Why Do We Deserve God’s Favor?
Ezra Sivan probes the Sabbath and the Torah's call to love God.
Buying Jewish Whiskey
Last year, Nathan B. Oman, a Latter-day Saint and law professor, bought hametz from the members of Chaim Saiman’s synagogue before Passover. This is his story—a profound meditation on the nature of religious law and legal fiction — with an introduction by Chaim Saiman.
The Seder is Anything but Orderly
Why is the Haggadah such a disorganized text? Lehrhaus editor Yosef Lindell offers a strikingly novel approach to the dynamic nature of the Passover seder.
Holidays Reimagined: From Pesah To Purim To Post-Hurban Pesah
Shimon Laufer examines how Rabbinic understanding of the holiday of Passover influenced the holiday of Purim, and how one of the oldest manuscripts of the Mishnah hints that the converse may be true as well.
Imagining Passover
As we prepare for Passover, enjoy these three poems by Bruce Black meditating on the past, present, and future of our Exodus.
Put a Mirror on Your Seder Table
Leah Sarna argues that this is the Passover to tell the stories of enslaved Jewish women: of the victims of October 7, who were and likely still are subjected to sexual violence, and of the heroic women in the era of the Exodus, who fought to ensure the perpetuation of the Jewish people.
Pesah as Zeman Simhateinu: What Does it Mean to Rejoice Over Victory?
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.
The Lonely Seder, Take Two
As another Pesach in isolation approaches, Will Friedman examines how Rabbinic texts take solo sedarim into account.
Where is the Justice in the Tenth Plague?
Ezra Sivan asks: Where is the justice in the tenth plague?
Could It Have Been Different? History According to the Rabbis Joseph Soloveitchik
Can we imagine a world in which the Exodus never occurred? David Curwin suggests that this - as well as a broader dispute about the relationship between Torah and history - is subject to a dispute between The Rav, R. Joseph Dov he-Levi, and his namesake, the Beit ha-Levi.