Scholarship

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

Leead Staller argues for a more nuanced approach to euthanasia in Halakha.

Many synagogue goers found the abbreviated High Holiday services we recently concluded quite appealing. Need we eventually go back to the way it was before coronavirus? Not really, argues Moshe Kurtz, surveying the substantial halakhic support for shortening the services every year.

Francis Nataf explores Malbim’s sophisticated engagement with Kantian ethics.

Benjamin Barer traces the word Hevel through Jewish texts, showing how the use of the same word can teach us both about the wisdom of Kohelet we read this past Shabbat and the character of Hevel who we will read about in this week's Parashah.

After six months suspended between quarantine, isolation, and uncertainty, it’s natural to want to run away from home, especially as Yom Kippur looms and we realize it’s time for a change. But, as Matthew Nitzanim explains, this understandable reaction would miss the point of Teshuvah: everything we need to work on is right here, wherever it is we find ourselves.

AJ Berkovitz offers a charitable perspective on American politicians' apparent errors in citing the Bible.

Dan Margulies explores various opinions on where to light a Hanukah Lamp in dorms and apartments.

Stuart Halpern explains how, when faced with uncertainty, danger, and personal and communal hardships, Americans have turned to the story of the Exodus for inspiration.

When Synagogues Reopen, May the Congregation Permit a Bar Mitzvah Boy to Make Up His Torah Reading? Moshe Kurtz weighs in.