Why Pandemics Happen to Good People
What theological language can we use to describe our current pandemic moment? In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, Jeremy Brown takes scope of the ancient and modern notions of plague theodicy and reviews some ideas from the 2021 National Jewish Book Award Winner Torah in a Time of Plague.
The Corona Haggadah: Reflections and Discussions to Accompany the Haggadah for Pesah 5780
Julie and Uri Goldstein offer a timely Haggadah for reflection this year.
Halakhah Meets Non-Traditional Approaches to Ensuring COVID-19 Vaccination
Sharon Galper Grossman and Shamai Grossman examine the halakhic permissibility of vaccine mandates by governments and employers.
My Body in the East, My Heart in the West
What is it like to make aliyah from New Jersey precisely at a time when North American Jewry is suffering more heavily than Israel? Ahead of Yom Yerushalayim, Sarah Rindner, drawing on Yehuda ha-Levi and Yehudah Amichai, reflects.
Three Ideas for Reimagining High School and its Importance for Jewish Education
The creative responses of Jewish Day Schools to the pandemic demonstrate that the time has come to think out of the box and reimagine high school education. Hillel Rapp, Director of Education at Bnei Akiva Schools of Toronto, outlines a provocative, comprehensive vision for reimagining high schools in the 21st century.
Kivnei Maron
As we approach a new calendar year, Ben Corvo's poem meditates retrospectively on this past Rosh Ha-Shanah and the darkness of everyday life.
A Yahrzeit & A Pandemic: Thoughts On R. Amital In The Age of...
In commemoration of Rav Amital's tenth Yahrzeit, Joe Wolfson, JLIC Rabbi at NYU, shares how the legacy of Rav Amital inspired his community's humanitarian efforts during the Covid19 pandemic.
The Mikveh Never Closed: What the Pandemic Has Taught Us About Mikveh
Last year at this time, when the pandemic brought tremendous upheaval to Jewish communal institutions the mikveh remained open for use. In this expansive piece, Mijal Bitton and Elana Stein Hain examine the communal response to mikveh during COVID-19, explore the experiences of women who chose to use--or not use--the mikveh during this time, and offer constructive recommendations for the future.
Reimagining Our Shuls Starts Now: An Open Letter to Shul Boards and Fellow Rabbis
Sruly Motzen argues that to ensure that our shuls emerge as strong as possible after the pandemic, first and foremost we must strengthen the relationships between our rabbis and their communities today.
Why Wasn’t Jonah Punished? Reading Jonah during COVID
This year, instead of thinking about the reasons for Jonah’s flight from Nineveh in particular, we can gain a new appreciation for his need to break free altogether. Ahead of Yom Kippur, Erica Brown considers the unique resonance of the book of Jonah in an era marked by isolation and quarantine.