The following article is available for download:

HaRav Hershel Schachter, Artificial Feeding in Terminally Ill Patients

With the latest advances in artificial intelligence, the potential of modern science to dramatically change our everyday life has quickly come to the forefront of society’s consciousness. In our opening article, “Halakhic Archaeology and Mesorah: An Exploration of the Possibility of Archaeology Solving Halakhic Disputes,” the author examines how the ability of modern science to uncover the past should impact our determination of halakhah. Despite the advancement of science and knowledge, the dramatic surge in the ancient hatred towards Jews reminds Israel that they have a unique destiny and responsibility. The other articles in the History of Halakhah section deal with the Beit Ha-Mikdash. “New Light on the History of Hanukah and Its Commemoration: A Literary Analysis of Bavli Shabbat 21a–24b” argues that Ḥazal shifted the focus of the commemoration of Hanukah from the altar to the menorah after the Temple’s destruction as part of an effort to transfer the holiness of the Temple to the Jewish home. The final article in the section, “Building the Third Temple: A Historical Exploration of Three Attempts to Build the Third Temple,” shows how in the six centuries since the destruction of the Beit Ha-Mikdash, three attempts were made to rebuild it, while in the last fourteen hundred years no attempt has been made.

The Jewish Law section deals with important and sometimes controversial issues. The first article is a teshuvah by one of our leading poskim issuing guidance on the artificial feeding in terminally ill patients. In “If Ḥaredim Must Serve in the IDF, Should Young Jewish Men in the Diaspora Also Be Required?”, the author contends that while it is obvious that Israel’s able-bodied men are required to fight Israel’s wars, those in the Diaspora are also required to do so. Two articles deal with the role of women in mitzvot. “May a Woman Recite the Birkat Erusin?” argues that “allowing women to recite the betrothal benediction will likely result in a berakhah le-vatalah and violate the prohibition of taking G-d’s name in vain.” And, continuing a discussion in the previous edition of Ḥakirah, Part II of “Women, Tefillah, and Tefillah be-Ẓibbur” considers the arguments for and against requiring women to pray with a minyan. The final article in the section, “The Simchah and Oneg of Yom Tov,” returns our thoughts to the Beit Ha-Mikdash, dealing with the nature of simḥat Yom Tov and how Ḥazal compensate for the loss of the ultimate simḥah that emanates from the Mikdash.

In our Jewish Thought section, the articles deal with modern, universal ideas that are found in the works of traditional Jewish thinkers. In “To Become an Emotional Person: The Role of Emotion in the Pre-Holocaust Hasidism of R. Kalonymus Kalmish Shapira of Piaseczna,” the author shows that “R. Shapira utilizes sophisticated psychological descriptions of the centrality of emotion for human well-being.” “Camus, Rebbe Nachman, and the Absurdity of Wholeness” deals with the contrast between Camus’s “absurdity of being” and Rebbe Nachman’s “paradox.” The third article, “The Universalism of Rabbi Ovadiah Sforno,” identifies modern universalistic thought in the writings of one of Judaism’s classical early meforshim.

In our Tanakh section, an article titled “Exegesis, Theology, and Exile: The Commentary on Psalms of Moses Israel de Mercado” introduces us to the work of a 17^th-century scholar in Amsterdam whose literary career was cut short with his death at the age of 21. The article includes “examples of Mercado’s creative philosophical exegesis, which draws substantially on the medieval rationalist tradition.” The other article in the section, “Is There a Connection Between Fear and Hair Standing Up? Understanding Rashi to Deut. 32:17,” shows that the connection between “fear” and “rising hair” is “well-reflected in the language of Tanakh” but is perhaps not the most likely explanation for a specific verse in the Torah.

Our Minhag section features “Kabbalat Shabbat: An Explanation of its Structure” and our Community section features an article titled “One Year Sober: My Lonely and Painful Journey from Alcoholism to Tentative Recovery” that is a personal account of a problem in our community that is worsening, and that some connect to a distortion of the mitzvah of oneg on Shabbos.

Our Hebrew articles deal with age-old issues with present day relevance. הוֹרָתָם ולידתם של דינה ויוסף deals with the textual background and halakhic implications of the aggadah that Dinah was turned into a girl in the womb. Another article deals with the halakhic grounds for Kiddush Ha-Ḥodesh after the demise of the Sanhedrin. Finally, מהותה של מצוות פדיון שבויים, returns us to the concerns of today with an analysis of the nature of the mitzvah of redeeming hostages with implications for the price that we are allowed to pay.