Scholarship

Pressed for time, people often skip reciting the korbanot section of the morning prayers. With the High Holidays approaching, Judah Kerbel makes the case that the korbanot are far more central and halakhically significant to our prayers than we often realize.

Udi Dvorkin offers a plea to take Rav Shagar at his full value, which means reading him in the original Hebrew.

Kate Rozansky explores the life of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai through the prism of the women in his life.

Malka Simkovich on the Hasmonean victories and the truth behind the Hanukkah miracle.

Shmuel Winiarz contributes to the Lehrhaus Symposium on the recent OU statement regarding female clergy.

William Gewirtz discusses the necessity of a Halakhic Dateline.

Ezra Sivan compares biblical covenants, the all-important circumcision of Abraham and Shabbat

Jacob is described in Rabbinic thought as a pursuer of truth, but many have questioned whether this aligns with the simple reading of the text. Gavriel Lakser argues that a close reading shows that it does, even if he made some mistakes along the way.

Shimon Laufer examines how Rabbinic understanding of the holiday of Passover influenced the holiday of Purim, and how one of the oldest manuscripts of the Mishnah hints that the converse may be true as well.

Countless explanations have been offered to explain the debate between Beit Hillel and Beit Shamai as to whether we light the Hanukkah candles in ascending or descending order. Yet remarkably, Hannah Abrams manages to offer a strikingly novel reading of this debate. Her analysis is well worth the read.