Jewish Thought and History

If Kant or Hegel had read Rambam or the Shulhan Arukh, they might have known that Jewish law does not actually proscribe the creation of images. But that was not the way of history. It is important to reclaim visual culture and aesthetics for religious Judaism so that beauty can be allowed to inspire halakhically bound actions, to color worship, and give meaning to our rituals.

Those of us who feel deeply connected and indebted to Hasidism should ask ourselves a difficult and perhaps painful question: Is Netivot Shalom the sefer that we want to represent us to the rest of Am Yisrael?

In 1927, Rabbi Boruch Ber Leibowitz wrote a poem, an ode to Rabbi Hayyim Soloveitchik of Brisk. Nati Helfgot provides the background and a translation.

Zev Eleff examines some of the toys peddled around by mitzvah merchants and other fascinating features of Ultra-Orthodox culture. 

Did elite rabbinic figures jumpstart Bais Yaakov, or was it a grassroots women's movement? Leslie Ginsparg Klein explains.

Michah Gottlieb reflects on the recent discussion on biblical scholarship and its implications for Orthodox Jews, in light of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch's writings. 

Matthew Omolesky considers the importance of culture in the face of genocide.

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

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