Torah and Technology

Henry Abramson debates Shaul Magid on the faith of the Aish Kodesh.

Recent years have seen dramatic changes in the packaging of Taharat ha-Mishpahah education on Instagram, from video reels to influencers to new, diverse online communities. Lindsey Bodner offers an astute, well-researched review of this new paradigm shift in Taharat ha-Mishpahah education today.

Sefaria has recently published a new bilingual digital edition of Talmud Yerushalmi. Taking stock of this development, Zachary Rothblatt offers an erudite synthesis of the history of Yerushalmi.

Shlomo Zuckier surveys and analyzes the debate over Zoom Seders during coronavirus.

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.

Dan Margulies explains the Hazon Ish's discussion about the problem of using electricity on Shabbat, with implications for Zoom Sedarim.

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.

Zev Eleff draws on lessons of nineteenth century print culture to help grapple with the Digital Age.

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.

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.