Chumash

In this, the final section of the series, we will explain that the legacy of Yisrael, though ostensibly not fully realized by Yaakov himself, was achieved through his children...

Mar 25
Mar 25 Parshas Tzav: The Ashes Of Purim

At the start of this week’s parsha the Torah continues its discussion of the korban olah by laying down the law of trumas ha’deshen, or the removal of the ashes from the previous day’s korbanos...

Mar 17
Mar 17 Parshas Vayikra: What A Simple Grammatical Shift Teaches Us About The Torah’s View On Individualism & Community

Parshas Vayikra and its surrounding parshios are generally the ones that most people do not find overly interesting nor particularly satisfying to learn. This stems from a fundamental error, however. Korbanos — the primary topic of these parshios — far from being merely the ritualistic slaughtering of animals and sprinkling of blood, are really all symbolic. God states repeatedly throughout Nach that He does not care about the slaughtering of cows, but instead desires the required actions, mindset, growth, and corrections that are meant to be an outgrowth of the korban (Isaiah 1:11; Hosea 6:6; etc.)...

Mar 11
Mar 11 Parshas Pekudei: We’re Still Being Punished For The Sin Of The Golden Calf

The opening posuk of this week’s parsha has a number of peculiarities...