Talmud and Halakhah

The Talmud criticizes the heretic Elisha ben Avuyah, or Aher, for listening to Greek music. But what did he do wrong? Todd Berman uses a close reading of Rashi’s comments on the Talmudic passage to explain.

As 2022 comes to a close, the Lehrhaus team is proud to feature some highlights from our contributions this past year. Yet again, we have published at least one hundred original pieces across a wide variety of genres.

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

Sharon Galper Grossman and Shamai Grossman examine Halakhic sources regarding whether physicians and other healthcare workers have a greater requirement to receive the COVID-19 vaccine than the rest of the population.

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

What motivated the first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rav Herzog, to work tirelessly on the seemingly quixotic project of running the modern State of Israel on the basis of Halakhah? Reviewing Alexandar Kaye's new book on the subject, Rabbi Shalom Carmy explains.

Tzvi Sinensky makes a case to consider Rabbi Norman Lamm as pathbreaking Talmud innovator.

Ben Greenfield looks at the similarity between Sefirah observances and quarantine, and suggests a new way to understand the connection.

Rashi’s commentary to Eruvin contains many explanatory diagrams. In anticipation of the Daf Yomi cycle’s study of the tractate beginning tomorrow, Eli Genauer shares some manuscripts that shed light on whether Rashi drew these pictures.

With a novel reading of Josephus and Gittin, Shana Schwartz proposes that the tragedy of the second hurban and the mystery of subsequent Jewish survival may be understood by reference to the physiological knowledge available in classical antiquity.