Israeli Culture

With the emerging Kneset leadership bringing together a broad range of political parties, consider Zach Truboff's review of Rav Shagar's writings (in honor of his upcoming yahrtzeit), which argue that Religious Zionist thought must transcend the old binary of Left and Right.

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.

Yoel Finkelman explains why the Orthodox still have good use for newspapers, while many other groups don't.

Udi Dvorkin offers a plea to take Rav Shagar at his full value, which means reading him in the original Hebrew.

Bezalel Naor offers a stirring, other-worldly rendition of Rav Kook's poem "The Conversation of the Angels"

In response to Gil Perl's Postmodern Orthodoxy, Gidon Rothstein asks for another look at Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein and the limits of pluralism and what we consider "truth."

Shalom Carmy The last couple of weeks have brought two worthwhile assessments of Rav Shagar’s Faith Shattered and Restored: Judaism in the Postmodern Age, Matt Lubin’s...

What can we learn from Rav Kook's writings before he immigrated to the land of Israel? As Yom Ha-Atzma'ut approaches, Levi Morrow reviews Yehuda Mirsky's new prehistory of Rav Kook.

In introducing his embrace of Rav Shagar, Rabbi Dr. Gil Perl details his personal journey of being initially excited, then disappointed with the writings of our...

The Agnon scholar, Jeffrey Saks, sees some Agnonian work in modern Israeli literature.