Talmud and Halakhah

Shimi Kaufman analyzes Rav Shimon Shkop's perspectives of halakha and human experience, through the lens of financial law.

We only rarely have the opportunity to compare and analyze instances where a rabbi or scholar changed his interpretation over time, yet R. Yom Tov Lipman Heller published his Mishnah commentary, Tosafot Yom Tov, twice in his lifetime. Yaakov Jaffe examines the evolution of R. Heller's interpretation of the term “the Mouth of the Earth” in Pirkei Avot.

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

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

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,...

The epikorus and the min apparently represent two different kinds of heretic in traditional Jewish literature. Elisha Price traces the evolving meaning of each term in Hazal and medieval writings, clarifying the differences between the major genres of Jewish heresy and helping illuminate for us why they matter.

The exhaustive Talmud commentary of Provencal scholar Menachem ben Shlomo Ha-Meiri was largely disregarded by Jewish scholars for centuries. Its revived popularity in the twentieth century presents a puzzle, then, for which multiple explanations have been offered. Michael Broyde considers the approaches advanced by his teacher Dr. Haym Soloveitchik and by others, before proposing his own explanation, focusing on Meiri's unique level of access to and use of Yerushalmi texts.

In this analysis of Avodah Zara 3b, which states what God does throughout each day, Marina Zilbergerts uncovers ideas about divine consciousness and human consciousness alike.

Jonathcan Muskat explores the different ways Rabbi Soloveitchik communicated about Mehitzah.

The propriety of celebrating the downfall of enemies presents a complex web of questions and seemingly contradictory Jewish texts. Michael Kurin makes sense of this subject and proposes a framework for applying it to matters of Israeli public policy.