Timely Thoughts

Zach Truboff argues that Purim reminds us of our vulnerability even with the State of Israel.

In a rare piece of Lehrhaus Purim Torah, Mark Glass explores—with surprising halakhic rigor—whether the Pokémon named Bulbasaur’s use of a Solar Beam attack would constitute cooking on Shabbat.

Dan Ornstein examines the rabbinic interpretation of the phrase "ba-asher hu sham," and applies it to the current conflict in Israel.

Alex Ozar explores wartime law in the Rambam.

The secular calendar has its leap day on Feb. 29. On the Jewish calendar, our leap day is 30 Adar I, since Adar in a non-leap year always has 29 days. Yaakov Taubes explores all of the Halakhot pertaining to this unique day.

Historian Henry Abramson, who is currently releasing a series of video lectures contextualizing Israeli history and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, asks hard questions about how to understand the post-October 7th world.

Historian Malka Simkovich explores ancient diasporic responses to collective trauma and what they can tell us about our responses to the aftermath of October 7th.

Rachel Sharansky-Danziger limns the deep collective pain of October 7th on Israelis and forges a way forward amidst its intensity.

Six new poems by Elhanan Nir—published here with English translation and annotation—capture the grief and discontinuity of this moment.

In this thoughtful essay, Cypess reflects on the melody that is carrying Israel in the wake of October 7th.