From Graduation to Contagion: Jewish Physicians Confront Plague in 1631
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.
Gilgamesh and the Rabbis: Knowledge and its Price from Uruk to the Beit Midrash
What do Adam, Enkidu, and Reish Lakish all have in common? Eli Putterman explores.
Torah u-Madda Thirty Years Later
Elana Stein Hain explores how the frameworks offered by the humanities can mesh with our Torah-driven lives.
When Rambam Met the Izhbitser Rebbe: Response to a Straussian Reading of Hilkhot Teshuvah
Bezalel Naor responds to Bezalel Safran's Straussian reading of the Rambam.
The Directional Shaking of the Lulav: Bible, Mysticism, and Religious Polemics
Yaakov Jaffe traces the origins and evolution of the custom to shake the lulav in different directions.
The Giving of the Torah and the Beginning of Eternity: Reflections on Revelation, Innovation,...
Eli Rubin reflects on the meaning of revelation, innovation, and history at the giving of the Torah.
Rashashian Kavanot as Concrete Poetry
In advance of the kabbalist R. Shalom Sharabi's 244th yahrtzeit, which falls out this Shabbat, Jeremy Tibbetts offers a primer on Rashash's kabbalistic kavanot and the underappreciated art of concrete poetry.
Rethinking Judaism in Early America
Did the Founding Fathers study Kabbalah? Yisroel Ben-Porat reviews Brian Ogren’s new book Kabbalah and the Founding of America.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s Theory of Education
In this review of a new book by Aryeh Solomon, Ilan Fuchs explores how for the Lubavitcher Rebbe, teaching and learning are a sacred calling leading toward spiritual growth.
Autonomy Comes Apart, the Mesorah Cannot Hold:Rav Soloveitchik’s Afterlife in the 21st Century
Levi Morrow reviews four new books that examine and apply the thought of R. Joseph B. Solovetichik of blessed memory.
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