Modern

Batya Hefter uses the case of Isaac to illuminate how hasidic masters read the Bible.

In honor of Hanukkah, Admiel Kosman considers literary and aggadic traditions that depict holy people as burning flames or sources of light. He proposes that these traditions be read in light of Martin Buber’s insight regarding the dialogical personality.

Alan Jotkowitz explores how frequently overlooked passages in the writings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks can help pave a path forward for us on theological issues in a post-Covid world.

We will all be much more distant from each other this Rosh Hashanah. That’s why, argues Ranana Dine, it’s time to revive the tradition of sending physical greeting cards.

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.

What was Alexander Hamilton's relationship to Judaism? In his review of a new book about Hamilton's Jewish world, Lehrhaus editor Yisroel Ben-Porat explores the arguments to be made for a "Jewish" founding father.

William Kolbrener calls for an end to Rav-polemicizing so that all interested parties might finally take his legacy and teachings at full-depth.

In honor of Yud Shevat, The Lehrhaus presents an excerpt from Eli Rubin’s forthcoming book Kabbalah and the Rupture of Modernity: An Existential History of Chabad Hasidism. Rubin explores the theological meaning of an influential series of discourses by the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, R. Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn.

Alan Kadish offers a vision for how Orthodox Jews should think about "chosenness."

Tzvi Sinensky As chronicled in Robert Putnam’s 2000 classic book, Bowling Alone, loneliness is one of the vexing challenges of modern life. The advent of the...