Holidays

Jon Kelsen uncovers a deeper rabbinic meaning to the blood needed to "passover" the Israelites.

Zvi Grumet suggests that when read in sequence, the kinot of R. Elazar Ha-Kalir—often seen as the ones most difficult to understand—offer a powerful theological narrative from despair to hope.

In a piece that resonates today, Tzvi Sinensky examines what made the Jews' salvation from the plague of the firstborns so miraculous.

Yosef Lindell offers a brief history of Pesah guides.

Batya Hefter explores a Hasidic understanding of “Sinai consciousness” and proposes a way to re-experience it on Shavuot.

Matthew Omolesky considers the importance of culture in the face of genocide.

How can the mitzvot of Purim reveal the feminist ethics of the Megillah? Aton Holzer offers an enlightening new reading of the Megillah, suggesting that there is a profound connection between the text's structure and its ethics.

Ezra Sivan asks what light the narratives of Shabbat and the scouts shed on some critical social questions.

Ariel Clark Silver describes how Queen Esther’s story inspired women’s rights activist Louisa May Alcott’s short fable of an Aster who wisely ruled the kingdom of the flowers.

In an original Hebrew poem for Tishrei 5785, Shoshanah Haberman addresses God directly about the pain and uncertainty of our moment.