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Dovid Schwartz
Yisro After Matan Torah: The Foundation of Jewish Belief
Dovid Schwartz

Yisro was a searcher. He had seven names, seven identities; he constantly reinvented himself in developing his life philosophy…

Dovid Schwartz

 FEATURED ESSAYS

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Dr. Hillel Broder
Counting As Recounting: Reading The Sefirot Along With Sefirat Ha'Omer
Dr. Hillel Broder

It is a curious, perhaps historic oddity to note the contemporary cultural and textual prominence of the sefirot — alternately defined as divine essences, attributes, or emanations — within the ritual engagement of sefirat ha’omer.

Dr. Hillel Broder

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Devir Kahan
Parshas Metzora: When Destroying A Home Is The Only Option
Devir Kahan

The laws dictating what one is to do in response to contracting tzara’as are rather extreme when it comes to tzara’as of the house...

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Devir Kahan
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Elan Teichman
The Paradox Of Liberty: Free To Do What?
Elan Teichman

Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness.

Elan Teichman
Levi Morrow
“Not For Your Sake But For The Sake Of My Holy Name” – On Redemption, Ideal, & Otherwise
Levi Morrow

Chapter 36 of Sefer Yehezkel is part of the third and final section of the book, the section dedicated to the Redemption of Bnei Yisrael from the Babylonian Exile...

Levi Morrow
Devir Kahan
From Slavery To Slavery: What It Means To Be The Children Of God
Devir Kahan

The relationship between the first days of Yom Tov and the last days of Yom Tov on Pesach are somewhat unique relative to Succos...

Devir Kahan
Avi Borgen
The Half-Hallel Of Pesach
Avi Borgen

In his Derech HaShem, Ramchal writes that all holidays are connected to the original day thousands of years prior when the events of that holiday first took place...

Avi Borgen
Shoshana Rozenberg
What’s The Big Deal With Firstborns?
Shoshana Rozenberg

The firstborn child is given a lot of credence over the course of Pesach, and in Jewish life in general. What is so special about being the firstborn son of a family?...

Shoshana Rozenberg
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Devir Kahan
Free Will (Conclusion): The Implications Of Free Will In The Life Of Man
Devir Kahan

So far in this series we have discussed the differences between Human and Divine knowledge, and addressed the contradiction at the center of our topic, namely, how can Man possess Free Will when God knows all that will happen in the future?...

Devir Kahan
Devir Kahan
Free Will (Part 3): How Can It Be That God Knows Everything, Yet Man Has Free Will?
Devir Kahan

We can now turn to address the question that lies at the heart of any discussion of Free Will — how can it both be true that God knows the future, and that humans have free choice to act how they choose? Rambam poses our problem as follows...

Devir Kahan
Devir Kahan
Free Will (Part 2): Understanding and Defining ‘Knowledge’ in Regards to Both Man and God
Devir Kahan

We begin at the start of Rambam’s discussion of Free Will in Yesodei HaTorah. God, explains Rambam, has total comprehension of His absolute existence...

Devir Kahan
Devir Kahan
Free Will (Part 1): A Brief Introduction
Devir Kahan

The topic of Free Will, or Bechirah Chofshis, in a religious context almost always begins with a seeming contradiction: How can it both be true that God knows the future, and that humans have free choice to act how they choose?...

Devir Kahan
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Dovid Schwartz
Between Wisdom & Election: Leo Strauss On The Binding of Isaac
Dovid Schwartz

For those who have heard of him, Leo Strauss generally suffers from a negative reputation. To some, he is a political philosopher who rejected modernity in favor of classical antiquity. To others, he was the father of the Iraq war. To yeshiva students, Strauss is the heretic who disgraced the Mishneh Torah and made eternal The Guide of the Perplexed. However, I would like to study Strauss in another light…

Dovid Schwartz
Dovid Schwartz
How To Study The Beginning Of The "Guide Of The Perplexed:" Thoughts On Maimonides’ Philosophy Of Language
Dovid Schwartz

Like most other books, the Guide of the Perplexed is a book of words. Unlike most other books it is a book about words. Maimonides, in his Introduction to the First Part, claims to have two goals. The first goal is to explain the meaning of various terms occurring in the books of prophecy. The second purpose is to explain obscure parables occurring in the books of prophecy…

Dovid Schwartz
Dovid Schwartz
Epicurus: The Happy Apikores
Dovid Schwartz

Epicurus (341-270 BCE), one of the greatest thinkers of Ancient Greece, was known for his theory of the atomic universe, radical ethical philosophy, and his epistemology which included only material objects. However, perhaps less well known is Epicurus’ appearance in the thought of Chazal…

Dovid Schwartz

 LIGHTS OF CULTURE by R. JOSH ROSENFELD

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R. Josh Rosenfeld
Lights Of Culture: Limitless
R. Josh Rosenfeld

William James, Harvard philosopher and psychologist, is often called the father of American psychology...

R. Josh Rosenfeld
R. Josh Rosenfeld
Lights Of Culture: Out Here In The Fields
R. Josh Rosenfeld

Whenever thinking about or relating to the natural beauty of this world in a spiritual sense, the words of Maimonides come to mind...

R. Josh Rosenfeld
R. Josh Rosenfeld
Educating For Desire: A Lesson From Dante & Rav Kook
R. Josh Rosenfeld

We could sense that the shiur was nearing a close. It had been, as usual, a tour de force of emotion and insight that characterized these once-weekly gatherings of the entire Yeshiva...

R. Josh Rosenfeld
All Essays
R. Moshe Shure
Some Musings On The Upcoming Holidays
R. Moshe Shure

Before we begin let me take a moment to note that the following essay is not meant to be taken as a Halachic ruling one way or the other, nor to criticize anyone who observes these holidays, but to raise some issues that some may not have formerly been aware of. Conclusions are for each reader to draw for himself. It is beyond the scope of this essay to go too much in depth…

R. Moshe Shure
Dovid Schwartz
Between Wisdom & Election: Leo Strauss On The Binding of Isaac
Dovid Schwartz

For those who have heard of him, Leo Strauss generally suffers from a negative reputation. To some, he is a political philosopher who rejected modernity in favor of classical antiquity. To others, he was the father of the Iraq war. To yeshiva students, Strauss is the heretic who disgraced the Mishneh Torah and made eternal The Guide of the Perplexed. However, I would like to study Strauss in another light…

Dovid Schwartz
Levi Morrow
Rav Shagar on Being Religious as Being Weird and Avant-garde, with A Note About Academic Bible Scholarship
Levi Morrow

So apparently men wearing skirts is getting more and more popular (hold onto your hats, because this essay is going to end up talking about academic Bible scholarship). Just a few years ago, however, it was considered avant-garde...

Levi Morrow