June 8, 2023
In this week’s Tradition Questions, Chaim Strauchler considers a failed addition to the modern kosher diet. Looking at the locust as a case study, he asks why do some new foods make it and others do not.
June 5, 2023
Akiva Sternberg has amassed a collection of halakhic responsa documenting the challenges to religious life in 19th and early 20th century America. In reviewing the Hebrew volume, Menachem Keren-Kratz calls it “an important book to any scholar interested in the history of halakha, and particularly to scholars interested in the history of Orthodox Judaism in America.”
June 1, 2023
Ruth Calderon captivated Israel and the Jewish world with her maiden Knesset speech in which she taught a piece of Talmud, and offered a plea that Gemara take a greater role in Israeli civic life. Her book of aggadic analyses furthers this goal by encouraging secular Israelis to look more into texts which animated their ancestors; religious readers who are already familiar with many of these texts will be similarly rewarded for their openness by encountering Calderon’s sensitive and often insightful readings. Yitzchak Blau reviews “Alfa Beta Talmudi” in this week’s Alt+SHIFT.