Talmud and Halakhah

On this flag day, Moshe Kurtz surveys the arguments for and against displaying national flags in synagogues.

For Parshat Naso, Lehrhaus editor Yosef Lindell compares three twentieth-century rereadings of the Sotah ritual that make the passage more palatable to modern audiences.

Judah Kerbel explores how differing approaches to listening to music during Sefirat ha-Omer balance the appropriate role for subjectivity in halakhic decision-making.

The dynamic conversation continues with three letters to the editor widening our perspective on Torah u-Madda. Steve Gotlib grapples with the challenges of living Torah u-Madda in the real world; Ezequiel Antebi Sacca adds a Sephardic view from Argentina; and Eugene Korn adds insight to the Jewish view on Christianity.

Elinatan Kupferberg argues that the boundaries between Torah and Madda have blurred and evolved throughout Jewish intellectual history. This erudite analysis upends our assumptions about Torah u-Madda and breathtakingly reimagines its past, present, and future.

Yisroel Ben-Porat offers historical, hashkafic, and personal reflections on what’s often called the “Judeo-Christian” tradition and whether a Torah u-Madda outlook can embrace the study of Christianity.

Responding to yesterday’s article by Moshe Kurtz, Lehrhaus editor Tzvi Sinensky presents an alternative read of the Mitzvah of lo yilbash.

Moshe Kurtz examines the Torah’s prohibition on cross-dressing as a lens to view the shifting contemporary gender norms.

Dan Ornstein explains how three Talmudic stories about mishloah manot and matanot le-evyonim on Purim can sensitize us to how to relate to the recipients of these gifts.

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