Timely Thoughts

Lehrhaus founder Shlomo Zuckier examines the debate about whether we can repeat Teshuvah for the same sin.

Given the duration of the pandemic, should we suffice with waiting to return to normal, or are there hard-fought lesssons we can reintroduce even once the pandemic passes? Lehrhaus Consulting Editor and Director of Education at Sefaria, Sara Wolkenfeld, uses our recent experiences to gain new perspective on what tefilla, minyan and shul are really all about.

We will all be much more distant from each other this Rosh Hashanah. That’s why, argues Ranana Dine, it’s time to revive the tradition of sending physical greeting cards.

Contemporary physicians have been heroic in the battle against COVID-19, but what was it like to be one of a handful of Jewish doctors confronting the Bubonic Plague during the 17th-century in Italy? Prolific medical halakhist and historian Eddie Reichman takes a close look at the four Jewish graduates of the Padua medical school class of 1623.

What led Rav Steinsaltz to inaugurate a yeshiva in the Soviet House of Sciences on February 22, 1989? In honor of R. Steinzlatz's sheloshim, Yehiel Poupko, a first-hand witness, offers a glimpse into the inner world of his mentor.

At the height of the cholera epidemic in 1831, Hatam Sofer delivered a timely sermon on a perplexing midrash to Parshat Ki Tavo. The take-home, suggests Elli Fischer, is all-too familiar in the COVID era.

May one opt to participate in a potentially dangerous vaccine trial? This theoretical halakhic question has suddenly become all-too-urgent. Sharon Galper Grossman and Shamai Grossman explore.

Shmuel Greene describes the lessons he learned from his Rebbe, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz ztz"l

Chaim Davis shares reflections based on his family’s (and his) close relationship with Rabbi Steinsaltz.

Hillel Broder reflects on the edges in life, in his latest poem for the Lehrhaus.