Animating the Dialogue – A Review of Yeshiva Days: Learning on the Lower East...

Sima Fried reviews Jonathan Boyarin’s Yeshiva Days, illuminating the challenges of examining a community as both an insider and an outsider.

The Tragic Gap: Birkat Ha-Ilanot Amidst COVID-19

Shumel Hain discusses how we can bridge the "Tragic Gap" between the world envisioned in the blessing on budding fruit tress and our current reality of pandemic and tragedy

“Doctor, I Need My Rabbi”: How can Halakhah be Practical in Medical Ethics?

Zackary Sholem Berger Reviews Rabbi Jason Weiner's Jewish Guide to Practical Medical Decision Making.

Professor Menahem Hayyim Schmelzer’s Beloved Books 

David Selis and Zvi Erenyi share their memories of JTS Librarian Professor Menahem Schmelzer for his sheloshim.

A New Book Brings Hebrew Language and Liturgy to Life

Daniel A. Klein reviews a new book on Hebrew by Mitchell First.

Epilogue

Tikva Hecht’s moving elegy for her mother, a lyric essay told in verse and art, reflects on the fragility of life and the final confession we recite in the Yom Kippur Amidah.

Wake Up Sleeping One! Yehudah Ha-Levi’s Dramatic Use of Genre and Narrative Voice in...

Yaakov Jaffe examines Yehudah Ha-Levi's High Holiday poem "Yashen, Al Teradam"

“Lu Yehi”: Between Fragility and Hope

In this thoughtful essay, Cypess reflects on the melody that is carrying Israel in the wake of October 7th.

Thoughts on a Death

In this personal reflection, Phil Lieberman addresses the unique pain that accompanies the loss of an abusive parent and considers the uneasy coherence of this pain with Jewish traditions of mourning.

Going Viral

A new poem from Zohar Atkins offers a poetic meditation on life in the COVID world.