Rabbinic Moral Psychology
Chaim Trachtman explores the relationship between moral instincts and rational thinking in Rabbinic Psychology.
“Let Truth Spring Up from the Ground”: Truth’s Changing Role Throughout History
Natan Oliff explores the evolving role of truth throughout Tanakh and later Jewish history.
The Directional Shaking of the Lulav: Bible, Mysticism, and Religious Polemics
Yaakov Jaffe traces the origins and evolution of the custom to shake the lulav in different directions.
Subjective Experience in Halakhah: Music During Sefirah as a Case Study
Judah Kerbel explores how differing approaches to listening to music during Sefirat ha-Omer balance the appropriate role for subjectivity in halakhic decision-making.
“Justice has not Been Done”: Officer Immunity and Accountability in Jewish Law (Part 2)
David Polsky meticulously explores officer immunity in Halakha and compares it with the American legal standard of qualified immunity.
Michael Broyde Responds Regarding Abortion, Halakhah, and Secular Law
What exactly did Rav Moshe Feinstein hold regarding our obligations toward secular law? Does Halakhah distinguish between the first forty days and afterward for gentiles? Michael Broyde responds to his critics.
Faithful Quotations: Of Saying, Bringing, and Citing
Authors mis-citing citations on authors citing authors. What gives? Yiddish.
Hippocratic Healthcare and Christian Absolutism: Can Halakhah Allow for Compassionate Euthanasia?
Leead Staller argues for a more nuanced approach to euthanasia in Halakha.
Star-Spangled Synagogue: Do National Flags Belong in Our Houses of Worship?
On this flag day, Moshe Kurtz surveys the arguments for and against displaying national flags in synagogues.
Reclaiming Lag ba-Omer
Rav Ronen Neuwirth suggests that the strictures of social distancing enable us to reduce this year's Lag BaOmer bonfires - which he sees as a very good thing.
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