Personal Reflections

Elli Fischer examines the interplay between Talmudic Halakhah and Aggadah.

We will all be much more distant from each other this Rosh Hashanah. That’s why, argues Ranana Dine, it’s time to revive the tradition of sending physical greeting cards.

David Selis and Zvi Erenyi share their memories of JTS Librarian Professor Menahem Schmelzer for his sheloshim.

Shaul Seidler-Feller Introduction Early last week, a friend forwarded me a recently-published video produced in Israel. When it began to play, I was quickly taken in...

Shayna Goldberg contributes to the Lehrhaus Symposium on the recent OU statement regarding female clergy.

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.

With the 10th yarhtzeit of Rav Yehuda Amital, founding Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion, upcoming this Sunday, we are honored to publish some poignant remembrances from his students. First up is Yehuda Mirsky of Brandeis University, who recalls his last conversation with Rav Amital.

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.

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.

Eliyahu Freedman compares hospital chaplains to the Kohanim.