Holidays

Rabbi Kenneth Brander, head of Ohr Torah Stone, explores what the daily blessing on Talmud Torah can teach us about how to foster religious continuity.

Alan Jotkowitz shares insights into Rambam’s Hilkhot Teshuvah

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.

Why did the women bring musical instruments out of Egypt? In her first Lehrhaus article, musicologist Rebecca Cypess draws a fascinating historical analogy between biblical and African-American slavery to shed light on the Exodus in Jewish tradition.

Stephen Denker reconstructs Bert Katz's experience of Kristallnacht in Nentershausen.

Tzvi Sinensky contends that the rabbinic and feminist readings of Vashti are not diametrically opposed.

For Parshat Zakhor, this short story by Shira Eliaser richly imagines the world of King Saul and the clandestine encounter that brought Haman’s Amalekite ancestors into the world.

The Maccabees were renowned as gibborim. But what exactly is gevurah, and what does it mean for dicussions about manhood and Zionism? Tzvi Sinensky uses Hanukkah as a starting point for this contemporary conversation.

Marc Eichenbaum explores the idea of guilt and shame cultures in the thought of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks z"tl, which provides a novel interpretation of Torah and a powerful lesson for contemporary society.

Benjamin Barer traces the word Hevel through Jewish texts, showing how the use of the same word can teach us both about the wisdom of Kohelet we read this past Shabbat and the character of Hevel who we will read about in this week's Parashah.