The offer is placed simply before the Jews: God will allow the people to choose between a path of blessing and curse. Nomi Kaltmann explores the idea of hashgachah and perception of events playing a role in the line between blessing and curse.

Rabba Sara Hurwitz sits to speak with the Jim Joseph Foundation about the history of Maharat’s foundation and the future she sees for the yeshiva in the modern Orthodox world, across sects of Judaism and the genders of its members.

The idea of eating to live is not sourced in Judaic texts; rather, the opposite seems to be true. Tracing through the Torah and into gemara, Rabbanit Michal Kohane illustrates the importance of eating and the beauty of food as God and humanity interact with it.

In a communal first, Philadelphia’s Mikveh Israel hosted its first Eicha reading by women in continuation with a series of women’s readings and new educational opportunities about participant involvement in shul. Rabbanit Dasi Fruchter attributes some of the shift to the way the pandemic lowered the aesthetic of the mechitzah in communal events.

Moshe, like so many other characters in Tanakh, is let down by his response to God’s injustice. Rabba Dr. Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz discusses the different ways people respond to theodicy and what we can learn about coping through these cases.

While the rabbinate was once sufficiently represented as an older European man, as demographics of the Jewish community continue to shift, the rabbinate evolved as well. People across races, genders and sexual orientations have found places in clergy positions, Orthodox women not excepted. Nomi Kaltmann interviews a number of her colleagues and fellow students about the changes.

Darshanit Miriam Udel chose her title upon graduation in honor of Rivke bas Meir Tiktiner, the first woman to write a book in Yiddish. Now, as her own anthology of independently-translated Yiddish children’s stories is released, she speaks about the path which led her to study Yiddish and to receive ordination.

On the tenth of Av, the Beit Ha-Mikdash burnt down until midday, and over a thousand years later, Gush Katif was liquidated. Rabbanit Michal Kohane discusses the dark parallels between the two expulsions and destructions on the anniversary of the event.

The narrative Moshe tells the Jews during the final speech he gives tells a story different than the one present throughout the course of Tanakh. Rabba Aliza Libman Baronofsky compares the two stories and offers insight into what true leadership means and the power of a choice.

As we begin Sefer Devarim, many questions are asked about the repetitive nature of the book. Rabbanit Goldie Guy and Rabbi David Wolkenfeld discuss the purpose of telling the story again in a more fluid way as both a connection between written and oral texts as well as a discourse on the meaning of life. With this as a starting point, Rabbanit Goldie opens up about her chaplaincy experience and what she learned from working with patients in liminal spaces.