Bereishit
- Mercy, Justice, and Responsibility: Toward a New Reading of the Creation Stories
October 21, 2009 - Why are Women Exempt from the Command to Procreate?
September 29, 2010 - The Architecture of Creation: A Blueprint for Thinking about Midrash
October 12, 2012 - A Talmudic Motion to Retry the Snake
October 18, 2014 - The Dangers of Knowledge Addiction
October 10, 2015 - Are Adam and Eve Modern Orthodox Role Models?
October 28, 2016 - May a Chazan Lead High Holidays Services from a Wheelchair? Part 4
October 11, 2017 - Should We Care How Long Creation Took?
October 5, 2018 - Was Negiah Prohibited in Eden?
October 25, 2019 - Should Halakhah Require Belief that Women Are at Least Equal to Men?
October 16, 2020 - How Open Should We Be to Interpretations of Torah That Yield Conclusions We Reject?
October 1, 2021
Noach
- Is Free Will A Gift Worth Having for Its Own Sake, or for the Sake of Overcoming It?
October 7, 2010 - Do We Own Our Bodies? Halakhic and Aggadic Reflections
October 19, 2012 - Noach 5774
October 4, 2013 - Understanding the Tower of Babel through Visual Art
October 25, 2014 - If a Waterfall's in the Forest, Does it Make a Sound?
October 17, 2015 - Noach and Global Warming
November 4, 2016 - Noach: A High School Seminar Transcript
October 20, 2017 - Are All Sins Ugly?
October 12, 2018 - Noach and Global Warming
November 1, 2019 - Everything You Knew About Jewish Law and Abortion is Wrong
October 23, 2020 - The Ben Noach and the "Good Gentile"
October 8, 2021 - Politics After the Flood
November 1, 2024
Lekh Lekha
- Open Book: Lekh Lekha
Harvard Hillel, undated - The Canaanites Were Then in the Land: Ibn Ezra and Lower Biblical Criticism
October 30, 2009 - On Omnisignificance and Redundancy, or: Why was Yishmael Circumcised?
October 13, 2010 - Who Was Avraham's Mother? Thoughts on Tolkein and Torah
November 4, 2011 - Against the Legalization of Physician-Assisted Suicide: A Case Study in Halakhah and Public Ethics
October 26, 2012 - Avraham, Abravenel, and Monarchy
October 11, 2013 - Translating Torah, No Dictionary Required
November 1, 2014 - Did Avram Go for His Own Sake or for G-d's?
October 24, 2015 - Does "It's Never Been Done" Imply "It Shouldn't Be Done"?
November 11, 2016 - May a Chazan Lead High Holidays Services from a Wheelchair? Part 5
October 27, 2017 - The Kavanaugh Hearings and Torah Conversation
October 19, 2018 - Why Didn't the Rabbis Eliminate Mamzerut? Part 7
November 8, 2019 - Does Halakhah Value Emotional Health and Ordinary Human Relationships?
October 30, 2020 - Prophecy and Moral Discomfort: An Abrahamic Model
October 15, 2021 - Were Lot’s Shepherds Religious Zionists?
November 4, 2022 - Avraham, Lot, and the Two-State Solution
November 8, 2024
Vayera
- Open Book: Vayera
Harvard Hillel, undated - Tosafot's Radical Portrait of Avraham
November 5, 2009 - Was Avraham Ambivalent, or Ashamed? Malbim's Astounding Reading of the Akeidah
October 21, 2010 - Dina Demalkhuta Dina vs. Civil Disobedience in Sodom
November 11, 2011 - What are the Responsibilities of a Good Person in a Corrupt Society?
November 2, 2012 - Tzelem Elokim, Imitatio Dei, and the Dynamics of Dignity
October 17, 2013 - Our World Cannot Stand on Justice Alone
November 8, 2014 - Religious Sacrifice: Beyond Good and Evil?
October 31, 2015 - Bully for Sodom
November 18, 2016 - The Model of Avraham: The Uniqueness of Chesed and Mishpat
November 3, 2017 - Akeidah Moments
October 26, 2018 - Why We Need More Akeidah Conversations
November 15, 2019 - Akeidah Theology?
November 6, 2020 - Does the Torah Support the Avraham Accords?
October 22, 2021 - Does Akeidat Yitzchak contribute anything to a Torah understanding of parenting?
November 11, 2022 - The First Destruction of Sodom
November 3, 2023 - Here is the Knife and the Fire, But Where is the Kohen for the Sacrifice?
