The Torah of the Kishkes

In honor of the recent release of Moshe Koppel's new Koren/Maggid book, Judaism Straight Up: Why Real Religion Endures, Elli Fischer traces the decades-long trajectory of Koppel's "Torah of the Kishkes" philosophy of Judaism.

Life Between the Lines

Rav Dov Zinger discusses his innovative perspective on education, and why its important to listen to what happens beyond the back and forth of the classroom.

Nishmat HaBayit: A Window into the Successes of Yoatzot Halacha

Rabbi Ezra Schwartz reviews Nishmat HaBayit, a responsa collection by the Yoatzot Halacha of Nishmat

What Can We Learn From Louis Jacobs?

Louis Jacobs, the controversial British rabbi and theologian, died 15 years ago. Steven Gotlib reviews Harry Freedman’s new book on Jacobs’ life, and considers how what happened to Jacobs should inform the way we draw the boundaries of Orthodoxy today.
Pharisees

A Game by Any Other Name

Todd Berman warns of antisemitism in strange places.

Divinity Redefined- Review of Christine Hayes, What’s Divine About Divine Law?: Early Perspectives

Rabbi Daniel Reifman reviews Christine Hayes' Whats Divine about Divine Law?

Poems for a World Built, Destroyed, and Rebuilt

Six new poems by Elhanan Nir—published here with English translation and annotation—capture the grief and discontinuity of this moment.

Two Men Enter the Vacated Space ...

The death of Nadav and Avihu is difficult to explain, perhaps even impossible to approach through the medium of language. In a composition crossing the boundaries of original drashah, Breslov thought, poetry, visual art, and historical fiction, Akiva Weisinger renders the tragedy of Nadav and Avihu as a reflection of the Vacated Space beyond human language.

Not Everything I Needed to Know in Life I Learned in Rabbinical School

Nathaniel Helfgot reflects on all of the things he needed to know as a rabbi that he didn’t learn in rabbinical school.

Reclaiming Dignity Reviewed

How successful is the new book, Reclaiming Dignity: A Guide to Tzniut for Men and Women, at setting forth a new Torah-based vision for modesty? Laurie Novick offers a careful review, carefully considering both the personal essays and halakhic/hashkafic analyses set forward in this important work.