To Be, or Not to Be, a Holy People
Steven Gotlib reviews Eugene Korn’s To Be a Holy People: Jewish Tradition and Ethical Values, a book which asks hard questions about whether Halakhah can integrate with the demands of contemporary ethics.
A Year in Review – 2022
As 2022 comes to a close, the Lehrhaus team is proud to feature some highlights from our contributions this past year. Yet again, we have published at least one hundred original pieces across a wide variety of genres.
Halakhah: Navigating Between Unity and Plurality
Aaron Segal reviews Staying Human by Harris Bor.
Demystifying R. Eliezer Waldenberg on Sex Reassignment Surgery
Tzvi Sinensky carefully examines the Tzitz Eliezer’s view on sexual reassignment surgery.
Letter to the Editor: Response to Leead Staller on Euthanasia
Can Halakhah really countenance euthanasia? Alan Jotkowitz responds to Leead Staller
The Dark Side of Torah u-Madda: Chaim Potok and Core-to-Core Cultural Confrontation
The debate about Torah u-Madda and pop culture continues. Noah Marlowe argues that Chaim Potok's literature offers a useful conceptual framework for, and embodiment of, a profound confrontation between Judaism and elite elements of general culture.
Revival of the Forgotten Talmud
Sefaria has recently published a new bilingual digital edition of Talmud Yerushalmi. Taking stock of this development, Zachary Rothblatt offers an erudite synthesis of the history of Yerushalmi.
A More Holistic Halakhic Approach to Vaccine Inequity
Alan Jotkowitz disagrees with Sharon Galper Grossman’s and Shamai Grossman’s halakhic argument that wealthy nations should provide booster shots to their own populations before contributing doses to poorer countries.
Third Dose vs. Third World Countries: Halakhah Approaches COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation
The CDC and FDA have recently endorsed booster shots for the Covid vaccine. But there are those who argue that those doses should be allocated to third world countries instead. Sharon Galper Grossman and Shamai Grossman weigh in about what Halakhah has to say about the issue.
Alexander Hamilton: The “Jewish” Founding Father
What was Alexander Hamilton's relationship to Judaism? In his review of a new book about Hamilton's Jewish world, Lehrhaus editor Yisroel Ben-Porat explores the arguments to be made for a "Jewish" founding father.