Cities of Crumbling Walls: What The Talmud Can Teach Us About Living Through A...
What can the Talmud teach us about living through a pandemic? Avi Strausberg argues that it teaches us quite a bit about strengthening acts of kindness and solidarity in our communities.
The Utility of Ambiguity
Dina Brawer explores "certainty" and "doubt" in rabbinic tradition.
“Miracles Do Not Happen at Every Hour”: Purim Drinking as anti-Christian Polemic
Eliav Grossman examines the Talmud's account of drinking on Purim, reading it as directed at Christian texts and traditions.
From Lawlessness to Respectability: A Response to Eli Putterman
Lawrence Kaplan responds to Eli Putterman's essay on Reish Laqish and sexuality.
If Your Wife Is Short, Bend Down and Hear Her Whisper: Rereading Tanur shel...
Miriam Gedwiser
Sometimes, returning to a familiar text uncovers something new. In this essay, I hope to reexamine the story of the Oven of Akhnai...
Rabbi Yehudah ha-Nasi’s Yom Kippur
Shlomo Zuckier explores the nature of Yom Kippur and its relationship to atonement.
The Pregnant Sotah: A Case Study in the Ethics of Abortion
Yisroel Ben-Porat grapples with whether the case of the pregnant Sotah has implications for the debates surrounding abortion.
Still We Rejoice: How Halakhah Guides Emotional Complexity
In the wake of recent painful times for the Jewish people, Batsheva Leah Weinstein discusses the ways halakha guides emotion through pain and joy.
U-shemor Nafshekha: The Curious History of the (Supposed) Mitzvah to Maintain One’s Health
What does the Torah mean when it says to "guard your nefesh (soul)"? Lehrhaus editor David Fried reevaluates the common understanding of a Torah mandate for healthy living.
Secular Music and the Jewish Soul
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.
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