The Gemara in Shabbos 56a relates the following: R. Shmuel bar Nahmeni said in the name of R. Yonasan: Whoever says that David sinned is nothing but mistaken, as it says “And David behaved wisely in all his ways, and the Lord was with him…” (1 Shmuel 18:14). Is it possible that a sin came to his hands and the ...

(The first post on this subject is here.) I found, online, an article mentioned in one of the comments recently: Imitate the Ramban, Not the Professors: An interview with Shalom Carmy from Hamevaser, vol. 38 no. 1 One reason that people shrink the larger than life personalities of Tanakh to pop-psychology size is that they are accustomed to treat themselves ...

On a biblical level, a man is allowed to marry more than one woman. While it has never been a common Jewish practice, at least not in biblical or talmudic times nor in Ashkenazic countries, it was technically permitted. Tradition has it that around the year 1000 CE, Rabbenu Gershom (Me’or ha-Golah) promulgated a ban or a decree prohibiting, among ...

TorahWeb once again produces a relevant and significant statement by a respected scholar from the ranks of Yeshiva University-RIETS roshei yeshivah. This week, R. Dr. Michael Rosensweig discusses the elements that make a successful rabbinic leader: The need for breadth of vision in halachic leadership obviously extends to single rabbinic authorities striving to emulate the model of Moshe and the ...

A reader was kind enough to direct me to an earlier article by Chaim Waxman on this subject. I have not yet had the chance to read it but feel free to post your comments about it.

This post is in response to a question that Ezra Butler posted to his blog about “three schools of thought, each believing diametrically opposite beliefs about the root of rabbinic law. is it divine like the gaonim, man-learned like maimonidies, or man-chosen like nachmanidies.” I. Introduction In a 1994 lecture a Harvard Law School, Prof. Moshe Halbertal of Hebrew University ...

R. Shalom Carmy was contacted by a former student who confessed that he lost his belief long ago and has become a confirmed Orthoprax Jew. Can Rabbi Carmy help him recover his faith? R. Carmy corresponded with this student and one of his letters has been published by Atid as a pamhplet, titled “Forgive Us, Father-in-Law, For We Know Not ...

There has already been quite a bit of buzz about Dr. Alan Brill’s article in the recently released issue of The Edah Journal, titled “Judaism in Culture: Beyond the Bifurcation of Torah and Madda.” Frankly, I don’t see the big deal. He writes as if this were his manifesto but it seems to me to be one of the most ...

In every interaction I have had with R. Dr. Pinchas Hayman, a professor of Talmud at Bar Ilan and the head of the Revadim project, he has come across as an extremely level-headed and realistic talmid hakham. However, when I read his article “Implications of Academic Approaches to the Study of the Babylonian Talmud for the Beliefs and Religious Attitudes ...

Here is a brief summary of R. Berel Wein’s article (mentioned by J.I. in the comments section) attempting to explain the shift to the right in American Orthodoxy: Samuel Heilman posited four reasons for the “shift to the right” in American Orthodoxy: 1. Moral decline of general American society 2. Influence of Haredi teachers in Modern Orthodox schools 3. Decline ...