Commentary

Wendy Zierler interprets a 2015 poem by the late Haim Gouri, reflecting on the challenges of aging, and on the complex and often mournful relationship between the Jewish people, their history, and their literature.

Yaakov Jaffe responds to David Stein's earlier call to revamp the standard day school Talmud curriculum.

Laura Shaw Frank contributes to the Lehrhaus Symposium on the recent OU statement regarding female clergy.

Marc B. Shapiro reviews a new edited volume by Yoram Hazony, Gil Student, and Alex Sztuden that offers a traditional defense of revelation in light of modern biblical criticism.

In his review of Jessica Roda's For Women and Girls Only: Reshaping Jewish Orthodoxy through the Arts in the Digital Age, Ben Rothke considers the ways Orthodox women have dealt with halachic obstacles a claim a space for themselves as performers using new and social media.

As 2021 comes to a close, the Lehrhaus team is delighted to highlight many of the thought-provoking essays we’ve published this year, with a diverse array of incredible thinkers and writers.

Lehrhaus Founding and Consulting Editor Elli Fischer on why R. Mendel of Rimanov is said to have spoken about the man every Shabbat for 22 consecutive years, and why reciting parshat ha-man the Tuesday before Parshat Beshalah might not be a segulah for parnasa, but R. Mendel's exhortation to be content with our lot.

In commemoration of Rav Amital's seventh Yahrtzeit, Shlomo Zuckier shares Rav Amital's teachings on Jewish continuity, in Derasha form.

Aton Holzer offers a novel interpretation of Isaiah 53 based on current events in Israel.

Mali Brofsky argues that often, "Manels" are a product of women's conscious personal decisions. Agree or disagree?