Rabbi Mark Fasman

The Maccabees live. At least, their battle goes on.
Here are two passages from the First Book of the Maccabees (as translated in the New English Bible):
At that time [after the ascension of Antiochus IV to the throne in 175 BCE] there appeared in Israel a group of renegade Jews, who incited the people. [...]

With the possible exception of the first part of Exodus, the Genesis stories are probably the best known texts of the Torah (and perhaps, of the entire Hebrew Bible). In Sunday school and at bedtime we tell our children these stories: Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Ark, Abraham and Sarah, [...]

Recently a woman came to my office to ask me a question regarding the upcoming birth of her first child, a son. She is not a member of any congregation, but was hoping to speak with a rabbi about brit milah (that is, ritual circumcision; Ashkenazi pronunciation is bris). She explained to me [...]