Holidays

Did the English Puritans of New England emulate Jewish prayers and practices? Yisroel Benporat investigates the common claim and its complexities--as well as what the myth itself tells us about Jews in America.

Shalva Muschel offers some perspective on George Elliot's leading Jews and the newest attempt to gain a fuller appreciation of Daniel Deronda.

Yaakov Jaffe explores Yehuda Ha-Levi's Yom Le-Yabasha.

Julie and Uri Goldstein offer a timely Haggadah for reflection this year.

Stuart Halpern explains how, when faced with uncertainty, danger, and personal and communal hardships, Americans have turned to the story of the Exodus for inspiration.

The Poland trip has become de rigueur for Modern Orthodox gap-year students. But seismic changes in contemporary Poland and shifting trends in Modern Orthodoxy mean that the content and meaning of these trips are different than they used to be. David I. Bernstein, who has been leading Poland trips since 1992, tells the story of the student Poland experience, then and now.

Yaakov Jaffe traces the origins and evolution of the custom to shake the lulav in different directions.

How should we understand Yatziv Pitgam, the enigmatic poem recited in the Haftarah for the second day of Shavuot? Tzvi Novick’s close reading reveals it to be a paean to the Torah and those who study it.

James Diamond takes a fresh approach to Maimonides's Passover theology and "Elijah's Cup."

Akiva Mattenson writes on the relationship between God and Judgement.