Scholarship

In the anniversary month of Yitzchak Rabin's assassination, Aton Holzer considers definitions and perspectives of who is a killer and what it means to kill.

Yonah Lavery-Yisraeli explores the relationship between the Talmudic term of "asmakhta" and the way we view our past, present, and future.

In honor of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’s fifth yahrtzeit, we present Steven Gotlib's study of Rabbi Sacks's longstanding criticism of the religious worldview of Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik.

As part of his Legal Fictions creative project, Dovid Campbell reimagines the content of Mishna Shekalim 6:2 in an evocative narrative of disability and Temple service.

David Polsky explores a passage in the Sifrei that is key to articulating a Halakahic position on withholding food as a military tactic.

Dan Ornstein juxtaposes the narratives of Cain and Jonah and explores the motif of anger.

The tokhahah in Leviticus 26 is frequently read as a tragedy, warning of the dire consequences of sin and national failure. Ahead of Yom Kippur 5786, Milton Torres-Ceron offers a new reading, informed by the traditional "pardes" method, that frames Leviticus 26 as an affirmation on unwavering divine companionship with Israel.

Yisroel Benporat juxtaposes the Akeidah with the Splitting of the Sea as similar tests of faith.

In honor of Rosh Hashanah 5786, Akiva Weisinger retells and reimagines the parable of the king "who wished to be seen, but did not want to be seen."

Chaim Trachtman compares science and theodicy based on a novel read of the book of Job.