Rabbinic Mitzvot, The

There are seven mitzvahs that the prophets and rabbis of the ancient judicial courts initiated during the first millennium after the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai.

The only way a Creator can connect with a creature is by a simple request.

Some people imagine the event at Sinai as a transmission from heaven, recorded on two tablets and in five books, frozen in time, never to occur again. Others see Sinai as an opening of a portal through which the divine could now begin to pour into our wor...

How rabbinical commandments -- like lighting the Chanukah menorah -- derive their power from the Biblical injunction (Deuteronomy 17:11) "According to the law they [the Sages] instruct you... you shall not divert... either right or left."

The Torah gives the Sages the power to enact new laws and observances. We look at the "rabbinical holidays" of Chanukah and Purim.

I don't get it. When did G‑d command us to light the menorah? Isn't Chanukah a man-made holiday?

The most precious things in life are said silently.

Builders who cut corners by using unsafe equipment or materials don't anticipate that their actions will cause loss of life. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the equipment and materials will hold up just fine...

Our Sages differentiate between the rational mitzvot (mishpatim) and the supra-rational mitzvot (chukim); a third, intermediate category are the "testimonial" or commemorative mitzvot (eidot). But in essence, says the Rebbe, the most rational mishpat is a...

Why would Maimonides go to such extraordinary lengths to list all the Biblical commandments and then fall entirely silent when it comes to the Rabbinic ones?