Parshat HaShavua
20 publishedDivrei Torah and timely pieces on the weekly parsha.
Rabbi Akiva’s Wife Part Three
Rabbi Akiva laughs because he has a premonition that their futures will intertwine. (According to Rabbenu Nissim’s narrative,…
Rabbi Akiva’s Wife Part 2
Rachel reminds Akiva that it is now time to go off to Yeshiva and learn. He studies at…
Rabbi Akiva’s Wife, Part One
On Sotah 17a, it is recorded: דָּרֵישׁ רַבִּי עֲקִיבָא: אִישׁ וְאִשָּׁה זָכוּ — שְׁכִינָה בֵּינֵיהֶן. לֹא זָכוּ —…
Loyalty and Devotion
May one move a stone sitting on top of a barrel on Shabbos in order to get wine…
From the Verse to the Halacha: A Worked Example
Watching the Sages move from text to binding law.
The Hidden Logic of the Thirty-Nine Melachos
Why a category, not a list, governs the law of labor.
How Liability Is Measured When an Ox Gores
Tracing the chain of reasoning from verse to ruling.
Reading the Story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza Closely
Why the Gemara places the blame where it does — a structural reading.
The Argument Behind the Earliest Time for Shema
What the Tannaim are really disagreeing about when they cite the stars.
Why Rabbi Yochanan Holds the Finder Keeps It
A close reading of the sugya of disputed ownership — and the unstated principle that drives the entire…