talmud

The promise — and the threat — of artificial intelligence is that the world as we know it is ending. Even Sam Altman, the creator of ChatGPT, recognized that behind economic promise glows an…

Egyptian judge Saeed Youssef made news in May when he issued a pair of mass death sentences against supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. After trials that lasted only a few hours and during which…

While the Talmud dictates that both men and women dress modestly, the legal tradition that follows in its wake makes dress requirements for women much more rigid. Thus, the fact that in many Orthodox summer camps, or Kibbutzim, one can readily find young Orthodox men in shorts and T-shirts while young girls wear skirts and longer sleeves is not inconsequential. And how often are religious boys told, “Don’t wear that, it’s not tznius (modest)!”? Not very often.

Rather than burn it.

The first decade of the twenty-first century seems to have upended the Jewish world. What does it mean that conservatives, and some Orthodox, have begun to agitate for social justice, while progressives, traditionally secular, are “taking back the texts”?

The Orthodox Jews of Lakewood, New Jersey, are worried about supporting the rights of gays and lesbians to marry because it might reflect badly on the community. Rabbi Justus N. Baird offers a corrective.

During the Bush Administration, Rabbi Melissa Weintraub wrote a definitive condemnation of torture according to Talmudic teaching and Jewish collective memory. With the release of the CIA “torture memos,” these essays are worth revisiting. And, as Israel celebrates the 61st anniversary of its independence how does the Jewish nation itself stack up to these ideals?