Talmud

Israel’s internal clash, not consensus, saved the hostages - opinion

Military force and public pressure collided for 843 days, and together, they brought every hostage home.

 Israeli Police and IDF solodiers in line to pay their respects as the funeral procession of St.-Sgt.-Maj. Ran Gvili, the last hostage from Gaza, makes its way to Gvili's Negev hometown of Meitar on Jan. 28, 2026.
RED HEIFER

What honoring our parents teaches us about faith, logic, and Judaism

Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir walks inside the Knesset, on the day US President Donald Trump delivers remarks, in Jerusalem, October 13, 2025.

Moral, legal issues with Israel’s terrorist death penalty - opinion

Candace Owens urges audience read antisemitic book, asserts Jews controlled slave trade

Candace Owens urges audience read antisemitic book, asserts Jews controlled slave trade


Yom Kippur: Finding hope in times of uncertainty

To embrace, simultaneously, the unknown alongside the knowable has indeed given us the strength and courage to find hope.

 FREED HOSTAGE Sapir Cohen holds up a poster of captive partner Sasha Alexander Trupanov at an Evening of Unity at Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women, New York City, Aug. 27.

Hadassah University Medical Center solves biblical mystery with ancient seed

The first 2,000-year-old date seedling was named Methuselah (after the longest-lived person in the Bible) and is now impressively tall at Ketura.

 DR. SARAH SALLON (right) and Dr. Elaine Solowey at  Kibbutz Ketura.

This week in Jewish history: The start of the IDF draft and the Daf Yomi cycle

A highly abridged version of the daily Dust & Stars.

 CELEBRATING SIYUM HASHAS, the completion of the ‘Daf Yomi,’ a seven-and-a-half-year cycle of studying the Talmud, at Har Etzion Yeshiva.

Jewish texts permit celebrating the death of enemies - opinion

If Rabbi Boteach does not want to rejoice at the demise of one of humankind’s evilest men, that is his prerogative, but the Jewish sources as they actually appear give the green light.

 Demonstrators pray near a mock coffin during a protest against the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, in Lebanon's capital Beirut, August 2, 2024.

'The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic': Gila Fine’s fine book on women in the Talmud  - review

Gila Fine’s The Madwoman in the Rabbi’s Attic reexamines Talmudic women, challenging stereotypes and offering fresh, scholarly perspectives on their roles and stories.

 Author Gila Fine.

Meet the teenaged girl who read the Talmud in two-and-a-half years

Though women have been historically forbidden or discouraged from learning the Talmud, Elke Bentley's family has always supported her pursuit of Torah study.

 Elke Bentley, 18, completed reading the Babylonian Talmud in just two-and-a-half years.

The red heifer: A statute with a cause - opinion

As a people bound to our Jewish texts, we question and delve into the unknowable to understand our relationship to God and mitzvot more fundamentally.

 The red heifers brought to Israel from Texas.

Newly discovered link between Hercules, Israel suggests cultural exchange in region - study

2,800-year-old stamp in Tel Hazor connects Hercules to northern Israel, depicting a hero battling a seven-headed serpent, reflecting Levantine visual culture and myth transmission complexities

 The scene depicted on the surface of this black-figued amphora shows Heracles and his servant Ialous fighting the Lernean Hydra and the giant crab. Behind the hero the goddess Athena.

Could pages from the Talmud assist in dealing with problems Israel has today? - opinion

As much as many of us might like things to be black and white or exactly fit how we think the world should be, life is rarely ever like that.

 MEN STUDY the Talmud and other holy books at a Beit Midrash.

‘Suffs’ creator Shaina Taub cites Jewish text in Tony Awards acceptance speech

Shaina Taub, celebrating her Tony wins for "Suffs," quoted the Talmud in her speech, emphasizing unity for change amid challenging times in the US and globally.

Shaina Taub at the 2022 Drama League Awards