Halakhah
With the Days of Awe just on the horizon, we rebroadcast a fascinating conversation about the nature of the Jewish Orthodox community and the human capacity for change.
More than most, Modern Orthodoxy is a movement constantly ensnared by ideological disputes. Here’s how it can survive.
Surprisingly unchanging.
“Nations who are limited by the ways of religions.”
Emotional subjectivity in Jewish law and ethics.
Halakhah and the trolley problem.
The author of our May essay on the Zoom seder joins us to talk about his ideas and the debate surrounding them.
“How God spoke is a mystery. That God spoke is of the utmost significance.”
From Ashkenazi and Sephardi to strict and lenient.
The Zoom-seder ruling was intended to ease human suffering, but it was also, in effect, a maneuver for influence within the Sephardi rabbinate and a bid to resist historical forgetfulness.
How the Zoom-seder debate opens up on questions of virtual reality.
With some help from the great rabbis of England.
Lenient rulings in response to new situations are not necessary if unfortunate accommodations, they are instead a testament to the strength and durability of Judaism.
Some families prefer the connection it offers. But an online seder seems like an acknowledgement of generational failure, a stopgap measure to keep nostalgic religious affiliation afloat.