Jewish Thought and History

Elli Fischer's thoughts on visiting the grave of Franz Rosenzweig, founder of the original Lehrhaus

Marina Zilbergerts presents the philosophical questions posed by Chaim Grade's “My Quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner,” and compares his arguments to those of other major thinkers such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Dostoevsky, and Nietzsche.

In a never-before-published memoir, Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein recalls the politics that surrounded Yeshiva University upon the death of President Bernard Revel and the search for his successor. 

Is true forgiveness possible? Michael Kurin explores the doubts raised by prominent twentieth century philosophers and considers how Jewish tradition offers a radically different conception of repentance and forgiveness, one that enables people to alter their reality vis-à-vis God and one another.

Yakov Z. Mayer reflects on the life of a remarkable Hasidic academic.

Tovah Lichtenstein responds to and critiques Zev Eleff's counter-history, "What if Rav Aharon Had Stayed?"

Why have stories of Jewish masquerade captured audiences since ancient times? In her latest, Malka Z. Simkovich explores the hidden meaning behind dressing up, from the Second Temple to '90s cinema.

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.

Ben Frogel reviews a new volume that introduces thirty-five different Jewish approaches to virtue ethics and attempts to link them into one continuous tradition.

Ari Lamm writes in tribute to the late Louis Feldman, examining his scholarship in light of personal experience.