Jewish Thought and History

Responding to Moshe Kurtz, Olivia Friedman argues that forging deep connections between Torah and popular culture can be an uplifting and sanctified experience.

A growing list of dati le’umi leaders and thinkers frame war as a desirable state and even an opportunity for spiritual elevation. Religious Israeli activist Ariel Shwartz traces this trend with alarm and argues that it contradicts deep-rooted Torah values. Translated by Mordechai Blau.

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

Ari Lamm on the Bat Kol in rabbinic literature and its implications for Orthodox discourse

Is God revealed through our speech? In his review of Ariel Evan Mayse’s Speaking Infinities, Steven Gotlib explores this question in the thought of the Maggid of Mezritch.

Zach Truboff on Rav Shagar, Israeli Post-Modernism and American Modern Orthodox Judaism.

Why did the women bring musical instruments out of Egypt? In her first Lehrhaus article, musicologist Rebecca Cypess draws a fascinating historical analogy between biblical and African-American slavery to shed light on the Exodus in Jewish tradition.

Zachary Truboff considers the experience of prayer, and what two recent publications on Tefillah emerging from the Religious Zionist community contribute.

Lawrence Kaplan defends his translation of Halakhic Man and calls for more efforts to make Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik's writings accessible to English readers.

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.