Reviews

In our saturated environment, can any contemporary work on hilkhot Shabbat break new ground? Ezra Schwartz explains that Rav Rimon's newest work does precisely this.

Jennie Rosenfeld reviews David Bashevkin's "Sin-a-gogue: Sin and Failure in Jewish Thought."

Yakov Nagen's Soul of the Mishna contains a wealth of readings that combine academic, literary, and spiritual perspectives on the Mishnah, writes Richard Hidary. Read the full review of the book, now accessible to an English-speaking audience, in our latest at the Lehrhaus.

Tzvi Sinensky reviews the new volume about R. Aharon Lichtenstein from Divrei Shir’s Hebrew-language “Gedolei ha-Umah le-Yaldei Yisrael,” explaining why it is a must-read for adults and children alike.

Suzanne Last Stone reviews Chaim Saiman's Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law.

Marina Zilbergerts presents the philosophical questions posed by Chaim Grade's “My Quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner,” and compares his arguments to those of other major thinkers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Dostoevsky, and Nietzsche.

Steven Gotlib reviews Shaul Magid’s new, provocative book about a contemplated “counter-Zionist” future for Israel.

Avi Baumol reviews Rabbi Eliezer Melamed's bold contribution to the halakhic literature on conversion standards.

In an enlightening new essay, Ilan Fuchs reviews Hayyim Rothman's recent book, No Masters but God: Portraits of Anarcho-Judaism, and uncovers what some of the most radical 19th century Orthodox political thinkers had to say about religion, statehood, and Jewish utopia.

Laurance Wieder's After Adam was named the Book of the Year in 2019 by First Thing's John Wilson, but has been largely overlooked in the Jewish community. The Jewish Review of Book's Michal Leibowitz seeks to remedy this in her review of Wieder's lyrical retelling of the Bible.