Author Archives: Efraim Palvanov

Making Babies: Is it Possible to Influence Gender?

Note: for the purposes of this article, the terms “gender” and “sex” are used interchangeably.

This week’s double parasha, Tazria-Metzora, begins with the laws of when “a woman conceives and gives birth to a male…” (Leviticus 12:2) The actual Hebrew wording here is ishah ki tazria, literally “when a woman gives seed”. Based on this, our Sages taught that if a woman “gives seed” first, the child will likely be male, whereas if a man “gives seed” first, the child will likely be female (Niddah 31a). How exactly is this to be understood? Continue reading →

The Science of Chametz

As we continue celebrating Pesach this week, and avoiding all things chametz, it is important to take a moment and explore what exactly is chametz? While we spend a tremendous amount of time and effort learning about, and implementing, the various halakhot regarding eliminating chametz, we rarely think about what chametz actually is on the chemical level. If we did know, it would help to clarify what specifically is forbidden, and might save us a great deal of time and effort in our preparations. It would also help us better understand what actually happened in Egypt with our ancestors millennia ago (the answer may surprise you). So, what is chametz? Continue reading →

Listening to Non-Jewish Music

This week we begin reading the third book of the Torah, Vayikra. In English, the book is called “Leviticus” because it is primarily concerned with the work of the Levites in the Temple. Among the Tribe of Levi were the kohanim, the “high priests”, direct descendants of Aaron. The kohanim were the ones who actually oversaw all the offerings in the Temple, facilitated atonement, and blessed the nation. The rest of the Levites, who were not kohanim, had other work to do. As is well-known, one of their main roles was to provide musical accompaniment in the Temple. Yet, the Torah never actually says this directly! How do we know? Continue reading →