Commentary

Shmuel Winiarz contributes to the Lehrhaus Symposium on the recent OU statement regarding female clergy.

Yaakov Jaffe provides an ideological argument against including ideology in our Chumashim.

In her latest for the Lehrhaus, Mali Moskowitz reflects on dating after divorce, Jewish marriage, and the ongoing journey for self-discovery.

In unpacking the meaning of a tricky verse from Eikhah that we say as part of the Shofar service on Rosh Hashanah, Mitchell First introduces us to the literary principle called hendiadys, which can help us understand various phrases throughout Tanakh.

Steven Gotlib reviews Eugene Korn’s To Be a Holy People: Jewish Tradition and Ethical Values, a book which asks hard questions about whether Halakhah can integrate with the demands of contemporary ethics.

Rosh Hashanah is a day dedicated to reflecting on our relationships with all humanity. If so, Ari Perl contends, we confront the fact that for all the extraordinary work in the Orthodox community in regard to organ donation, there is one area where we have fallen short.

Ayelet Wenger weaves together the personal, historical and exegetical in advance of reading Sefer Shemot.

There’s a miniature kaf at the beginning of the parashah. As Gabriel Slamovits explains, what the diminished letter says about how Abraham mourned for Sarah fits well with a prominent teaching of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, zt”l.

In a never-before-published memoir, Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein recalls the politics that surrounded Yeshiva University upon the death of President Bernard Revel and the search for his successor. 

Steven Gotlib reviews Eugene Korn’s book on the future of Jewish-Christian relations.