Jews are not a homogeneous people – there are substantial differences between Jewish communities in different parts of the world, although there are of course

Leviticus 18:19 contains the laws referred to as taharat hamishpachah (literally, ‘family purity’). According to these and other Jewish laws relating to ritual impurity, a

From the earliest times Jewish scholars have had a keen eye for diseases that were suspected to be hereditary in nature. The Talmud (Yevamot 64B)

This is just a tiny sample of Jewish texts on the topic of parenting. It is important to note that while most of these texts

Naming a child is a chance to bestow an identity upon him or her since every name has a meaning. There are two different customs

To the Anglo-Saxon ear, Schneider and Portnoy sound like typical Jewish names, while Taylor is the quintessence of Englishness. In fact, all three simply mean

The Jewish people are first and foremost a family. Daily life, ritual and the passing on of our tradition all have the family at their

‘Jewish Identity’ refers to the way Jews see themselves. For example, one person might consider themselves Jewish only or primarily because their parents are Jewish.

This section deals with issues revolving around Jewish identity and Jewish communities, and how we perceive ourselves and others within those communities. Jewish Identity Jewish

Pirkei Avot can be translated literally as ‘Chapters of the Fathers’, but it is often referred to in English as ‘The Ethics of the Fathers’.

According to Jewish ethical tradition, prohibition against cruelty to animals is one of the basic laws of humankind. Indeed, animals are understood to not only

From Bereshit (Genesis 1:28), the first chapter in the Torah, we see that God wants human beings to both use the natural world for their