David Matar Rabbinic collections are replete with fascinating stories that recount pivotal events in Jewish religious and political history. One such event was the first recorded appearance of the famous sage Hillel on the national stage, when he ruled on a halakhic question with regard to the offering of the Passover Sacrifice in the Temple. This rabbinic story has come down to us in three versions: The original recension as told by Tanna’im in the Tosefta (Pesahim 4:13-14); a later adaptation and retelling by Amora’im of Eretz Yisrael in Talmud Yerushalmi (Pesahim 6:1); and a still la ..read more

  Judah Kerbel The Last Days of Pesah: Zeman Simhateinu?When praying the Amidah and saying Kiddush on Festival nights, we mention the name of the holiday and the character that the time represents. Pesah is Zeman Heiruteinu; Shavu’ot is Zeman Matan Torateinu; and Sukkot/Shemini Atzeret is Zeman Simhateinu. Each festival is characterized differently, and that characterization lasts throughout the entire holiday. That, at least, is the common and contemporary practice. In Darkei Moshe, the Rema cites Sefer Minhagim of R. Isaac Tyrnau and Minhagei Maharil who say that for the entire Pesah fe ..read more

  Nathan B. Oman (introduction by Chaim Saiman) In his classic 1941 law review article, “Consideration and Form,” the legal theorist Lon Fuller explained that the need for contractual formalities is inversely related to the substantive grounds of the transaction. “Where life has already organized itself effectively,” argued Fuller, “there is no need for the law to intervene.” But when the business rationale is less apparent, formalities become necessary to draw attention to the legal implications of the undertaking. Reading this article as a first-year law student, I recall excitedly scri ..read more

  Leah Sarna This is the year to tell the stories of enslaved Jewish women. Every year, Jews around the world sit around their seder tables and tell stories of our slavery in Egypt. The Haggadah describes the point of these gatherings: “a person is obligated to see himself as if he left Egypt.” We tell these stories in order to weave ourselves into them – women too, for we were also part of the miracle. But what was slavery like for those women? The Haggadah and even the Exodus narrative itself only provide hints. In previous years I didn’t notice the absence. This year we all know better ..read more

  Janet R. Kirchheimer   The Angel of Death has come four times for my father.  Once in Dachau, the other times in the hospital.  But the Angel has not found him. Perhaps, my father is good at hiding.  A friend tells me that this is the time of my life  that family will start to die,  tells me to get ready.  The training wheels are off, I am ten. My father lets go  of the back of my bike, and I begin to pedal on my own.  “Keep looking straight ahead, don’t look down, or you’ll fall.  When you stop and turn around, you’ll see how far you’ve ..read more

  Letters to the Editor [Ed. Note: For previous responses to the original essay, see here.] I found R. Tzvi Goldstein’s recent piece “Rack up Those Mitzvot” to be insightful, enlightening, and thought-provoking. His thesis that Centrist Orthodox values can be subsumed under the overarching value of elevating this world—olam ha-zeh—through active involvement in it, deserves further attention and ought to be adapted into high school curricula. That said, I believe that presenting Ramhal as the foil to this position is faulty. Given that Goldstein’s only quote of Ramhal is from Mesilat Yesha ..read more

  Steven Gotlib Review of Shaul Magid, The Necessity of Exile: Essays from a Distance (Brooklyn; Ayin Press, 2023) Jews under the age of fifty do not know Israel as anything other than an occupying power. And with the advent of the internet, English-Speaking Jews can read the Jerusalem Post alongside Al Jazeera, The Forward alongside The Guardian. In such an open-access environment, Israel’s propaganda industry is failing miserably. It has some talented people, but it simply doesn’t stand a chance against the present media ecosystem – or against the complex reality that is Israel/Palestin ..read more

  Moshe Kurtz “Silence is violence.” “Silence is complicity.” These are common soundbites that are often used to compel disinterested parties to state their position on a given political issue. Following the 2020 racial unrest catalyzed by the death of George Floyd, Professor Jonathan Turley makes the following observation: “Silence is violence” has everything that you want in a slogan from brevity to simplicity. But it can also be chilling for some in the academic and free speech communities. On one level, it conveys the powerful message that people of good faith should not remain silent ..read more

  Raphael Jospe Note: This article was written and accepted for publication in the summer of 5783/2023 and scheduled to appear after the holidays.  Because of the outbreak of Israel’s “Iron Swords” war with Ḥamas following the murderous attack on Israel on Shabbat/Simḥat Torah (7 October, 2023), we agreed that publication needed to be postponed. Now, five months into the war with no end in sight, we are nevertheless witness to renewed political tensions, public demonstrations, disagreements and paralysis in appointing judges and the President of the Supreme Court, together with resum ..read more

  Yehoshua November Contemporary PoetsYehoshua November Has there ever been a group of agnostics so intent upon meaning in every car door shutting in the cold, each turn of a leaf as it descends. Do they believe more than us, dozing off in the back of the synagogue?[1] One might argue that contemporary poetry seldom mentions the Divine because its practitioners are largely secular. However, something more profound appears to be at play when one considers contemporary poetry’s tendency to jettison the exalted or overtly religious moment and, instead, insist on profundity and wondrousness i ..read more