Commentary

  Zach Truboff In 1933, as the month of Elul approached, the Jewish people faced a frightening array of dangers. That year, Hitler consolidated power as...

The Ne’ilah prayer, which we recite only once a year, clearly represents a moment of great religious drama, but its precise nature and purpose are somewhat mysterious. Alan Jotkowitz presents four different models for understanding Ne’ilah, drawing upon the teachings of Rav Yehuda Amital, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, and Rav Ya’akov Medan.

Yosef Lindell argues that the explanatory Kinot model, where fewer prayers are said but they are delved into in more depth, should be adopted for reciting Selihot.

In an original Hebrew poem for Tishrei 5785, Shoshanah Haberman addresses God directly about the pain and uncertainty of our moment.

  Rebecca Cypess As the only musical instrument used in modern Jewish liturgy, the shofar possesses a humble form. Halakhah forbids the modification of the shofar’s...

Yiscah Smith explores the conceptions of teshuvah presented in the writings of the Piaseczner Rebbe and the Ba’al Ha-Tanya, identifying in them a novel approach to personal growth that speaks to contemporary Jews.

Tamar Weissman shows how the Druze minority in Israel remarkably resemble the biblical Kenites.

A new poem by Hannah Butcher-Stell, for the Days of Awe.

In this essay, Weinberg reflects on the symbolic significance of tefillin and its message for our Jewish future.

In this essay, Edelman and Steinberg argue for a literature curriculum that integrates Jewish thought.