Jewish Thought and History

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

In this essay, Danny Groner reflects on the elements that make a synagogue a true house of worship.

In honor of Rosh Hashanah 5786, Akiva Weisinger retells and reimagines the parable of the king "who wished to be seen, but did not want to be seen."

Chaim Trachtman compares science and theodicy based on a novel read of the book of Job.

In this essay, Eileen Watts draws parallels between Daniel Deronda and the book of Exodus

  Aton M. Holzer The fifteenth of Av – among the most minor of minor festivals on the Jewish calendar – is marked in the diaspora...