Jewish Thought and History

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.

Yaakov Taubes explores the background to Maimonides’s explanation for how the Mishnah is ordered.

Levi Morrow reviews four new books that examine and apply the thought of R. Joseph B. Solovetichik of blessed memory. Image: below

Baruch Sterman describes how an encounter with a missionary led him to a greater understanding of Ramban's commentary on this week's Parshah.

After Professor Yaakov Blidstein's passing on Thursday, Marc Herman recalls his teacher's astonishing blend of scholarly creativity and intellectual humility.

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

Tzvi Goldstein's recent piece on Centrist and Haredi Orthodoxy has generated many responses from our readers. Today we present two stimulating letters by R.A. Alpert and Yaakov Resnik, who examine Goldstein's analysis from the perspectives of Hirschian Torah im Derekh Eretz and his analysis of the underpinnings of the Haredi hashkafa, respectively.

What do you get when you read George Eliot’s Daniel Deronda alongside Rav Soloveitchik’s Kol Dodi Dofek? A cross between Zionism and feminism, argues Eileen Watts.

This war diary, presented by Susan Weingarten, relates her experience in a kibbutz on the Gazan border on October 7th and the days following her return to Jerusalem after the Hamas massacre.

Yosef Lindell recounts the controversy surrounding different attempts at translating the Tishrei prayers.