Polemics and the Orthodox Prohibition Against Microphones on Shabbat by Shlomo Brody

What does Rabbi Yisrael Rozen, the engineer who runs the Tzomet Institute and who frequently speaks on behalf of religious Zionist causes, have in common with the Satmar Rebbe?   They both care tremendously about halakha They both believe that Orthodox opposition to microphones stemmed primarily from polemical considerations against the Reform movement. The Satmar Rebbe’s [...]

The Bones of Yosef by Nathaniel Helfgot

The Torah, in an apparent aside at the beginning of Parashat Beshallah (Ch. 13:19), informs us that as the Israelites were leaving Egypt, Moses recovered the bones of Joseph to fulfill the request/oath that Joseph had made the people swear to him long ago that when the redemption would come they would take his bones [...]

Possible Answers to Rav Soloveitchik’s 1936 Final Exam in Jewish Philosophy by Alex Sztuden

Below are responses to Rav Soloveitchik’s Jewish Philosophy exam that R. Helfgot posted on Text and Texture. I have tried to tie in the responses with the Rav’s own works, supporting R. Helfgot’s contention that the exam offers us a window into the mind of the Rav and the problems he was grappling with in [...]

The Self-Sacrifice of the Frogs: Halakha, Aggadata, and Martyrdom by Aryeh Klapper

תלמוד בבלי מסכת פסחים דף נג עמוד א –ב אמר רבי יוסי: תודוס איש רומי הנהיג את בני רומי לאכול גדיים מקולסין בלילי פסחים. שלחו לו: אלמלא תודוס אתה, גזרנו עליך נדוי, שאתה מאכיל את ישראל קדשים בחוץ. קדשים סלקא דעתך?! אלא אימא קרוב להאכיל את ישראל קדשים בחוץ. איבעיא להו: תודוס איש רומי גברא [...]

More Than Just a Line in Our Prayers: Remembering the Exodus by Gidon Rothstein

In the context of my Mission of Orthodoxy project, I recently noted that Orthodox Jewish men are required to twice daily recall the Exodus from Egypt.  While Rambam does not count this as a separate mitzvah, he does include it as part of the structure of the Shema that obligates us morning and evening.[1]  We [...]

“It is Better for Man Not To Have Been Created”: Seven Years to the Terror Attack in Yeshivat Otniel

by Yakov Nagen  During the course of the Shabbos meal of Parshat Shemot 5763 in the Hesder Yeshiva of Otniel, while the students danced and sang הודו לה’ כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו, terrorists entered the kitchen and murdered the four boys who were preparing the next course: Noam Apter, Yehuda Bamberger, Gavriel Ho-ter, Zvika [...]