Yael Shahar, at The Blogs

Yael Shahar

Mar 13, 2025, 9:33 PM

Mordechai could have bowed to Haman with impunity

'Haman and Mordecai,' by Paul Alexander Leroy, 1884. (Wikimedia Commons)

It wasn't Jewish law that stopped the stalwart Jew from prostrating himself, but sound temporal reasons to protest the king's sole adviser

Oct 16, 2024, 2:01 PM

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Sukkot: Dancing over the abyss

Does the Torah really expect Jews to be altogether and only joyful during the holiday of Sukkot? That seems impossible, especially this year

Jul 27, 2023, 5:28 PM

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The place where we are right: Lessons from a talmudic story

One school of Jewish law favored tradition, another innovation, but it was only when they tried to fix one over the other that things really went wrong

Apr 17, 2023, 8:31 PM

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Holocaust and literature: A writer’s dilemma

While literature may not have a one-to-one correspondence with facts, it can have a one-to-one correspondence with truth

Dec 2, 2022, 3:01 PM

Parashat Vayetze: Meetings at the Well

In this week's parasha, Yaakov flees from his home after stealing his father's blessing that was meant for his older brother, Esav. His destination is Haran, where his mother's family lives. In one of the iconic scenes in the...

Aug 12, 2022, 6:05 PM

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V’Etchanan and Tu B’Av: What is love?

Moses' advice on how to maintain a relationship with God is easily translated into advice on how a couple maintains a successful marriage - how timely!

Feb 4, 2022, 12:23 PM

Whoopi and the Jewish Question: What are we really?

The story goes that famous physicist was speaking on the quantum nature of light, demonstrating how light sometimes acts as discreet particles and sometimes as a wave. A confused student asked, "But professor... Is light a particle or is...

May 11, 2021, 10:53 PM

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Proportionality of response: What it really means

How much force should the IDF use to stop rocket fire from a given location in Gaza? What if there are civilian casualties?

Sep 30, 2020, 5:09 PM

Sukkot: The paradox of joyfulness

Sukkot is called by our sages "The Time of our Joy" ( זמן שמחתינו ). While other holidays are said to be times of joy as well, Sukkot is singled out in particular by the Torah (D'varim 16:15): "You...

Aug 11, 2020, 3:46 PM

Rabbi Steinsaltz: A place at the four dimensional table

In March, 2011, with very little fanfare, a milestone in Jewish history was passed: forty-five years after he started the project, Rabbi Adin Even-Yisrael Steinsaltz completed the first ever translation of the Talmud — all 5,894 folio pages (nearly...

About Me

Yael Shahar has spent most of her career working in counter-terrorism and intelligence, with brief forays into teaching physics and astronomy. She now divides her time between writing, off-road trekking, and learning Talmud with anyone who will sit still long enough. She is the author of Returning, a haunting exploration of Jewish memory, betrayal, and redemption.

Contact Me