Culture

How did early modern rabbis respond to the Scientific Revolution? Eli Clark reviews Maoz Kahana's new book A Heartless Chicken.

Did the Founding Fathers study Kabbalah? Yisroel Ben-Porat reviews Brian Ogren’s new book Kabbalah and the Founding of America.

To mark Leonard Cohen’s fifth Yartzeit, James Diamond offers a creative take on how Cohen‘s complicated relationship with Judaism defined his music and poetry.

Moshe Kurtz provides a poignant and vivid tribute to Rav Moshe Tendler, reflecting on their time learning together during the final three years of his life.

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.

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

The Talmud criticizes the heretic Elisha ben Avuyah, or Aher, for listening to Greek music. But what did he do wrong? Todd Berman uses a close reading of Rashi’s comments on the Talmudic passage to explain.

Simon Goldhill provides an entertaining and thought-provoking exploration of how Jewish scholars' religious identities impact their work in the field of classics.

The zogerke or firzogerin, once the vernacular translator in the women’s section of the synagogue, has faded into distant memory. Dalia Wolfson reimagines her for our times.

In his review of Michael Hattin’s commentaries on the books of Joshua and Judges, Francis Nataf explores how greater collaboration between creative Tanakh teachers could help reduce the number of overly speculative readings.