Trajectories of Tradition: King David on Skin Lesions and Tent Impurities
AJ Berkovitz traces the reception history of a Midrash Tehillim that seems to equate the reading of Psalms with Torah study, offering a fascinating case study of how tradition evolves.
Rav Yehuda Amital and the Secret of Jewish Continuity
In commemoration of Rav Amital's seventh Yahrtzeit, Shlomo Zuckier shares Rav Amital's teachings on Jewish continuity, in Derasha form.
Aesopian Language in the Holocaust Writings of the Aish Kodesh of Piaseczno
The Hasidic work, Aish Kodesh, under the scholarly microscope, by Henry Abramson.
A Prehistory of Rav Kook
What can we learn from Rav Kook's writings before he immigrated to the land of Israel? As Yom Ha-Atzma'ut approaches, Levi Morrow reviews Yehuda Mirsky's new prehistory of Rav Kook.
Beth Hamedrash Hagadol’s Finest Hour
Zev Eleff explores the enduring legacy of the recently destroyed Beth Hamedrash Hagadol on Norfolk Street.
Who Will Defend Maimonides? Rav Soloveitchik on the Mishneh Torah and the Guide
With the aid of some new primary sources, David Curwin offers a fresh view of the Rav's embrace of Rambam and his most important writings.
Aspects of My Father’s Philosophy of Jewish History
This essay by Aaron Zeitlin—originally published in Yiddish in 1967 and translated here into English by Daniel Kraft—explores Aaron’s father Hillel Zeitlin’s approach to anti-semitism by way of the Book of Jonah.
The Tragic Heroes of Bratslav: R. Nathan Bratslaver on Dispute and Multiple Truths
Lehrhaus editor Yehuda Fogel asks: What does R. Nosson Bratslaver's understanding of controversy have to do with Hegel?
The Hasidism of Rav Kook
With newly found material, Bezalel Naor places Rav Kook's Hasidut into historical and literary context.
“A Cruel Loss to Judaism in America”: Solomon Hurwitz, Torah u-Madda Day School Pioneer
Whom did the Spanish Flu take from our community 100 years ago? Zev Eleff introduces us to the forgotten legacy of Solomon Hurwitz, the founding principal of Yeshiva University's boys' high school, and a pioneer of Torah U-madda.