Jewish Thought and History

Yaakov Taubes examines three hypothetical “What if?” books and what they can teach us about history, science, and halakhah.

Tragic events this past summer brought a wave of protests against racial injustice that shows few signs of abating. Yitzhak Grossman shares how rabbinic leaders in the United States and Israel have historically approached the tactic of protest, and explores what their views might mean for our current moment.

With newly found material, Bezalel Naor places Rav Kook's Hasidut into historical and literary context.

Bezalel Naor offers a stirring, other-worldly rendition of Rav Kook's poem "The Conversation of the Angels"

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?

Jews have been confronting the concept of exile for thousands of years. How did Jewish thinkers respond to this phenomenon? @Michael Weiner outlines three medieval responses.

The Hasidic work, Aish Kodesh, under the scholarly microscope, by Henry Abramson.

Ari Lamm explores a recent instance of talmudic censorship, as well as its implications for thinking about Jewish-Christian relations and American society at large.

Contemporary physicians have been heroic in the battle against COVID-19, but what was it like to be one of a handful of Jewish doctors confronting the Bubonic Plague during the 17th-century in Italy? Prolific medical halakhist and historian Eddie Reichman takes a close look at the four Jewish graduates of the Padua medical school class of 1623.

  Oran Zweiter The first collection of she’elot u-teshuvot (rabbinic responsa to communal queries) printed in the United States, Ohel Yosef by Rabbi Yosef Eliyahu Fried...