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Aug 12, 2026, 2:24 PM

Why Did the Kessim Laugh at Elijah’s Chair?

At the most recent session of Ono Academic College’s Beit Midrash of Bete Israel (Ethiopian Jewish) Rabbis and Kessim (traditional Bete Israel spiritual leaders), one of the Kessim looked around with a half-smile and asked: “What is this thing...

Jaclyn S. Clark

Aug 10, 2026, 3:48 PM

I argue with an AI at midnight. It’s the most Jewish thing I do

When AI agents went rogue and followed each other into mischief, they exposed a problem older than computers. An ancient Jewish method could have stopped them

Aug 10, 2026, 8:04 AM

Private Struggle, Public Assault: Protecting Torah Life in the Digital Age

A troubling trend has become increasingly visible in our communities, particularly online: individuals who have chosen to leave a Torah-observant way of life are publicly expressing dissatisfaction, doubts, and rejection of Jewish belief and practice. Some posts are personal...

Aug 6, 2026, 6:21 PM

Book review – Foundations and Concepts in Lomdus

For many students of Gemara, there comes a moment when the discussion on the page begins to reveal something deeper. The give-and-take of the Talmudic sugya, the unit of discussion, yields an underlying conceptual architecture in which legal principles,...

Aug 5, 2026, 6:28 AM

Does a Heavenly Temple Replace the Earthly Avodah?

The claim moves quietly through communities that love the Hebrew Scriptures. The earthly Temple, they hear, was only a shadow. The real altar stands in Heaven. The real high priest serves there. The real and final cleansing happens above....

Aug 2, 2026, 9:43 AM

Babel in the Nine Days

The Sanhedrin's written ruling is dated 6 Menachem Av. Hold that date for a moment before anything else. Three days before Tisha B'Av. Inside the nine days when we do not build, do not celebrate, do not so much as...

Yochanan Schimmelpfennig

Aug 1, 2026, 11:35 AM

The Diaspora Is Not a Branch of Israel

The Diaspora is not a branch of Israel. Israel is one historical configuration of Jewish endurance: powerful, consequential and tragic, but neither prior to Jewish existence as a whole nor entitled to administer its boundaries. American, French, British, Argentine...

Jul 31, 2026, 12:06 AM

From Rebbe to Jung to Quantum Physics: The Truth that Less Means More.

Chassidic teaching offers a profound paradox: “The true Yesh is Ayin.” And “The Ayin is the true Yesh.” Translated: the only real “something” is the “nothing” of self-effacement before God, and that “Nothing” is the only true “something”. At the intersection...

Jul 30, 2026, 4:03 AM

A Court Cannot Summon the Messiah: On the Limits of the Sanhedrin’s Authority

A reconstituted Sanhedrin has issued a ruling asking Heaven to reveal the Mashiach and rebuild the Temple. But the classical sources draw a sharp line the court has crossed. When a reconstituted Sanhedrin issues a formal ruling that asks Heaven...

Jul 28, 2026, 1:56 PM

Is Social Media Quietly Undermining the Sanctity of Marriage?

"Comparison is the thief of joy." Theodore Roosevelt's timeless observation may never have been more relevant than in the age of Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Over the past two decades, social media has transformed every aspect of modern life. It...

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