Excerpted

“The term ma’aseh is the intrusion of real life events into the largely theoretical in hypothetical discourse of the Mishnah”

17 February 2020 Drew KaplanMishnah

The term ma’aseh is the intrusion of real life events into the largely theoretical in hypothetical discourse of the Mishnah. It introduces an event that happened in the past which has halakhic implications or ramifications[…]

The Siyum HaShas “Shockingly Has Nothing to Do with the Talmud Bavli”

2 January 2020 Drew KaplanBabylonian Talmud

The Event Shockingly Has Nothing to Do with the Talmud Bavli. I kind of knew to expect this—forgive me if what follows sounds hopelessly naïve—but I was struck by how the event had no educational[…]

“So much of contemporary North American Jewish life is like running a heat lamp outdoors in the winter”

2 January 2020 Drew KaplanJewish Community

So much of contemporary North American Jewish life is like running a heat lamp outdoors in the winter. It is so inefficient, so attenuated by the entropy of contemporary society, and still overwhelmed by (post-)Christian[…]

“When you vote, you hopefully evaluate the full gamut of issues and discover that on some issues one party’s views are more in accordance with Torah and on others it is the other party’s, and often neither are”

10 December 2019 Drew KaplanHalakhah

I understand that we have both College Democrats and College Republicans chapters on our campus. To be honest, I don’t understand why. Don’t get me wrong — I can readily understand why a Torah Jew[…]

“…impeachment had all but vanished from English practice when American delegates to the Constitutional Convention provided for it…”

3 November 2019 Drew KaplanPolitics in America

Impeachment is an ancient relic, a rusty legal instrument and political weapon first wielded by the English Parliament, in 1376, to wrest power from the King by charging his ministers with abuses of power, convicting[…]

Considering the paradoxes of Sukkot

16 October 2019 Drew KaplanHolidays

I love the paradoxes of Sukkot: a holiday with profound universalistic theological overtones that became politically important for particularists; a holiday that uses the metaphor of the sukkah both to imagine the canopy under which[…]

“…as creators of Halakhah, we must work to make sure that every halakhically committed voice is genuinely heard”

11 October 2019 Drew KaplanModern Orthodoxy

…communities need joy to survive, and Modern Orthodoxy cannot be built on constant moral self-denial. It is true that as subjects of Halakhah, our foremost duty is to find ways to obey even when our[…]

“The decision of which siddur a congregation should use is both a significant choice for any congregation, and a choice whose importance should not be exaggerated”

23 September 201923 September 2019 Drew KaplanPrayer

The decision of which siddur a congregation should use is both a significant choice for any congregation, and a choice whose importance should not be exaggerated. Purchasing a new siddur is a significant expense for[…]

“the Artscroll Siddur is the product of a worldview which does not reflect the values of the Modern Orthodox community and therefore cannot truly meet the needs of our community”

23 September 2019 Drew KaplanModern Orthodoxy

…the Artscroll Siddur is the product of a worldview which does not reflect the values of the Modern Orthodox community and therefore cannot truly meet the needs of our community. There is no indication that[…]

“The reality of this primary process is that if you aren’t on the stage in Houston next week, you aren’t going to be the Democratic nominee”

12 September 2019 Drew KaplanPolitics in America

…the 10 men and women not on the stage will argue that the Democratic National Committee’s rules on how to qualify for the Houston debate (2% in four early state or national polls and 130,000[…]