Elli Fischer
The Romance and Rage of Rashbi
In the technical halakhic sense, Lag BaOmer is not really a festival, and it is not attested to in any of the classical sources. So how did the Hilula de-Rashbi, as the Meron Lag BaOmer celebration is called, become such a large, and largely Hasidic, pilgrimage—and rave?
Tools of Hope: Finding Guidance from Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef
The Jewish muscle-memory that shapes our collective intuition, guides our response to calamity, and gives us hope that we will overcome this, too.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and the Halakhot of Hostages: Part III
When Israeli citizens were taken hostage in Entebbe in 1976, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef was asked if hostages could be exchanged for terrorists. What can his towering responsum teach us about the current moment?
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and the Halakhot of Hostages: Part II
When Israeli citizens were taken hostage in Entebbe in 1976, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef was asked if hostages could be exchanged for terrorists. What can his towering responsum teach us about the current moment?
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and the Halakhot of Hostages: Part I
According to halakhah, should the terrorists imprisoned in Israel be released, as Hamas demands, to save the lives of the abducted Jews?
Jeremiah’s Dilemma: A Response to Hillel Halkin
There is not much I can disagree with in Hillel Halkin’s portrait of the present cultural and political moment in the State of Israel. His despair captures the mood of…
Responses to Halkin
Hillel Halkin's article about the future of Israel and Zionism has sparked a tremendous debate. We have curated some of the most interesting and engaging responses.
Rov in a Time of Cholera
From limiting minyan sizes to magical amulets, a look at how one rabbi faced waves of cholera epidemics over his long 19th-century career.
Vive la Differénce! A Rejoinder to Joshua Holo
The final installment in an exchange between Elli Fischer and Joshua Holo about Michael Chabon's controversial commencement address at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Michael Chabon’s Sacred and Profane Cliché Machine
What's wrong with "knocking down walls"? Well, several things...
Halakha and State: An Exchange
In our Winter 2016 issue, Elli Fischer explained why he defies the Israeli Chief Rabbinate and argued for radical reform. Four responses and his rejoinder.
Why I Defy the Israeli Chief Rabbinate
Everyone knows that the Israeli Chief Rabbinate is often capricious, needlessly adversarial, and hopelessly bureaucratic. Actually, it’s worse than that. It can’t be abolished any time soon, but its power should be radically diminished.
New Gleanings from an Old Book
Ruth, one of the shortest books in all of Tanakh, has a simple plot: A man from Bethlehem moves with his family to Moabite territory to ride out a famine in Judea, his two sons somewhat scandalously marry Moabite women, and all the men subsequently die.
Brave New Bavli: Talmud in the Age of the iPad
The Talmud was hypertextual before we had the word. ArtScroll's new app is only the beginning.
Marginalia
Israeli director Joseph Cedar's new film Footnote was anything but that at the Cannes Film Festival, despite its setting in the Hebrew University Talmud department.