Jewish Thought and History

Stuart Halpern explains how, when faced with uncertainty, danger, and personal and communal hardships, Americans have turned to the story of the Exodus for inspiration.

Ari Hoffman explores the expansive visions of Jewish peoplehood embedded in two major, recently published novels

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

Jerome Marcus responds to Bezalel Naor's earlier essay, delving further into the worlds of Maimonides and Rabbi Nahman of Breslov.

Natalie Zemon Davis, a Jewish historian known for shining a light on the lives of marginalized people in the early modern period, passed away in October. Ronnie Perelis commemorates Dr. Zemon Davis by reflecting on the experience of teaching her revolutionary work to his students at Stern College for Women.

In a chapter adapted from his new book, Be, Become, Bless: Jewish Spirituality between East and West, Yaakov Nagen suggests based on the Zohar that the world endures when we see Godliness in another person's face.

Batya Hefter explores a Hasidic understanding of “Sinai consciousness” and proposes a way to re-experience it on Shavuot.

Zev Eleff and Menachem Butler explore the reception of Moses Mendelssohn in American Orthodox Judaism, focusing on a curious commotion surrounding the bicentennial of Mendelssohn's death

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

Elliot Salinger with an erudite and accessible article on Rambam's philosophy of "knowing."