Talmud and Halakhah

What does the Torah mean when it says to "guard your nefesh (soul)"? Lehrhaus editor David Fried reevaluates the common understanding of a Torah mandate for healthy living.

What does the makeup of the altar drainage pipes tell us about the nature of holiness? Shlomo Zuckier explores!

Yonah Lavery-Yisraeli offers a careful examination of an enigmatic discussion in the Shulhan Arukh’s laws on neighborly relations. She demonstrates how “radical presence” and attention to sensory details is an essential strategy for halakhic decision-making.

In this essay, written in honor of Yom Yerushalayim, Bezalel Naor explores the differing visions for the ideal state held by Plato and the Rabbis, Maimonides and Rabbi Nahman of Breslov.

Miriam Gedwiser explores the time Rabban Yohanan ben Zakai's students sought to comfort their teacher.

Rami Reiner breaks new ground, analyzing Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein's view of academic Jewish studies.

Chaim Trachtman explores the relationship between moral instincts and rational thinking in Rabbinic Psychology.

In our saturated environment, can any contemporary work on hilkhot Shabbat break new ground? Ezra Schwartz explains that Rav Rimon's newest work does precisely this.

Sarah Zager puts #MeToo in conversation with the Talmudic discussion of the death penalty.

What can the Talmud teach us about living through a pandemic? Avi Strausberg argues that it teaches us quite a bit about strengthening acts of kindness and solidarity in our communities.