Commentary

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.

Yaakov Jaffe argues that kids would be better served by coming to shul for the beginning of the Shabbat davening rather than the end.

Tzvi Sinensky As chronicled in Robert Putnam’s 2000 classic book, Bowling Alone, loneliness is one of the vexing challenges of modern life. The advent of the...

David Berger's reflection commemorating the passing of Yaakov Elman, ob"m.

At what point in Jewish thought does artificial intelligence go too far? In this short story, Olga Lempert writes about a world where humanity itself might be replaced by the machines they create

Tzvi Sinensky responds to Lawrence Kaplan and continues the discussion on Mendelssohn and Jewish law.

Harris Bor meditates on the world of Passover in his new poem for the Lehrhaus.

Bezalel Naor translates and contextualizes a poem by Pinchas Peli about the home of Rav Kook.

In a piece that resonates today, Tzvi Sinensky examines what made the Jews' salvation from the plague of the firstborns so miraculous.

Rachel Sharansky-Danziger limns the deep collective pain of October 7th on Israelis and forges a way forward amidst its intensity.