Laughter in the Face of Tragedy: The Enduring Resistance of Rabbi Akiva
Miriam Zami’s essay, runner-up to Hadar's annual Ateret Zvi Prize, uncovers the political and theological resistance of Rabbi Akiva’s laughter in the wake of the destruction of the Temple.
A Time to Mourn: Aveilut as Minor Holiday
Ben Greenfield’s essay, winner of Hadar's annual Ateret Zvi Prize, explores why Hazal chose to situate Hilkhot Aveilut in tractate Moed Katan.
Mind Blown: Shofar as Divine Encounter Beyond the Limits of Human Comprehension
Aton Holzer explores the inscrutability of the Mitzvah of Shofar.
It Will Be Torah and I Am Compelled to Study It: A Philosophy of...
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.
The “Judeo-Christian” Tradition at Yeshiva
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.
Purim, Poverty, And Propriety—Three Talmudic Stories
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.
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.
Reading and Seeing Child Marriage in the Talmud
Yonah Lavery-Yisraeli offers a novel interpretation of the Talmudic sugya of miun that offers profound insight into how the Rabbis dealt with the problem of child sexual abuse.
Revelation Deferred but not Denied: the Golden Calf as a Rabbinic Origin Story
Amitai Bin-Nun provides a fresh and intriguing perspective on the story of the Golden Calf by reading it in light of the Talmudic passage in Menahot detailing an encounter between Moses and R. Akiba on Mt. Sinai where God is tying crowns to the letters of the Torah scroll.
The First Yeshiva Exile
Reading R. Eliezer b. Hyrcanus and Shammai through an autistic lens, Liz Shayne explores how uncompromising, righteous anger can find a place in the beit midrash.