After a long stretch of holidays in Tishrei, the holiday-free month of Cheshvan may feel like something of a letdown. Following the inspiration of Rosh Hashana, Tzom Gedalia, Yom Kippur, Succos, Hoshana Rabbah, Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah, we might feel that Cheshvan has nothing to say to us. Nothing could be farther from the […]

Last year, OU Torah started Shavua Tov, a weekly email sent each Saturday night featuring the coming week’s offerings in parsha, Daf Yomi, Nach Yomi, Mishna Yomit, Mishnah Brurah Yomi and more. And Shavua Tov has done very nicely, thankyewverymuch. But we noticed something: our parsha entries were outperforming everything else. This makes sense. Not […]

Welcome to 5779! As regular followers of OU Torah are no doubt aware, we constantly add new features to provide more opportunities to study different areas of Torah in an increasing number of ways. Here are some new series that may be of interest in the new year! Ohr Olam Mishnah Berurah by Rabbi Doniel Yehudah […]

We’re very proud of our OU Torah halacha series, which shed light on a great number of topics in Jewish law. Among these are: Mishnah Brurah Yomi by Rabbi Aaron E. Glatt, MD. This shiur goes through this seminal work of practical halacha at the rate of a page a day, five days a week. […]

This edition of The Torah Blog feels like I’m talking about Netflix because most OU Torah series don’t have “seasons!” And yet, here we are, announcing the exciting return of one of our most popular and acclaimed features. The Kuzari is a classic work of Jewish thought and philosophy by Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi (d. 1141). The Kuzari represents a fictionalized […]

We’ve been meaning to do this for a long time. Two of the most common questions we receive at OU Torah are, “What time does the fast start?” and “What time does the fast end?” There are several problems with this. The first is that people who write asking such things very often don’t include […]

The book of Mishlei (Proverbs) 14:28 tells us, “The King’s glory is in a multitude of people,” (“the King,” of course, referring to God). This isn’t just a nice idea; it actually has legal ramifications. For example, what’s the preeminent mitzvah of Rosh Hashana? Blowing the shofar, of course! Wouldn’t we want to blow the […]

In recent weeks, The Torah Blog has been sharing spotlights of just a handful of the many wonderful teachers and speakers that you will be able to find at the OU’s Torah New York event, Sunday, April 29, indoors at Citi Field. There are so many more that we didn’t get a chance to name, including many members […]

As readers are no doubt aware, this country is currently undergoing an opioid crisis. The Jewish community has largely come out of denial and is acknowledging that drug and alcohol addictions do exist in our communities, and steps are being taken to confront them. This is a reality that the OU has also addressed in […]

This period of sefirah, which runs from Pesach until Shavuos, is in many way a period of mourning for the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva who were lost. And yet, there are also joyous high points along the way. Aside from Lag b’Omer, there are four modern Israeli holidays that commemorate the highs and lows […]