Jewish Thought and History

Yisrael Kashkin and Jeffrey Saks provide a timeline for the Rav's American arrival.

Yaakov Jaffe explores Yehuda Ha-Levi's Yom Le-Yabasha.

Yiscah Smith explores the conceptions of teshuvah presented in the writings of the Piaseczner Rebbe and the Ba’al Ha-Tanya, identifying in them a novel approach to personal growth that speaks to contemporary Jews.

Alan Jotkowitz explores how frequently overlooked passages in the writings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks can help pave a path forward for us on theological issues in a post-Covid world.

Did the Founding Fathers study Kabbalah? Yisroel Ben-Porat reviews Brian Ogren’s new book Kabbalah and the Founding of America.

Chesky Kopel analyzes an early Zionist text to give insight into Jewish reactions to the Armenian genocide.

What do Adam, Enkidu, and Reish Lakish all have in common? Eli Putterman explores.

How can we respond to a Seder during which it is prohibited to host guests? Yitzchak Etshalom and David Block each offer unique tefillot to be recited at our Seder table this year.

The Hasidic work, Aish Kodesh, under the scholarly microscope, by Henry Abramson.

Contemporary physicians have been heroic in the battle against COVID-19, but what was it like to be one of a handful of Jewish doctors confronting the Bubonic Plague during the 17th-century in Italy? Prolific medical halakhist and historian Eddie Reichman takes a close look at the four Jewish graduates of the Padua medical school class of 1623.