Culture

In honor of Hanukkah, Admiel Kosman considers literary and aggadic traditions that depict holy people as burning flames or sources of light. He proposes that these traditions be read in light of Martin Buber’s insight regarding the dialogical personality.

Ben Rothke reviews Harold Gans's new book The Cosmic Puzzle: A Scientific Investigation into the Existence of God, asking the question: Is the proof of God best left to the scientific method?

Marina Zilbergerts presents the philosophical questions posed by Chaim Grade's “My Quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner,” and compares his arguments to those of other major thinkers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Dostoevsky, and Nietzsche.

Our traditional longing for the rebuilding of the Beit Ha-Mikdash elides uncomfortable questions about the dramatic differences between sacrificial worship and our current models of serving God. Meir Kraus argues that the time has come to engage in this difficult conversation, especially in light of the growing religious-political movement to restore Jewish presence on the Temple Mount. Kraus also proposes an “alternative vision” for a future Temple era.

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

What would Jewish life in outer space look like? In this short story, Joseph Helmreich imagines the Jewish community transplanted into a new life among the stars

Jeffrey Burghauser's three poems draw on the biblical and rabbinic imagination.

Ayelet Wenger weaves together the personal, historical and exegetical in advance of reading Sefer Shemot.

  Rebecca Cypess As the only musical instrument used in modern Jewish liturgy, the shofar possesses a humble form. Halakhah forbids the modification of the shofar’s...

In commemoration of the shloshim of Rabbi Simcha Krauss z"l, Dan Margulies offers a moving reflection of his teacher.