Talmud and Halakhah

Authors mis-citing citations on authors citing authors. What gives? Yiddish.

In its opening verses, Parshat Shoftim describes a judicial system that enshrines pursuing Tzedek, or justice, as a core value. Benjamin Barer unpacks a Gemara in Sanhedrin that provides three distinct conceptions of the obligation to pursue justice, suggesting how we might build a more sacred society.

David Fried explores the humra of pat Yisrael during the aseret yemei teshuvah.

Yitzchak Blau reviews Jeffrey Rubenstein’s The Land of Truth, Talmud Tales, Timeless Teachings.

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

Aryeh Klapper analyzes Rav Shaul Yisraeli’s classic work on civilian casualties in Halakhah.

May one opt to participate in a potentially dangerous vaccine trial? This theoretical halakhic question has suddenly become all-too-urgent. Sharon Galper Grossman and Shamai Grossman explore.

Yonah Lavery-Yisraeli offers a novel interpretation of the Talmudic sugya of miun that offers profound insight into how the Rabbis dealt with the problem of child sexual abuse.

Ben Rothke takes a sober look at a new book that tries to square Orthodox Judaism with New Age Medicine.

The CDC and FDA have recently endorsed booster shots for the Covid vaccine. But there are those who argue that those doses should be allocated to third world countries instead. Sharon Galper Grossman and Shamai Grossman weigh in about what Halakhah has to say about the issue.