War Is a Very Ugly Thing but Not the Ugliest

What is the Israel-Hamas war about? Dov Lerner of Yeshiva University, Young Israel of Jamaica Estates, and the Sacks Legacy shares his perspective on the source of evil.

Bedecked in Splendor

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

Put a Mirror on Your Seder Table

Leah Sarna argues that this is the Passover to tell the stories of enslaved Jewish women: of the victims of October 7, who were and likely still are subjected to sexual violence, and of the heroic women in the era of the Exodus, who fought to ensure the perpetuation of the Jewish people.

Civilian Casualties in the Light of Halakhah and Ethics: Revisiting Rav Shaul Yisraeli’s Analysis

Aryeh Klapper analyzes Rav Shaul Yisraeli’s classic work on civilian casualties in Halakhah.

Tablets Shattered (And Restored?): Jewish Identity Here and Now

Joshua Leifer’s new book illustrates the collapse of several paradigms that long sustained American Jewish life. In his review, Steven Gotlib notes that Leifer’s search for a viable, non-separatist, traditional Judaism overlooks several existing models of Jewish life and practice.

A Philosophical Reflection on the Halakhification of Warfare

Alex Ozar explores wartime law in the Rambam.

My War Diary

This war diary, presented by Susan Weingarten, relates her experience in a kibbutz on the Gazan border on October 7th and the days following her return to Jerusalem after the Hamas massacre.

“Our Eyes”: The Kenites and the Druze

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

Letters to the Editor: Responses to Zach Truboff on Religious Zionism and Yosef Lindell...

Yitzchak Blau and Michael Broyde respond to recent articles that have driven conversation.

The Shekhinah as a Tool for Political Critique: The Mystico-Political Thought of Rabbi Menachem...

Twelve years after the passing of R. Menachem Froman, his daughter-in-law, the scholar and activist Tchiya Froman, considers R. Froman’s literary critique of the Gush Emunim settlement enterprise and his determination that Judaism requires a feminine revolution.