A Speck of Flour
It is rare to find a substance so utterly proscribed by the Torah. There are other foods whose consumption is forbidden; but this the Torah forbids us to eat, benefit from in any way, or even keep in our possession. Usually, a forbidden substance becomes “nullified” if it mixes with a much greater quantity of permissible substances; of this, the Torah forbids the slightest trace—even if it blends with something a million times its volume, the entire lot becomes unfit for consumption. Read more >

Albert Rubin's Life of Drama
Albert Rubin (1887-1956) was a citizen of the world, but first and foremost an artist. He lived through two World Wars and raised his own brothers and sisters, but he never stopped painting. His glorious canvasses span countries and continents, and they may soon be coming to Richmond. Read more>

The Hunt for BRCA
Suppose someone put a fortune teller’s globe in your hands, a crystal in which you could glimpse your future self, for good or ill. Would you look?

That is the very decision many men and women, especially Ashkenazi Jewish women, find themselves compelled to make, thanks to the dramatic progress in genetic testing for breast cancer risk. Every day in doctors’ offices, women like Lisa Crawford and Susan Siegel choose whether or not to look into that globe.
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G-d 101
Alon Confino, a native of Tel Aviv, and the Ida and Nathan Kolodiz Director of Jewish Studies at U.Va., says the climate is right for Jewish studies programs in universities. In Virginia, five colleges and universities offer a minor in Jewish studies: Virginia Tech, Old Dominion University, Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Richmond and the University of Virginia. U.Va. offers a major in Jewish studies as well.
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