Culture

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.

Zvi Grumet reviews Aaron Koller’s new book on the Akedah and evaluates his surprisingly novel approach to this formative biblical story.

A new poem by Hannah Butcher-Stell, on love and loss.

In honor of Shavuot 5784, Dalia Wolfson presents five new bilingual poems that explore the themes of the third perek of Mishnah Bikkurim and contemplate their possible inversion.

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."

Eli Rubin reviews Alan Rosen's The Holocaust’s Jewish Calendars: Keeping Time Sacred, Making Time Holy.

What do Adam, Enkidu, and Reish Lakish all have in common? Eli Putterman explores.

Marc Dworkin re-examines the impact of Rav Shagar's thought on the English-speaking audience.

Judah Kerbel explores how differing approaches to listening to music during Sefirat ha-Omer balance the appropriate role for subjectivity in halakhic decision-making.

In this essay, Weinberg reflects on the symbolic significance of tefillin and its message for our Jewish future.