Talmud and Halakhah

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.

Daniel Shlian explores instances of pun usage in Jewish text.

Yonah Lavery-Yisraeli explores the relationship between the Talmudic term of "asmakhta" and the way we view our past, present, and future.

  Isaac (Amichai) Roszler Rabbi Joseph Hirsch Dünner (1833-1911), also known as Ritzad, was one of the first modern academic scholars of the Bavli, the Babylonian...

As part of his Legal Fictions creative project, Dovid Campbell reimagines the content of Mishna Shekalim 6:2 in an evocative narrative of disability and Temple service.

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

Tzniut, much discussed in the Modern Orthodox community, is not an end but a means, prompting us to the higher value of awareness of being in the Divine presence.

As part of his Legal Fictions creative project, Dovid Campbell reimagines the content of Mishna Yevamot 16:6 in an evocative narrative.

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.

In the wake of recent painful times for the Jewish people, Batsheva Leah Weinstein discusses the ways halakha guides emotion through pain and joy.