Esther, Week 3: The Party / Vashti the Queen? - Nov 3, 2020 - Three approaches to the role of the party in the Book of Esther. And how did the Sages determine that Vashti was the daughter of a Babylonian king?

Ketuvot 3a-3b - Wedding Dates - Nov 1, 2020 - The origin of "shakdu", and historical circumstances which forced them to switch Wednesday weddings to Tuesday. And why wasn't droit de seigneur a ייהרג ואל יעבור?

Shemitah and Avodat Karka #3: Harvesting to Improve the Land; Definition of Plowing - Oct 30, 2020 - Is harvesting in order to prepare for future planting biblically prohibited during shemitah? How about harvesting from a non-Jew's land?

What distinguishes plowing and hoeing from digging?

Tefillah 3: Communal Davening, Structured Tefillah - Oct 29, 2020 - Looking at the revolution of communal davening, and starting on the structure of shemoneh esreih and other berachot.

Shemuel #74 - 17:20-27 - A Reward for Defeating Goliath? - Oct 29, 2020 - Was it appropriate for Shaul to offer his daughter for the one who would defeat Goliath? If not, why did he do it? Why was David interested in the reward? And why was David so confident?

Vaccine Ethics 2: Risk vs Risk, and Compelling Risk-Taking - Oct 28, 2020 - How do we balance taking one risk (vaccination) to avoid another risk (disease)? And will we compel risk-taking for the sake of aiding the community? Geared toward a group including people without strong background in Torah text study.

Shoftim 17 - Meet the End - Oct 27, 2020 - An introduction to Chapters 17-21 - The nature of the last two stories (Pesel Michah and Pilegesh b'Givah), and the question of when they occurred and why they are recorded at the end of Sefer Shoftim

Esther, Week 2: Introduction / The Party - Oct 27, 2020 - Themes of the Book of Esther; Who wrote the Book of Esther; Why did Achashverosh stage his party, and why in that way?

COVID: (How) Should a Doctor Advise a Rabbi? - Oct 25, 2020 - Discussion of the halachic and ethical duties of a doctor regarding:

Speaking up when individuals or rabbis are not following mainstream medical advice, and

Advising a rabbi on issues where the medical data is uncertain, and

Balancing different risks in decision-making.

Meant for medical professionals and laypeople. Certainly not an attempt at psak!

Ketuvot 3a - Oness enabling a get, the conclusion - Oct 25, 2020 - Wrapping up the gemara re: a claim of Oness regarding a conditional get, as we see Rava argue that claims of Oness are effective, and we try to challenge this view.