Commentary

Natalie Zemon Davis, a Jewish historian known for shining a light on the lives of marginalized people in the early modern period, passed away in October. Ronnie Perelis commemorates Dr. Zemon Davis by reflecting on the experience of teaching her revolutionary work to his students at Stern College for Women.

As we approach a new calendar year, Ben Corvo's poem meditates retrospectively on this past Rosh Ha-Shanah and the darkness of everyday life.

Ayelet Wenger weaves together the personal, historical and exegetical in advance of reading Sefer Shemot.

  Yael Jaffe As you walk into the room, you hear voices arguing back and forth. You can’t make out the sound of any particular conversation...

Today we feature an exchange on the so-called "manel" phenomenon. We want to hear from you: If a man is asked to sit on an all-male panel, should he refuse on principle?

There’s a miniature kaf at the beginning of the parashah. As Gabriel Slamovits explains, what the diminished letter says about how Abraham mourned for Sarah fits well with a prominent teaching of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, zt”l.

Zvi Romm, a Rav on the Lower East Side for the last eighteen years, shares insights into the unexpected and remarkably democratic personality of the Rosh Yeshiva.

Roberta Kwall weighs in on the state of non-Orthodox Judaism and how it affects Orthodoxy.

Many synagogue goers found the abbreviated High Holiday services we recently concluded quite appealing. Need we eventually go back to the way it was before coronavirus? Not really, argues Moshe Kurtz, surveying the substantial halakhic support for shortening the services every year.

Chaim Trachtman explores the relationship between moral instincts and rational thinking in Rabbinic Psychology.