November 15, 2024
Chayei Sarah
- Open Book: Chayyei Sarah
Harvard Hillel, undated - Mishum Eivah and Political Morality
November 13, 2009 - Murder by Midrash: The Case of the Disappearing Father
October 29, 2010 - Reverse Kutim? Thoughts on Kashrut, Credibility, and Pluralism
November 18, 2011 - Piety and Hard Choices, or: Why Yitzchak Could Not Choose His Own Wife
November 9, 2012 - Can the Powerful Ever Know They Are Truly Loved? Thoughts on Image-Management
October 24, 2013 - Murder by Midrash
November 14-15, 2014 - Avraham, Yitzchak and Intermarriage
November 7, 2015 - What if Avraham Had Lived in America? Thoughts on the Political Implications of Human and Jewish Being
November 25, 2016 - Avraham, Yitzchak and Intermarriage
November 12, 2017 - If Sarah Imeinu had Died in Pittsburgh
November 2, 2018 - Can One Ever Really Ask an Eved for a Favor?
November 22, 2019 - "Let Us Call the Lass, and Ask Her Opinion": A Surprising Moment and an Astonishing Model of Orthodox Feminism
November 13, 2020 - Why Avraham Overpaid, and in Cash
October 29, 2021 - When Yitzchak Met Rivkah
November 18, 2022 - Oedipus Rex in Pressburg
November 22, 2024
Toldot
- Open Book: Toldot
Harvard Hillel, undated - A Flirtation in Egypt
November 19, 2009 - Can One Be Punished for Doing the Right Thing?
November 5, 2010 - Moving to Yes: How Yitzchak and Avimelekh moved from Hatred to Covenant
November 25, 2011 - Let Us Not Be Wholly Undeserving of Our Blessings
November 16, 2012 - What did Yitzchak know and when did he know that he knew it?
November 22, 2014 - Peace with Security: Psychopolitical Meditations on Yitzchak's Meditations
December 2, 2016 - What did Yitzchak know and when did he know that he knew it?
November 17, 2017 - Does G-d Write Thrillers? The Role of Suspense in Scripture
November 9, 2018 - Thanksgiving, Jewish Identity, and Antisemitism
November 29, 2019 - Why Does Yitzchak Pray for Children, and Why Does Rivkah Not?
November 20, 2020 - Would You Marry a Mindreader?
November 4, 2021 - A Boy Named Esu
November 25, 2022 - Thanksgiving and Geulah
November 29, 2024
Vayetze
- Open Book: Vayetze
Harvard Hillel, undated - On the Human "If", or: The Distinctive Tzidkut of Yaakov Avinu
November 27, 2009 - How Should One Relate to Modes of Torah Interpretation that One Does Not Believe In?
November 11, 2010 - Why Does Yaakov Get Angry at Rachel, and Is His Anger Justified?
December 2, 2011 - On the Divine "If", or: The Disadvantages of Tzidkut
November 23, 2012 - Yaakov, Daydream Believer
November 29, 2014 - Science, Halakha and the Halakhist's Dilemma
November 21, 2015 - Dreaming of Puns, Sheepishly (Same as "Yaakov, Daydream Believer")
December 9, 2016 - Drinking Eyes and Kissing Ewes
November 24, 2017 - How Should One Relate to Modes of Torah Interpretation that One Does Not Believe In?
November 16, 2018 - Love, Power, and Religion
December 6, 2019 - Majority Rule and Disputed Elections: An Intrahalakhic Perspective
November 27, 2020 - Lavan and Yaakov in Their Own Words
November 11, 2021 - Dinah and DNA
December 2, 2022 - Was Lavan's Anger Justified?
December 6, 2024
Vayishlach
- Was Eisav on His Way to Meet Yaakov When Yaakov's Messengers Met Him, or Did He Set Out in Response to Those Messengers?
December 3, 2009 - Should Halakhic speech and writing be censored
November 19, 2010 - When Moral Discourse Breaks Down
December 9, 2011 - The Liberating Effect of Interpretive Humility
November 30, 2012 - Dayenu: Would it have been enough?
December 6, 2014 - A Talmud Test
November 28, 2015 - Wrestling with the Klingons
December 16, 2016 - How to Teach Halakhah: From the Transcript of an Ongoing Podcast
December 1, 2017 - Esav Shrugged
November 23, 2018 - When Moral Discourse Breaks Down
December 13, 2019 - What Role Should Halakhah Play in Conversations About Vaccination Priorities?
December 4, 2020 - Justice and Dinah: The Approach of Rav Dovid Tzvi Hoffman and Its Discontents
November 19, 2021 - The Duel in Penuel
December 9, 2022 - War, Ethics, and Esav
December 1, 2023 - May One Praise Rabbis on the Internet?
December 13, 2024
Vayeshev
- Open Book: Vayeshev
Harvard Hillel, Undated - Rashbam Vayeshev
December 10, 2009 - On the Affinity beween Reason and Mysticism
November 26, 2010 - Sermon Vayeshev
November 30, 2010 - When Did Yosef Say No to Mrs. Potiphar?
