A new party favor has begun to make regular appearances at weddings and other smachot—ear plugs. Chaim Strauchler asks what these small pieces of polyurethane say about risk-taking and public health in a halakhic community.

Chaim Strauchler connects a peculiar Russian youth trend to a classic Hasidic parable and questions what it means for today’s Jewish educators and youth.

Simple Hanukka lights seem insufficient to the scale of modern holiday celebrations. Many Jewish homes now contain displays similar to those of their gentile neighbors – but with Hanukka themes. Chaim Strauchler questions the motivation for these enhancements and what they say about this moment in American Jewish life.

For generations, Jews did not buy German automobiles. While there was no halakhic basis for this taboo, it reflected a Jewish collective will. Chaim Strauchler questions the meaning of this practice, and what it says about extra-halakhic collective Jewish action.