Between “Reid” and Learning: Behag on Sefirat Ha-Omer I regularly remind my talmidim and talmidot that learning, for yeshivah day school students, often requires unlearning what we first encountered while less mature. While I most commonly urge this unlearning regarding Tanakh and midrashim (think Vashti’s tail), for yeshivah students, this reminder is particularly apt in regard to
Mikra Bikkurim at the Seder: A View from Deuteronomy The problem is familiar enough: why does the Haggadah feature mikra bikkurim, the grateful farmer’s declaration, as the textual basis for analyzing the miracles of the Exodus, instead of the original story in Parshat Bo? Many of the classic solutions are widely known.[1] [https://www.thelehrhaus.com/timely-
Queen Vashti's Comfy Pants and The End of Men Unfortunately I don’t have the time to write up a full discussion of the breezy new children’s book Queen Vashti’s Comfy Pants (see initial post and discussion here: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2700033273624706&id=100008541784092 [https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_
The Rabin Assassination and the Imperative of Civil Discourse Today Watching the tempestuous political debates in the Jewish community mirror the fevered pitch of pre-election discourse throughout the United States, it occurs to me just how appropriate it is that Yitzhak Rabin’s 25th yahrtzeit falls out during these heady times. Today’s environment is not dissimilar to the
The Ish Itti: The Man Whose Time Has Come The identity of the person who walks the goat to Azazel is, to paraphrase Winston Churchill, a riddle wrapped in mystery. The Torah puzzlingly (Vayikra 16:21) calls him an ish itti, literally a "man of time." Unsurprisingly, adopting a variety of Talmudic and midrashic views, the classical
Mirror, Mirror on the Pesach Wall David Moss’ classic Hagadah features a folio adorned with a series of mirrors interspersed among various historical Jewish personalities, drawn from different cultures and eras. The borders of the page are inscribed with the Seder’s classic injunction that “in every generation, each individual is obligated to view himself as
Vashti: Feminist or Foe? Another Purim piece [https://goo.gl/NxQuPU], this time placing the midrashic and feminist readings of Vashti's character alongside one another.
Unorthodox: How Megillat Esther Justifies the Holiday of Purim Newest piece [https://www.thelehrhaus.com/scholarship/unorthodox-how-megillat-esther-justifies-the-holiday-of-purim/?utm_source=tzvi&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=february25_sinensky&utm_content=link] is up on the Lehrhaus!
Haggai: Prophet of Elul My newest piece [https://goo.gl/aWURhc]: How Sefer Haggai is the source for seeing Elul as a time of repentance, and what this means for the pivotal month to come.
Tu be-Av and the Concubine of Givah Published this piece [https://goo.gl/874kDx] in honor of Tu be-Av this past Thursday. Better posted here late than never :-)
Tisha B'Av Lessons From Maker Ed First piece in the Jewish Link, ahead of Tisha B'Av. A meaningful and safe fast to all. https://www.jewishlinknj.com/features/26145-tisha-b-av-lessons-from-maker-ed
Parshat Shelach, A Hodgepodge and Religious Growth During the Summertime This was the parsha mini-shiur I taught to Kohelet's high school students this morning, the last day of classes. As you can tell throughout and especially at the end of the shiur, I will miss them tremendously and the feelings are mutual... https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/
Revisiting Mendelssohn’s Living Script I read with interest Dr. Lawrence Kaplan’s insightful essay [https://www.thelehrhaus.com/scholarship/moses-mendelssohn-and-the-mimetic-society-then-and-now/] concerning the key role oral instruction plays in the thought of Moses Mendelssohn. I appreciate his complimentary words regarding my earlier piece [https://www.thelehrhaus.com/
Reverence and Joy in Torah Study More highlights from my current series on Torah study [http://etzion.org.il/en/shiur-10-experiential-dimension-torah-study] at Yeshivat Har Etzion's Virtual Beit Midrash: As captured by Rambam (Hilkhot Yesodei Ha-Torah 2:1-2) and many others, the dialectic between reverence and enjoyment animates
Dr. Norman Lamm’s Trailblazing Talmudic Methodology https://www.thelehrhaus.com/commentary/dr-norman-lamms-trailblazing-talmudic-methodology/ Two trends are particularly prominent in contemporary Modern Orthodox Torah study. First, the last two decades have seen a rise in the popularity of non-halakhic spiritual texts, particularly hasidut. The popularity of Netivot Shalom, Sfat Emet, the Piazescner,
Talmud Torah as Self-Actualization Very much enjoying working on my current VBM series on Torah study. I particularly enjoyed writing the section below, in which I discuss Talmud Torah as a form of self-actualization. http://etzion.org.il/en/shiur-04-purpose-talmud-torah-part-2 A final perspective on the nature of
Resurrecting Moses Mendelssohn Originally published at The Lehrhaus. [http://www.thelehrhaus.com/commentary-short-articles/2017/10/15/i40avtgpezt3gy0ckgo7inowqas90p?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=shlom_oct16&utm_content=link] As chronicled in Robert Putnam’s 2000 classic book, Bowling Alone, loneliness is one of the vexing challenges
Neila 5778 - Singing at Neila I still remember the Friday night of December 27, 2002. I spent that year back at Yeshivat Har Etzion, and I was almost entirely immersed in the Israeli culture. I had Israeli roommates, Israeli chavrutot and attended Israeli shiurim. And so it came as no surprise that my roommates and
Yom Kippur Derasha 5778 - LeChaim! The Jewish blessing LeChaim, to life, represents a bedrock principle of Judaism. And not just because Sholom Aleichem declared as much in Fiddler on the Roof. This is particularly true on Yom Kippur, an anxious day on which we plead with Hashem to extend our lives through the coming year.
Kol Nidrei 5778 - The Tzadik's Light It is one of the most paradoxical moments of the Jewish year. As the sun begins to set and night begins to fall, we declare אור זרוע לצדיק, that light is planted for the righteous. Is this not an outright contradiction? What is more, the imagery of planting seems inapt.
Tuning into the Voices (Rosh Hashanah Day 2) For much of his career, Anthony Flew, born in 1923, was known as a powerful advocate of atheism, arguing that one should presuppose atheism until empirical evidence of a God should surface. As late as 2003, he was one of the signatories of the Third Humanist Manifesto. But in 2004
Wading Through Water (Rosh Hashana Day 1) If you were a Jew living in Mosul a few hundred years ago, you might not have sufficed with just walking to the side of the river, or even tossing some bread into the river. More likely, if you followed common Kurdish custom, you would have rolled up your pants
Rosh Hashana's Principles of Faith In the midst of the fifteenth century, Spanish Jewish philosopher R. Yosef Albo formulated an unusual thesis. He claimed that each of the three central blessings of Rosh Hashana’s Musaf prayer, Malchuyot, Zichronot and Shofarot, alludes to a cardinal principle of faith. Although Rambam had boiled down Jewish dogma
Narcissus and the Nazir http://www.thelehrhaus.com/scholarship/2017/9/13/narcissus-and-the-nazir The legend of Narcissus is well known. As enshrined in the later Roman poet Ovid’s classic retelling, the young man selfishly spurns countless romantic suitors and friends. One such nymph, who had been cruelly rejected, turns heavenward
Houston's Pain is Our Pain Looking at the pain and suffering of the people of Houston and other affected communities, I am reminded of Rav Soloveitchik's haunting reading of the story of Iyov in his classic Kol Dodi Dofek. The Rav wonders what lesson Iyov was meant to derive from his suffering. He
