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22. Jewish Leadership
21. The Year in Israel
20. Halakhah and Minhag
19. Torah, Literature, and the Arts
18. Kol Hamishtakker (Part I, Part II)
17. Jewish Denominations and Sects
16. Academic Jewish Studies
15. Family and Community
14. Musar and Jewish Ethics
13. Orthodoxy in the 21st Century
12. Jewish Philosophy
11. Qol Hamevaser
10. Jewish Education
9. Politics and Leadership
8. Spirituality: Teshuva and Tefillah
7. Israel at 60
6. Emunah
5. Torah U’Madda
4. A Nation Unto Itself?
3. Derekh Ha-Limmud
2. Judaism and Pop Culture
1. Religious Growth & Change-
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Latest Articles
Truly Once in a Lifetime? An Approach to Maximizing the Israel Gap Year Experience
It is almost de rigueur for Modern Orthodox Jewish teenagers to spend a gap year in Israel following completion of high school. For some, it is the experience of a lifetime, a Camelot in Jerusalem. For others, it is a disillusioning journey in a foreign land with a different culture and ... Read more →
After Israel: Potential and Pitfalls on Campus
I come to the discussion about the year in Israel experience from the particular vantage point of someone who has been involved in shanah ba-arets programs as well as the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus (JLIC) in the United States.[1] My husband and I were the dorm parents and Ra”mim ... Read more →
Eved Kena’ani: The Other Jewish Slave
Throughout history, Jews have contemplated the practical and ethical implications of the biblical injunction of slavery. As recently as the 19th century, the discussion of biblical slavery was of practical interest. During the American Civil War, a public and heated dialogue about the ... Read more →
Derekh Ha-Limmud
The Long-awaited issue on Derekh Ha-Limmud & Talmud Torah is finally out! Below are all the articles from the issue. You can also view the full PDF here. Derekh ha-Limmud: The Means, Modes, and Methodologies of Jewish Learning - Editor’s introduction with an overview of the ... Read more →
Derekh ha-Limmud: The Means, Modes, and Methodologies of Jewish Learning
Socrates famously said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” The same can be said of the methods applied in scholarship. Almost all fields of study are dominated by methodology; it is rare to find an area of scholarship that does not attempt to approach the issues under ... Read more →
Can Retson Hashem matter in Lomdus?: Mitsvah ha-Ba’ah ba-Aveirah and the Limitations of Formalism
We live in the universe Brisk hath wrought, and I do not propose to begin Cartesian-style from first principles. So, in approaching the issue of mitsvah ha-ba’ah ba-aveirah, let us grant that the term “mitsvah” must be formally analyzed into such categories as de-Oraita/de-Rabbanan ... Read more →
Torat Hesed and Torat Hayyim: Learning Torah as a Living Document
American law, like Halakhah, rests upon documents at the heart of its legal system. This gives rise to the ongoing debate as to whether the American Constitution should be read as a “living document” whose words can be understood and interpreted in various rational and logical ways to ... Read more →
Talmud Torah al Levavenu: Learning Transformatively
BY: Ilana Gadish. One of the most famous appearances of God in the Gemara is found in the aggadeta (homily) about the tannur shel Akhnai (the oven of Akhnai).[i] At the beginning of the story, R. Eliezer is found disagreeing with the Rabbis regarding the purity of an oven that has been cut into ... Read more →
Why Chicken Scratch on Stone, Clay, and Pots Matters: A Case Study in Amos and Archeology
BY: AJ Berkovitz. Although Tanakh is a work in which one finds ever-reverberating messages, it is important to acknowledge that its authors composed their various books while actively interacting with a certain time and culture. By seriously understanding this environment and its effect on the ... Read more →
An Interview with Rabbi Moshe Kahn
BY: Ilana Gadish. How would you describe your approach towards teaching Talmud? What are your goals when you tackle a sugya? The first thing that I would want to emphasize is that the goal of teaching Talmud, or teaching anything, is to teach students how to learn. I think sometimes that gets ... Read more →
Yivhar E-lohim Hiddushim
BY: Moshe Peters. Imagine the following scene: you are in the beit midrash learning Gemara or Tanakh, and you offer your own novel interpretation of the source text – a hiddush. Your havruta (study partner) or friend responds that he or she cannot accept what you just said. Why does he ... Read more →
Theodicy in Tanakh – A Practical Lesson in Knowledge of God
BY: Daniela Aaron. Courses on Jewish philosophy tend to focus on studying theology through the lens of medieval treatises rather than through the lens of Tanakh. What knowledge we have about how God works is not culled from the narratives in the Torah or prophetic literature, but from such ... Read more →
Why Doesn’t Halakhic Man learn Aggadah?
BY: David Pruwer. The arts of defining, categorizing and systematizing are hallmarks of the modern age. Indeed, sociologist Max Weber dubbed this an era in which “one can, in principle, master all things by calculation.”[i] Along with a whole tradition of German thinkers, Weber felt that a ... Read more →
An Interview with R. Dr. Shalom Berger