The Pauper’s Bread
"Ha lahma anya" is one of the first paragraphs recited at the Seder - and its strange features have been baffling commentators for centuries. Elli Fischer adds his reflections to the mix.
Magid, Moshe, Story-Telling, and Story-Living
For Jennifer Raskas, the seder narrative reflects on the past and informs the future.
Elijah’s Elusive Cup and the Challenge of Memory
James Diamond takes a fresh approach to Maimonides's Passover theology and "Elijah's Cup."
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’s Portrait of Moses
In honor of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks’s 70th birthday, Ari Lamm explores his legacy as a biblical commentator.
Of Divine Nostrils and the Primordial Altar: A Pipeline of Sanctity
What does the makeup of the altar drainage pipes tell us about the nature of holiness? Shlomo Zuckier explores!
She-Hehiyanu: An Endangered Blessing Species
It is customary to celebrate Tu Bi-Shevat by eating fruits and reciting the She-Hehiyanu blessing on them. This custom, however, has proved challenging in recent years as advances in technology have made it difficult to find new fruit—as defined by halakhah—to say the She-Hehiyanu
Azariah de Rossi’s Fascination with the Septuagint
What inspired Azariah de Rossi to take a work that cut against the grain of rabbinic views of the Septuagint and make it accessible to his Hebrew-reading fellow Jews?
Playing Dreidel with Kafka and Rabbi Nahman
Joey Rosenfeld takes Kafka and Rav Nahman for a spin, on their timely drey-ing of the tops!
Introducing The Lehrhaus 2.0
Having just passed our one year anniversary, we have updated our website so that you can more easily engage the great content we are committed to bring our readership week in and week out.
Was God Angry at Sarah?
Ben Greenfield
God isn’t angry with Sarah, when she laughs at the idea of birthing a child in her old age (Gen. 18:12-15). God is...