Jewish Thought and History

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

Did Rabbeinu Bahya mention a lightning rod centuries before it was discovered? Yaakov Taubes takes us on a journey through science, magic, and religion to help explain this medieval commentator’s cryptic comment about the Tower of Babel.

David Fried clarifies the concept of imitating God through Rashi's oft-neglected reading of “It is not good for man to be alone”

With Hoshanah Rabbah today and the theme of repentance in mind, Jack Cohen explores the role that outsiders play in one's teshuva process through an enigmatic midrash instructing one to return a person to themselves.

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.

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.

Alan Jotkowitz reviews the latest volume of Dr. Haym Soloveitchik’s collected essays, bringing us back to the world of medieval Ashkenaz.

As Daf Yomi learners begin studying Shekalim, Tamara Morsel-Eisenberg offers an erudite answer to the question: What is Yerushalmi Shekalim doing in the Babylonian Talmud?

In this review of a new book by Aryeh Solomon, Ilan Fuchs explores how for the Lubavitcher Rebbe, teaching and learning are a sacred calling leading toward spiritual growth.

Steven Gotlib explores similarities between Rabbis Dov Singer and Arthur Green in their models of prayer and how this model can make prayer meaningful even when experiencing doubts in one’s faith.