Literature

Mitchell First reviews Yehuda Landy's Purim and the Persian Empire.

The debate about Torah u-Madda and pop culture continues. Noah Marlowe argues that Chaim Potok's literature offers a useful conceptual framework for, and embodiment of, a profound confrontation between Judaism and elite elements of general culture.

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

Dr. Ari Hoffman eulogizes Philip Roth.

Ariel Clark Silver describes how Queen Esther’s story inspired women’s rights activist Louisa May Alcott’s short fable of an Aster who wisely ruled the kingdom of the flowers.

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

Shalva Muschel offers some perspective on George Elliot's leading Jews and the newest attempt to gain a fuller appreciation of Daniel Deronda.

What does Shakespeare have to say about the Exodus, Moses, and the power of storytelling? Shaina Trapedo explores how the Bard's work can speak to us during this unprecedented Pesach season.

What do you get when you read George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda alongside Rav Soloveitchik’s Kol Dodi Dofek? A cross between Zionism and feminism, argues Eileen Watts.

In his latest for the Lehrhaus, Dan Ornstein creatively imagines the story of the Talmudic sage Rabbi Yohanan through his teachings on the Book of Job. The short story is followed by a reflection on the methodology and power of "contemporary midrash."