Sanctifying the Secular: A Torah u-Madda Approach to Popular Culture

Responding to Moshe Kurtz, Olivia Friedman argues that forging deep connections between Torah and popular culture can be an uplifting and sanctified experience.

The G-d of Our Faces

Merri Ukraincik contemplates G-d's role in our lives.

“I Am Building a City”: A Reflection for Agnon’s 50th Yahrtzeit

50 years after his passing, Agnon is as relevant as ever. Agnon expert and Lehrhaus Consulting Editor Jeffrey Saks explains.

Modeling Modernity: Revisiting the Rabbi Soloveitchik Paradigm

Chaim Trachtman contributes to the Lehrhaus Symposium on the recent OU statement regarding female clergy.

The Parenthetical Problem of Alenu

Zev Eleff on a perennially interesting portion of the liturgy.

Hanukkah or Hanoch-ah: Illuminating the Origins and Trajectory of an Apocalyptic Holiday

In his latest for the Lehrhaus, Aton Holzer sheds light on the hidden roots of Hanukkah–exploring the political and theological meaning of the holiday from the Second Temple period through the Talmud.

Retiring My Modern Orthodox DeLorean

Zev Eleff offers a rejoinder and some reflections on "What if Rav Aharon Had Stayed?"

Renew Our Days as Days of Old

On Yom Ha'atzmaut, Zach Truboff reflects on Rav Shagar's insistence that the Israeli present must be rooted in the past, and explores the redemptive power of Torah as an answer for modernity.

Trajectories of Tradition: King David on Skin Lesions and Tent Impurities

AJ Berkovitz traces the reception history of a Midrash Tehillim that seems to equate the reading of Psalms with Torah study, offering a fascinating case study of how tradition evolves.

Rupture and Revelation

Ayelet Wenger weaves together the personal, historical and exegetical in advance of reading Sefer Shemot.