Purim, Poverty, And Propriety—Three Talmudic Stories

Dan Ornstein explains how three Talmudic stories about mishloah manot and matanot le-evyonim on Purim can sensitize us to how to relate to the recipients of these gifts.

Esther, Feminist Ethics, and the Creation of Jewish Community

How can the mitzvot of Purim reveal the feminist ethics of the Megillah? Aton Holzer offers an enlightening new reading of the Megillah, suggesting that there is a profound connection between the text's structure and its ethics.

Revisiting Maimonides’s Merkavah Chapters

In this timely piece, David Fried analyzes Maimonides' explanation of the ma'aseh merkavah in light of the Talmud's strictures on its teaching outlined in Hagigah. Fried's analysis reveals how Maimonides changed course from the Aristotelianism that he posited at other points in his career.

Can we Transform the World? An Analysis of the Talmudic Messiah

Atara Cohen considers the theological implications of the Talmud’s surprising majority opinion as to how the Messiah will come.

Guilt and Shame Cultures in the Thought of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

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.

Reading and Seeing Child Marriage in the Talmud

Yonah Lavery-Yisraeli offers a novel interpretation of the Talmudic sugya of miun that offers profound insight into how the Rabbis dealt with the problem of child sexual abuse.

The Gift of Shabbat as the Trace of God’s Caring Hand on our Faces

Ezra Zuckerman Sivan explains how an enigmatic passage in Masekhet Shabbat teaches us how we can use Shabbat to connect to an oft-hidden God.

Revelation Deferred but not Denied: the Golden Calf as a Rabbinic Origin Story

Amitai Bin-Nun provides a fresh and intriguing perspective on the story of the Golden Calf by reading it in light of the Talmudic passage in Menahot detailing an encounter between Moses and R. Akiba on Mt. Sinai where God is tying crowns to the letters of the Torah scroll.

Shots for Tots: Halakhah and COVID-19 Vaccination for Kids

Sharon Galper-Grossman and Shamai Grossman discuss the obligation for minors to get vaccinated.

Why Pandemics Happen to Good People

What theological language can we use to describe our current pandemic moment? In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, Jeremy Brown takes scope of the ancient and modern notions of plague theodicy and reviews some ideas from the 2021 National Jewish Book Award Winner Torah in a Time of Plague.