Jewish Thought and History

What is the Israel-Hamas war about? Dov Lerner of Yeshiva University, Young Israel of Jamaica Estates, and the Sacks Legacy shares his perspective on the source of evil.

Eli Rubin reflects on the meaning of revelation, innovation, and history at the giving of the Torah.

Alan Jotkowitz reviews the latest volume of Dr. Haym Soloveitchik’s collected essays, bringing us back to the world of medieval Ashkenaz.

Elana Stein Hain explores how the frameworks offered by the humanities can mesh with our Torah-driven lives.

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

Bezalel Naor responds to Bezalel Safran's Straussian reading of the Rambam.

Yisroel Ben-Porat offers historical, hashkafic, and personal reflections on what’s often called the “Judeo-Christian” tradition and whether a Torah u-Madda outlook can embrace the study of Christianity.

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.

Chesky Kopel looks at the various tellings and retellings of the controversial deal that Rudolph Kastner made with Nazi leadership in Budapest and argues that they represent a modern-day Midrashic presentation of the history.

Did Rabbeinu Bahya mention a lightning rod centuries before it was discovered? Yaakov Taubes takes us on a journey through science, magic, and religion to help explain this medieval commentator’s cryptic comment about the Tower of Babel.