A Festive Song with an Unclear Message: Uncovering the Meaning of Maoz Tzur
Yaakov Jaffe delves into two possible themes of the song Maoz Tzur.
Cantillation: Some Observations – Part 2
In Part II of his series on trop, William Gewirtz explains the principle of recursion and how it helps us interpret texts.
Mitzvah Merchants and their Made-in-America Toys
Zev Eleff examines some of the toys peddled around by mitzvah merchants and other fascinating features of Ultra-Orthodox culture.
Ve-Atah Banim Shiru La-Melekh – People Over Angels on Shavuot
What can a medieval piyut (and famous modern chassidic tune) teach us about people's superiority over angels? Yitzchak Szyf explores how our Shavuot liturgy proclaims man's partnership with God in Torah.
Unhappy Families: Elhanan Nir’s Rak Shnenu
The Agnon scholar, Jeffrey Saks, sees some Agnonian work in modern Israeli literature.
Advocacy of the Faithful: A View from Washington, DC
Nathan Diament of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center on the political advocacy of faith communities today.
Prayerful Poetry: A Translators’ Battle that Spanned the Atlantic
Yosef Lindell recounts the controversy surrounding different attempts at translating the Tishrei prayers.
On Gizzards and the Making of Rabbis
Ezra Schwartz uses artificial intelligence and a famous story about gizzards as a prism to discuss the role of the rabbi in the modern age.
Rabbi Steinsaltz: My Mentor, Teacher, and Guide
Shmuel Greene describes the lessons he learned from his Rebbe, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz ztz"l
A New Book Brings Hebrew Language and Liturgy to Life
Daniel A. Klein reviews a new book on Hebrew by Mitchell First.
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