December 16, 2011 - Is the Road to Redemption Paved with Bad Intentions? Reading Yehudah and Tamar
December 6, 2012 - Yoseph's Journey Past Shekhem
December 13, 2014 - She Said/He Said in the Joseph Story, or: Rashomon in Egypt
December 5, 2015 - A Review of With Might and Strength: An Autobiography by Rabbi Shlomo Goren
December 23, 2016 - Rationalism, Mysticism, and the Search for Order
December 8, 2017 - She Said/He Said in the Joseph Story, or: Rashomon in Egypt
November 30, 2018 - How Yehudah Learned to Respect Women
December 20, 2019 - Halakhah and Change: A Dvar Torah L'Ilui Nishmat Rav Gedalia Dov Schwartz zt"l
December 11, 2020 - A Jewish Perspective on the Kyle Rittenhouse Trial
November 25, 2021 - Is It Always Better When We Talk?
December 20, 2024
Miketz
- Open Book - Miketz
Harvard Hillel, undated - Channukkah Talmud
December 18, 2009 - Should the Chief Rabbinate Declare Fasts for Rain?
December 4, 2010 - Should the Torah Be Read Like a Love Letter, or Rather Like a Technical Reader?
December 23, 2011 - The Challenge of Unexpected Kindness: On Interfaith Dialogue in Light of Judaism's American Experience
December 14, 2012 - Sense and Sensibilities
December 20, 2014 - Brain Death and Halakhah: A Footnote with Uncertain Implications
December 30, 2016 - Five Choices About Teaching Halakhah
December 15, 2017 - Chanukkah, Miracles, and Zionism
December 7, 2018 - The Challenge of Unexpected Kindness: Torah and the American Jewish Experience
December 27, 2019 - Chanukkah, Miracles, and Zionism
December 18, 2020 - Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and Kyle Rittenhouse
December 2, 2021 - Halakhah at Hogwarts
December 23, 2022 - Halakhic Artistry
December 27, 2024
Vayigash
- Open Book - Vayigash
Harvard Hillel, Undated - What is the Halakhic Status of the Doctrine of the Trinity?
December 25, 2009 - Moral Responsibility and Psak Halakhah: The Case of Brain Death
December 9, 2010 - Affective Religious Rhetoric in Sober Perspective, or: A Shiur on Sermons
December 30, 2011 - Dignity in Exile and in Redemption
December 21, 2012 - Yosef Was Not Modern Orthodox, or: The Art of Moral Politics
December 6, 2013 - Leadership in the Aftermath of Moral Disaster
December 27, 2014 - Die Another Day? Shakespeare, James Bond and the Rav
December 19, 2015 - Is Halakhah Always Law? Thoughts About Aggadic Aging, Morality, and Mortality
January 6, 2017 - Of Mice and People
December 22, 2017 - Yosef Was Not Modern Orthodox, or: The Art of Moral Politics
December 14, 2018
Is Rashi Still Necessary? A Reflection on the Occasion of Not Finishing Shas, Again - Is Halakhah Always Law? Thoughts About Aggadic Aging, Morality, and Mortality
December 25, 2020 - On the Interpretation of Dreams
December 10, 2021 - Machine Will Do and Machine Will Learn
December 30, 2022 - What did Yaakov Think, and When Did He Know that He Thought It?
December 22, 2023 - Did Pharaoh Dream of Power?
January 3, 2025
January 3, 2020
Vayechi
- Being Orthodox in the Present Requires Taking Responsibility for the Orthodox Past
December 31, 2009 - Antidisestablishmentarianism: The Next Generation
December 17, 2010 - Can We Bless People for Choosing the Lesser Evil When the Good is Available?
January 6, 2012 - Justifying Ambition
December 28, 2012 - Grave Differences
January 3, 2015 - Reclaiming Scripture's Evil Tongue
December 26, 2015 - The Elor Azaria Case: A Halakhic Framework
January 13, 2017 - What Makes Torah Leadership Possible?
December 29, 2017 - Compromising Evils
December 21, 2018 - One Day, (Nearly) One Daf (Behind): Where and Why I Got Stuck
January 10, 2020 - What Happened to Yosef's Other Children? Rav Yehuda Herzl Henkin z"l's Challenge to American Orthodoxy
January 1, 2021 - Affirmative Action
December 16, 2021 - Sodom and Gemara
January 6, 2023 - If You Must Will It, Does That Mean It’s Not A Dream?
December 29, 2023 - If “Everything is for the Good”, Can Anyone Ever Be Blamed for Anything?
January 10, 2025
