The Directional Shaking of the Lulav: Bible, Mysticism, and Religious Polemics
Yaakov Jaffe traces the origins and evolution of the custom to shake the lulav in different directions.
Do Children Belong in Shul?
Moshe Kurtz explores halakhic and hashkafic considerations surrounding bringing young children to shul.
A Life Worth Living
As Yom Kippur approaches, Bruce Black's poem touches on the simple power of a humble and earnest request for forgiveness.
Flood
As the year turns from Elul to Tishrei, enjoy Ben Corvo's collection of poems relevant to the High Holiday themes and liturgy.
Mind Blown: Shofar as Divine Encounter Beyond the Limits of Human Comprehension
Aton Holzer explores the inscrutability of the Mitzvah of Shofar.
Hendiadys in the Pre-Shofar Acrostic Prayer: An Introduction to an Overlooked Principle of Biblical...
In unpacking the meaning of a tricky verse from Eikhah that we say as part of the Shofar service on Rosh Hashanah, Mitchell First introduces us to the literary principle called hendiadys, which can help us understand various phrases throughout Tanakh.
“I Would Soar to the Sphere of Heaven”: Aleph and “I” in a Tishah...
In advance of Tisha Be-Av, Tzvi Novick annotates and interprets the kinnah of a’adeh ad hug shamayim by the master poet R. Eleazar ha-Kalir, unlocking its complex acrostic to determine who its speaker is meant to be.
“For These Things I Weep”: Psychological Readings of Lamentations
In time for Tisha Be-Av, Marc Eichenbaum offers a meaningful new reading of Eikha using modern psychological concepts like grief, trauma, and narrative construction.
Duplicity at Sinai
Why does the Tosefta accuse the Jews of being deceitful at Sinai? Worse still, why is God portrayed as being complicit in their deception? Ahead of Shavuot, Sara Wolkenfeld explains.
Subjective Experience in Halakhah: Music During Sefirah as a Case Study
Judah Kerbel explores how differing approaches to listening to music during Sefirat ha-Omer balance the appropriate role for subjectivity in halakhic decision-making.