Medieval

Yisroel Ben-Porat grapples with whether the case of the pregnant Sotah has implications for the debates surrounding abortion.

David Fried forwards the surprising thesis that Maimonides was a medieval mystic.

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.

Josh Frankel reviews Lenn Goodman’s new work of commentary on Moreh Nevukhim, which brings Rambam’s work to life for careful, contemporary readers.

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

Yisroel Ben-Porat offers historical, hashkafic, and personal reflections on what’s often called the “Judeo-Christian” tradition and whether a Torah u-Madda outlook can embrace the study of Christianity.

AJ Berkovitz explores the "life" of Jewish books, from authors to owners to outside the margins.

Hasdai Crescas criticized Maimonides for counting belief as a Mitzvah, arguing that we have no control over what we believe. Dovid Campbell explores a surprisingly common defense of Maimonides that places his views closer to those of Crescas than we might have initially imagined.

Sefaria has recently published a new bilingual digital edition of Talmud Yerushalmi. Taking stock of this development, Zachary Rothblatt offers an erudite synthesis of the history of Yerushalmi.

Warren Zev Harvey reflects on the pain and fear of Israel’s current moment, finding unexpected hope in R. Joseph Kaspi’s anti-deterministic theory of history. The essay was originally published in Hebrew and translated by the author.