Holidays

  Rebecca Cypess As the only musical instrument used in modern Jewish liturgy, the shofar possesses a humble form. Halakhah forbids the modification of the shofar’s...

Yosef Lindell examines why Shomron Kol Titein is a fitting conclusion to the daytime kinnot on Tisha Be-Av.

Tzvi Sinensky on the lost Menorah, the Vatican theory, and the ideology of the search and mythology.

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

Yaakov Jaffe examines the anti-Christian polemic in Maharam of Rottenberg's Kinnah about the burning of the Talmud.

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

Tzvi Sinensky comments on the pitfalls of being overly dependent on the "Talmudic reid."

Judah Kerbel discusses why we say an abbreviated Hallel on the last six days of Pesah and contemplates what that says about the war in Israel; self-defense is a must, as is gratitude toward God, but we also hold space for the losses on the other side.

Ben Greenfield presents Yeshivat Chovevei Torah's liturgy for commemorating Yom HaShoah.

Poet Yehoshua November notices a defining characteristic of contemporary poetry—fixation on the ordinary. In light of Hasidic theology, November argues that appreciation for the holiness of the ordinary underlies Megillat Esther and the celebration of Purim.