Commentary

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.

Rivka Kahan weighs in on the impact of the Rav's 1977 Stern College Talmud lecture and how the Modern Orthodox community can move forward.

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.

Elli Fischer's thoughts on visiting the grave of Franz Rosenzweig, founder of the original Lehrhaus

Is true forgiveness possible? Michael Kurin explores the doubts raised by prominent twentieth century philosophers and considers how Jewish tradition offers a radically different conception of repentance and forgiveness, one that enables people to alter their reality vis-à-vis God and one another.

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.

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

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.

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

Ari Elias-Bachrach explores the science behind lab-produced meat and cheese and the possibility of a realistic kosher cheeseburger.