Talmud and Halakhah

Can individual autonomy be reconciled with the practice of Halakhah? It can and must, insisted Rav Nachum Rabinovich zz"l. In honor of Rav Rabinovich's sheloshim this past Thursday, David Silverstein explains.

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

Sarah Rudolph responds to Zev Eleff's article on "Digital Democratization".

Shlomo Zuckier explores the nature of Yom Kippur and its relationship to atonement.

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.

With lyrical prose, Natan Oliff teaches us how to view prayer as a virtue and let it enter every aspect of our lives, making us into prayerful people.

What sort of powers did Hazal have in the first century? Ari Lamm wonders.

Rami Reiner examines how our understanding of a Talmudic passage could change if we allow for the possibility of it being a comedy.

Aryeh Klapper explores the Mikvah leniencies of Rabbi David Miller and what led one of his opponents to accuse him of making an obvious grammar mistake.

The classification of certain people as "athenes" receives wide expression in Talmudic stories and even practical halakhic application. Shayna Herszage-Feldan considers the varieties of asthenes descriptions in Talmudic texts, proposing that the category encompasses the condition that is today diagnosed as contamination-focused obsessive compulsive disorder.