Jewish Thought and History

In this essay, Brandon Marlon analyzes the presence of Ibn Ezra in the poetry of Robert Browning.

Yisrael Kashkin explores similarities between Yekkes and Hasidim.

Jackson Gardner offers a new reading of the Kuzari’s Inyan Ha-Elohi.

In this essay, Thomas P. Balázs considers Edgar Allan Poe as a springboard to consider what makes a life meaningful

The propriety of celebrating the downfall of enemies presents a complex web of questions and seemingly contradictory Jewish texts. Michael Kurin makes sense of this subject and proposes a framework for applying it to matters of Israeli public policy.

In honor of the yahrtzeits of Rabbis Jonathan Sacks and Abraham Joshua Heschel, we present Steven Gotlib's study of Rabbi Sacks's complicated engagement with the scholarship and religious worldview of Rabbi Heschel.

Tanya's description of the Godly soul as a literal portion of divinity is an empowering notion for many spiritual seekers. It is also, however, inconsistent with longstanding Jewish theological doctrine regarding the unity of God. Elisha Price examines several possible interpretations of Tanya's words, placing them in a broader kabbalistic and rabbinic context, to suggest that Chabad's conception of the soul is both "rational and precedented."

In the anniversary month of Yitzchak Rabin's assassination, Aton Holzer considers definitions and perspectives of who is a killer and what it means to kill.

In honor of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’s fifth yahrtzeit, we present Steven Gotlib's study of Rabbi Sacks's longstanding criticism of the religious worldview of Rabbi Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik.

In this essay, Yehoshua November presents a model for preparing for the High Holidays