Personal Reflections

Award-winning poet Yehoshua November offers his thoughts on the connection between mystical intimacy and poetry.

As the tumultuous events of 2020 continue into the heady days of summer, the Lehrhaus is looking back, with short reflections on the moments we have been thinking about. Our first reflection is from new Lehrhaus editor Yosef Lindell, thinking about his lonely return to communal prayer.

The Yom Kippur War was a defining moment in the life of poet Leonard Cohen, a moment when his entire spiritual destiny hung in the balance. Bezalel Naor on Cohen's priestly imagination.

Aryeh Klapper with some new translation-stylings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's Halakhic Man.

Shira Hecht-Koller and Aaron Koller explore the worship of the Kohen Gadol through the voice of Ishay Ribo.

Judah Kerbel explores how differing approaches to listening to music during Sefirat ha-Omer balance the appropriate role for subjectivity in halakhic decision-making.

In this thoughtful essay, Cypess reflects on the melody that is carrying Israel in the wake of October 7th.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War, published here are excerpts from letters of an American student studying in Israel in 1973. These letters, written during and immediately after the war, shed light on Yeshivat Har Etzion in its formative years and the lasting impact of the Yom Kippur War.

Zev Eleff offers a rejoinder and some reflections on "What if Rav Aharon Had Stayed?"

Sarah Rindner contemplates whether Torah u-Madda as it’s sometimes interpreted can engender unreflective allegiance to trends in contemporary society that might harm our religious communities.