Insanity and Hope
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.
Maimonides at the Museum
David Fried reviews The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries, the companion volume to the Yeshiva University Museum’s exhibit on Maimonides.
God Is Other People
In a chapter adapted from his new book, Be, Become, Bless: Jewish Spirituality between East and West, Yaakov Nagen suggests based on the Zohar that the world endures when we see Godliness in another person's face.
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.
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.
Wake Up Sleeping One! Yehudah Ha-Levi’s Dramatic Use of Genre and Narrative Voice in...
Yaakov Jaffe examines Yehudah Ha-Levi's High Holiday poem "Yashen, Al Teradam"
A “What If” Review: Hypothetical History, Science, and Halakhah
Yaakov Taubes examines three hypothetical “What if?” books and what they can teach us about history, science, and halakhah.
A Kinnah in Kislev: The Enduring Elegy of Dolce of Worms
In honor of the yahrtzeit of Dolce, the wife of Rabbi Eleazar of Worms, Chaya Sima Koenigsberg explores Rabbi Eleazar's moving elegy for his wife and reflects upon Dolce's character as a model for Koenigsberg's own life and the lives of Jewish women today.
No Rest for the Weary? Ambiguity in Yehudah Halevi’s “Yom Shabbaton”
Yaakov Jaffe analyzes the multiple meanings of a medieval Jewish poem and popular Shabbat table song.
Endless Exploration: Judaism’s Only “Principle of Faith”
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.