halacha
Fighting for Jewish Funerals
A Pennsylvania rabbi, backed by a local imam, engages in a battle for full control over religious burials
A One-Man Supreme Court
Why a quarter of a million people turned out to mourn Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv
Poster Child
Naama Margolese—an 8-year-old Israeli girl taunted by ultra-Orthodox men who think she is immodest—is the new face of Jewish women’s rights
Out of Tune
When Israelis and Palestinians choose politics over music, they’re guilty of the gravest offense in the Torah: acting like Amalek
Law Practice
Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, Jewish law, and the principle of binding precedent
Body Image
How to reconcile religious prohibitions on autopsies with the need to determine a cause of death
Daybreak: Talking Turkey
Israel tries to stay friends, plus women and the law, and more in the news
Blind Orthodox May Touch Their Dates
But not to find out if they’re beautiful, rabbi decrees
The Napkin Artist
Remembering Yiddishist, linguistics scholar, Holocaust survivor, and painter Edward Stankiewicz, who died this year
When Berlin Meant Business
Berlin was once home to 50,000 Jewish-owned businesses. A historian is now obsessively reconstructing their demise.
In Praise of Dairy Restaurants
A visit to B&H Restaurant on Second Avenue brings back memories of milchig establishments of yore
Curse of the Survivor
Singer Vera Gran was haunted by allegations of Nazi collaboration. A new book asks if survival made her guilty.
