Playing Dreidel with Kafka and Rabbi Nahman

Joey Rosenfeld takes Kafka and Rav Nahman for a spin, on their timely drey-ing of the tops!

The Source of Faith is Faith Alone

Rabbi David Wolkenfeld explores the meaning of faith in this review of Rabbi Chaim Jachter's Reason to Believe

Rabbi Norman Lamm’s Theology of Anti-Racism

Shmuel Lamm examines Rabbi Norman Lamm's sermons for insights on a crucial issue.

Netivot Shalom: A Mixed Blessing?

Those of us who feel deeply connected and indebted to Hasidism should ask ourselves a difficult and perhaps painful question: Is Netivot Shalom the sefer that we want to represent us to the rest of Am Yisrael?

Orthodox Judaism and the Impossibility of Biblical Criticism

Michah Gottlieb reflects on the recent discussion on biblical scholarship and its implications for Orthodox Jews, in light of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch's writings. 

Revival of the Forgotten Talmud

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.

The Brachos Bee and Becoming American Orthodox Jews

The Brachos Bee, Zev Eleff argues, shows how Orthodox Jews Americanize and form their own particular religious subculture.

Could It Have Been Different? History According to the Rabbis Joseph Soloveitchik

Can we imagine a world in which the Exodus never occurred? David Curwin suggests that this - as well as a broader dispute about the relationship between Torah and history - is subject to a dispute between The Rav, R. Joseph Dov he-Levi, and his namesake, the Beit ha-Levi.

The Development of Neo-Hasidism: Echoes and Repercussions Part III: Shlomo Carlebach and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

Ariel Evan Mayse considers the neo-Hasidic approaches of Shlomo Carlebach and Zalman Schachter-Shalomi.

Behind Every Revelation Lurks an Interpretation: Revisiting “The Revelation at Sinai”

With lively and accessible prose, Tamar Ross clarifies her theology of the revelation at Sinai in contrast to more traditional formulations such as Yoram Hazony's.