8:17 AM
Gil Student
There is a fascinating new issue of Hakirah:
- Is There a Disconnect Between Learning Torah and Torah Living by Aharon Hersh Fried - A psychologist discusses bad behavior in our community and suggests ways to help teach students internalize their religious studies.
- Reviving Yehoshua ben Gamla's Vision for Torah Education by Aaron Levine - A detailed halakhic proposal for a communal fund to subsidize yeshiva expenses.
- The Jewish Enlightenment by Heshy Zelcer - A great book review arguing that Moses Mendelssohn's legacy has often been misrepresented as being religiously radical or the start of Reform. A direct and conclusive refutation of quotations from R. Berel Wein on the subject.
- Avodah Zarah as Falsehood - Denial of Reality and Rejection of Science by David Guttmann - Arguing based on the Rambam that idolatry is only a symptom of a spiritual illness that still exists within the Jewish community. Click here to read more
- Integrating the Rational and the Mystical: The Insights and Methods of Three Hassidic Rebbeim by Ronald Pies - Brief discussions about the role of the intellect in the thought of R. Nachman of Bratslav, the first Lubavitcher Rebbe and the last Lubavitcher Rebbe.
- Bircas HaChamah and Calendar Mathematics: Precision, Simplicity and Conflict by Sheldon Epstein, Bernard Dickman and Yonah Wilamowsky - Defending the astronomical knowledge and calendrical calculations of Shmuel.
- Messianic Wonders and Skeptical Rationalists by Natan Slifkin - Rabbi Slifkin responds to those who attack him based on a story of Rabbi Yochanan castigating a student who did not believe an implausible statement of his teacher. Available for full download here: link (PDF)
- Avraham and Sarah in Provence by Asher Benzion Buchman - Arguing that the allegorical interpretation of the patriarchs that sparked the second Maimonidean Controversy is actually very standard in universally accepted literature.
- Technology in the Service of the First Mitzvah by Gideon Weitzman - Book review of a recent collection of articles about Jewish medical ethics and infertility.
- On the Announcement of the Molad in Synagogues (Hebrew) by Ya'aqov Loewinger - A surprisingly fascinating article in which the author reviews various recent changes to the practice of announcing the "molad" in synagogues and argues that none of these changes are astronomically accurate and the old practice -- also inaccurate -- should be maintained (although I assume he has no objection to announcing it in a language other than Yiddish).
- The Three Haftorahs of Suffering: A New Interpretation of the Rambam's View (Hebrew) by Nosson David Rabinowich - A discussion of the haftarah practices during the Three Weeks.
