The Tragic Gap: Birkat Ha-Ilanot Amidst COVID-19
Shumel Hain discusses how we can bridge the "Tragic Gap" between the world envisioned in the blessing on budding fruit tress and our current reality of pandemic and tragedy
Should the Davening of the Tenth of Tevet Take Sides in a Talmudic Debate?
Several reasons are given in our tradition about the reason for the fast on the Tenth of Tevet. The liturgy for the day takes a stand on what the true reasons are, but Yaakov Jaffe questions whether this stand is the right one.
Istanis: Is it Ever Too Hot for Halakhah?
Moshe Kurtz looks as discomfort as a factor in Halakha
Book Review: Haroset: A Taste of Jewish History by Susan Weingarten
Yakov Ellenbogen reviews Susan Weingarten's Haroset: A Taste of Jewish History.
An Obligation of Sight: Depictions of Suffering in the Haggadah
Ranana Dine explores the depictions of suffering in haggadot.
Four Days of Kristallnacht in Hessen
Stephen Denker reconstructs Bert Katz's experience of Kristallnacht in Nentershausen.
Going Viral
A new poem from Zohar Atkins offers a poetic meditation on life in the COVID world.
Life, Children, and Sustenance: Personal Reflections on the Legacy of a Torah Scholar
Richard Hidary's reflection commemorating the passing of Yaakov Elman, ob"m.
Purim and the Joke of Jewish Sovereignty
Zach Truboff argues that Purim reminds us of our vulnerability even with the State of Israel.
The Agagites
For Parshat Zakhor, this short story by Shira Eliaser richly imagines the world of King Saul and the clandestine encounter that brought Haman’s Amalekite ancestors into the world.
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