Scholarship

In honor of Flag Day, Michael Bernstein argues that national flags do not belong in our shul sanctuaries. Drawing on halakhic responsa, news reports, and photographic evidence, Bernstein locates the practice of displaying flags in shuls in its historical context and proposes that flags do not ever belong in prayer spaces.

Steven Gotlib explores mentalism through a halakhic lens -- in particular, the need for a disclaimer stating that no magic is genuinely being performed.

Why do biblical and rabbinic texts preserve so many names, places, and seemingly unnecessary details? Chaim Trachtman argues that these textual additions are more than literary embellishments: they strengthen communal memory, reinforce covenantal identity, and help transform religious tradition into lived history.

Noah Gradofsky explores sources about a pregnant Sotah and their relevance for Jewish abortion ethics.

Whose idea was Sinai? A midrash contends that Sinai was first conceived by Jethro. Ezra Zuckerman Sivan supports this Midrash from the Torah's text, and explains why Jethro was the appropriate vehicle for providing the rationale of Sinai.

The biblical account of the holiday we refer to as Shavuot bears no relationship at all to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. The emergence of the association between this harvest festival and the Sinai covenant has therefore occupied both traditional and academic thinkers for centuries. Tzvika Aviv argues for a previously unexplored approach to the question, one which bridges the mystical insights of the Zohar with current scientific knowledge regarding wheat genetics.

Max Hollanders compares the theological issues raised by alien life and AI.

Ori Bach analyzes differing interpretations of Yiftach's vow, and its outcome, in the book of Shoftim.

In this essay, William Goloboy elucidates Psalm 132 and the Divine choice to prohibit King David from building the First Temple.

I. Introduction: The Puzzle of Vayikra 17 The mitzvah of kisuy ha-dam, the commandment to cover the blood of a slaughtered bird or wild animal,...