Shared Leadership: A Response to Ezra Schwartz and Nathaniel Helfgot
In response to recent articles by Ezra Schwartz and Nathaniel Helfgot on the issue of centralization, Jeffrey Fox offers a vision of collaborative, personalized pesak in the post-Covid era.
Four Reasons to Leverage Pop Culture in the Judaic Studies Classroom
Can we learn Torah from Star Wars, superheroes, or the hit Netflix show ‘The Crown’? Olivia Friedman, a teacher at Ida Crown Jewish Academy in Chicago, says yes, arguing that bringing pop culture into the Judaic studies classroom in a meaningful way not only makes learning more fun, but models the type of integration that Modern Orthodoxy stands for.
Taking Responsibility For Halakhic Guidance: A Response to Ezra Schwartz
In this response to last week’s article by Ezra Schwartz, Nathaniel Helfgot wonders whether the new pandemic-fueled trend toward centralized halakhic decision-making overburdens the most learned rabbis and takes too much autonomy from the others.
Decentralization and Centralization: A COVID Tale of the Modern Orthodox Community
As the Covid-19 pandemic looks like it might be subsiding, Ezra Schwartz, a Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University, incisively examines competing trends toward decentralization of synagogue life and centralization of halakhic decision-making that are reshaping the Modern Orthodox world.
Modern Technology Meets Tehum Shabbat
In honor of yesterday's Daf Yomi Siyum on Masekhet Eiruvin, Yaakov Jaffe describes how online maps and other technological tools have better enabled communities such as Boston/Cambridge to measure their tehum shabbat.
Bathtub Mikvaot and The Curious History of a Halakhic Libel
Aryeh Klapper explores the Mikvah leniencies of Rabbi David Miller and what led one of his opponents to accuse him of making an obvious grammar mistake.
Making Seder Out of the Zoom Seder Controversy
Shlomo Zuckier surveys and analyzes the debate over Zoom Seders during coronavirus.
The Hazon Ish Wasn’t Writing About Using Computers
Dan Margulies explains the Hazon Ish's discussion about the problem of using electricity on Shabbat, with implications for Zoom Sedarim.
Torah Study and the Digital Revolution: A Glimpse of the Future
How will digital technology transform Torah study in the coming years? Two of the brilliant minds working at the cutting edge of this field, Moshe Koppel and Avi Shmidman, both professors at Bar-Ilan University, offer a window into the Torah tools of the future.
Sacred Training: Elevating the Hallowed Art of Healing
Howard Apfel reviews Sacred Training: A Halakhic Guidebook for Medical Students and Residents.