Answer: The Mechaber (Orach Chayyim 285:1) states as follows: “Even though a person hears the entire Torah [portion] every Sabbath at the congregational reading, one is nevertheless required to read ...

Q. I hear that our ancestors translated the Torah reading as they went. Why don’t we do the same? A. The ancient practice was to call up one person to read the Torah and another “l’targem”, “to ...

Trying to unravel the mysteries of Aramaic is like embarking on an odyssey across the deserts, mountains and valleys of the Middle East and onwards to Europe and North America. It is an intellectual ...

Amanda Smith: This week on Lingua Franca, what language did Jesus speak? Hi, I'm Amanda Smith and the question's been prompted by the release of the Mel Gibson film The Passion of the Christ. In the ...

You get asked some pretty strange things when you speak the language of Jesus. The calls come to my father’s office at UCLA several times a year, often around Christmas or Easter. “Professor Yona ...