Category: Issue 10.1: Derekh Ha-Limmud

Blowing and Bawling

Blowing and Bawling

The following is a response to the Volume 10, Issue 1 Symposium. Click here for the symposium prompt and links to other responses.    Halakhic Man was not intended as an exhaustive account of...

The Mishnah Berurah’s Treatment of Kabbalistic Sources

The Mishnah Berurah’s Treatment of Kabbalistic Sources

Prior to the emergence of the Zohar in the early fourteenth century, the halakhic system that guided the normative behavior of practicing Jews remained closed, allowing for modification or additions only through terminology and methodology...

Of Concepts and Precision: Understanding Torat Brisk

Of Concepts and Precision: Understanding Torat Brisk

During the lifetime of Rabbi Hayyim Soloveitchik (1853-1918), a revolution occurred in the world of Talmud Torah. Despite the well known aversion of the leaders of this movement to publish, what has been termed...

Why and How We Study Mahshava

Why and How We Study Mahshava

In the fall of 2011, I was asked to teach a two-semester course in mahshava to all first year semikha students in Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS). Previously, the curriculum for ordination at RIETS...

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor

In the newly published Toras HoRav volume titled Halakhic Morality, Rabbi Soloveitchik distinguishes between two aspects of Jewish life: a derekh ha-hayyim and signon ha-hayyim. The derekh ha-hayyim, way of life, is universal. As...