Contemporary

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

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 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.

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

Yosi Amram contends with the notion of being part of a Chosen People, exploring its universality across cultures and the responsibilities this chosenness entails.

Drawing upon the teachings of the Piaseczner Rebbe, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, and others, Yiscah Smith proposes a model for reimagining contemporary Jewish leadership on both the communal and personal levels.

Twelve years after the passing of R. Menachem Froman, his daughter-in-law, the scholar and activist Tchiya Froman, considers R. Froman’s literary critique of the Gush Emunim settlement enterprise and his determination that Judaism requires a feminine revolution.

Gavriel Lakser offers a new approach to the problem of evil based on the beginning of Genesis.