Jewish Thought and History

Rebecca Cypess considers the life and work of the Italian Jewish Renaissance composer Salamone Rossi, his rabbinic supporter Leon Modena, and the controversies over 17th century polyphonic music in the synagogue.

Rav Shagar's postmodern insights on accepting the yoke of Heaven, for your pre-Shavuos reading pleasure!

In the 1950s, Eliezer Berkovits reflects on Judaism, tradition and how generations connect with one another.

Noam Stadlan offers a heartfelt reinterpretation of Tzidkatkha Tzedek.

David Fried reviews Diana Lobel's Moses and Abraham Maimonides: Encountering the Divine, which argues that the categorization of Moses Maimonides as an Aristotelian philosopher and his son Abraham as a Sufi mystic is an oversimplification.

Chaim Saiman on halakhic change and the observance of Tisha Be-Av.

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.

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

In part 1, Gil Perl argued that Modern Orthodox is in need of a Hedgehog Concept and put forward Or (la-)Goyim as a candidate for that role. In part 2, he details what this might look like in practice and why it would appeal to our youth in a post-modern world.

Steven Gotlib explores similarities between Rabbis Dov Singer and Arthur Green in their models of prayer and how this model can make prayer meaningful even when experiencing doubts in one’s faith.