In Plain Sight: Jewish Masquerade from Clueless to the Rabbis
Why have stories of Jewish masquerade captured audiences since ancient times? In her latest, Malka Z. Simkovich explores the hidden meaning behind dressing up, from the Second Temple to '90s cinema.
Cultural Migrations of a Hanukkah Pilgrimage
Elli Fischer explores the ideological components of developments in Hanukkah traditions.
Dancing with the Text: The Rabbinic Use of Midrashic Allegory
Malka Simkovich explores how Chazal approached our sacred texts in their midrashic allegories and how this issue continues to effect our approach to the torah today.
Finding Meaning in Determinism: How Jewish Thinkers Reconcile the Contradiction between Determinism and Human...
Natan Oliff looks at the various ways Jewish thinkers have found meaning in determinism.
Man is not God: The Limits of Imitatio Dei
David Fried clarifies the concept of imitating God through Rashi's oft-neglected reading of “It is not good for man to be alone”
The Breslover’s Song
Jerome Marcus responds to Bezalel Naor's earlier essay, delving further into the worlds of Maimonides and Rabbi Nahman of Breslov.
Confronting Biblical Criticism: A Review Essay
Marc B. Shapiro reviews a new edited volume by Yoram Hazony, Gil Student, and Alex Sztuden that offers a traditional defense of revelation in light of modern biblical criticism.
The Origins of Jewish Universalism: What it is, and Why it Matters
Malka Simkovich provides a valuable corrective on the parameters of universalism in Judaism and Christianity.
The Fourth Chapter of Avot as an extended reflection on Epicurean Philosophy
In the spirit of Hanukkah, Yaakov Jaffe offers an intriguing thesis tying together a series of Mishnayot in the fourth chapter of Pirkei Avot: they are all responding to various aspects of Epicurean philosophy.
The Death of the Rabbi
Elli Fischer on Rasbhi's passing, his legacy, and some other rabbinic legacies, as well.
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