Jewish Thought and History

In this essay, Weinberg reflects on the symbolic significance of tefillin and its message for our Jewish future.

In 1927, Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz wrote a poem, an ode to Rabbi Hayyim Soloveitchik of Brisk. Nati Helfgot provides the background and a translation.

Gavriel Lakser offers a new approach to the problem of evil based on the beginning of Genesis.

Zach Truboff on Rav Shagar, Israeli Post-Modernism and American Modern Orthodox Judaism.

In this essay, Danny Groner reflects on the elements that make a synagogue a true house of worship.

In commemoration of Rav Amital's seventh Yahrtzeit, Shlomo Zuckier shares Rav Amital's teachings on Jewish continuity, in Derasha form.

Stu Halpern weighs in on the eternal wisdom Torah u-Madda offers the world during the fraught times in which we live.

Ilan Fuchs on the Lubavitcher Rebbe's unique view on women's Torah learning.

After six months suspended between quarantine, isolation, and uncertainty, it’s natural to want to run away from home, especially as Yom Kippur looms and we realize it’s time for a change. But, as Matthew Nitzanim explains, this understandable reaction would miss the point of Teshuvah: everything we need to work on is right here, wherever it is we find ourselves.

Francis Nataf explores Malbim’s sophisticated engagement with Kantian ethics.