The Making of “Lights”

Shmuel Klitsner's insider perspectives on making a Hanukkah classic.

Aggadah as Midrash Halakhah: Methodologies and Hiddush in the Tanur shel Akhnai Narrative 

In this piece, Rabbi Dvir Cahana and Rabbanit Shalhevet Cahana illustrate different methods of relating halakha and aggadah in Talmudic analysis through the lens of the Talmudic narrative of the Oven of Akhnai.

Misunderstandings in Tzniut

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.

Imagining Ourselves Into the Beit Midrash

Sara Tillinger Wolkenfeld offers a reflection on the role of imagination in bringing about the recent women's Siyyum ha-Shas.

After Lag: Two Readings on The ‘Self-Praise’ of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai

Rabbi Josh Rosenfeld offers insight into the nature of the Jewish mystical tradition by examining some of Rashbi's stories. 

Bulbasaur & Bishul: An Adar-Fueled, Unnecessarily In-Depth Analysis of a Nonsensical Halakhic Question

In a rare piece of Lehrhaus Purim Torah, Mark Glass explores—with surprising halakhic rigor—whether the Pokémon named Bulbasaur’s use of a Solar Beam attack would constitute cooking on Shabbat.

Outside Help in the Teshuvah Process

With Hoshanah Rabbah today and the theme of repentance in mind, Jack Cohen explores the role that outsiders play in one's teshuva process through an enigmatic midrash instructing one to return a person to themselves.

Can we Transform the World? An Analysis of the Talmudic Messiah

Atara Cohen considers the theological implications of the Talmud’s surprising majority opinion as to how the Messiah will come.

Saving Non-Jews on Shabbat: Two Perspectives on the Development of a Sensitive Halakhah

Jonathan Ziring explores the innovative nature of different Halakhic rulings permitting violating Shabbat to save non-Jewish lives.

Rabbinic Creativity and the Waters that would Consume the World

Levi Morrow explores how the Rabbis use creative exegesis to save the world from drowning in a flood