Bringing the Geulah Through Mekhirat Chametz by Daniel Z. Feldman

Mekhirat chametz sometimes gets a bad rap. The widespread practice of observant Jews selling their chametz to a non-Jew prior to Pesach, and thus avoiding the prohibitions of bal yeraeh and bal yematze while preserving the chametz for repossession after Pesach, is sometimes seen as a way of not having one’s cake and eating it [...]

From Our Archives: Pesach

The Ten Plagues by Norman Fredman (20:4, Winter 1982) Rav Safra and the Second Festival Day: Lessons About the Evolution of the Jewish Calendar by J. Jean Ajdler (38:4, Winter 2004) The Odd and Instructive Habits of Non-Observant Jews: A Look at Berit Milah and Pesah by Emanuel Feldman (41:2, Summer 2008) Review Essay: Digesting [...]

Exodus and Emancipation: Measure for Measure in Biblical and African-American Slavery by Kenneth Chelst

Perception often succeeds by way of contrast and analogy. Our brains interpret what we see by comparing and contrasting the visualization with information stored in our memory. The African-American slave experience provides a rich source of both personal narratives and historical analysis that can enhance our perception of Israelite bondage and redemption. Conversely, the Exodus [...]

May Women Get Their Hair Cut on Chol Ha-Moed? Halakhic and Meta-Halakhic Considerations by Aryeh Klapper

May women get their hair cut on Chol Ha-Moed?  שולחן ערוך אורח חיים סימן תקמו סעיף ה עושה אשה כל תכשיטיה במועד; כוחלת ופוקסת (פי’ מחלקת שערה לכאן ולכאן רש”י), ומעברת סרק על פניה, וטופלת עצמה בסיד וכיוצא בו; והוא שתוכל לסלקו במועד; ומעברת שער מבית השחי ומבית הערוה, בין ביד בין בכלי, ומעברת סכין [...]

Books of Interest: Pesach Related Works

Rabbi Norman Lamm, The Royal Table:  A Passover Haggadah, ed. Joel B. Wolowelsky, OU Press, 2010. The Commentators’ Bible:  The JPS Miqra’ot Gedolot (Exodus and Leviticus), ed. Michael Carasik, Jewish Publication Society, 2009. Kenneth Chelst, Exodus and Emancipation:  Biblical and African-American Slavery, Urim Publications, 2009.  Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, אחריך נרוצה, Yediot Aharonot Press [Hebrew]. OU Press [...]

The Pesach Hagada – The Wise Son Returns to the Questions by Yakov Nagen (Genack)

“The Torah speaks of four children: One is wise, one is wicked, one is simple and one does not know how to ask.”       -   The Haggada The four children represent four different types of personalities. Because life is dynamic, each person, during the course of his or her lifetime, often incorporates aspects of all four of these [...]

Our Writers Respond: Women, Communal Leadership, and Balancing Halakhic Values by Nathaniel Helfgot

I would like to commend my colleagues and friends, Rabbis Brody, Klapper (here and here) and Rothstein (here and here) for their stimulating and substantive posts in the last few weeks, partially in reaction to my original post on two halakhic issues that have been raised regarding the issue of expanding women’s roles in communal [...]

Can Women Receive a Heter Hora’ah? Chukim, Mishpatim, and Womanhood (Part 2) by Aryeh Klapper

In my initial posting on the subject of women’s ordination, I made a series of general theoretical points, which I elaborate on here as necessary context for the specific arguments I’ll be making in this post: a)      Conventional Orthodox theology divides the Taryag Mitzvot into chukim and mishpatim, understood in accordance with Rashi as respectively [...]

Abrabanel & The Menora: An Early Interpretation Supporting the Concept of Tora U’Madda by Yaakov Bieler

              The latter Tora portions of the book of Shemot, with the exception of Ki Tisa, focus upon the construction of the Tabernacle and the fabrication of the ritual clothing worn by the priests when they were performing the Temple service. Most commentators are hard-pressed to derive rigorously argued, logical spiritual instruction from this quantitatively [...]

Our Writers Respond: Chukim, Mishpatim, and Womanhood by Aryeh Klapper (Part 1)

Chukim and Mishpatim in Halakha and Hashkafa              A core concept in popular Orthodox thought is the distinction between חוקים and משפטים as presented by Rashi.  In this view, mitzvot are classified by whether they do or do not have a humanly intelligible purpose.  This position is hashkafically alien to the Spanish philosophical tradition, and [...]

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