Jewish Thought and History

Stephen Denker reconstructs Bert Katz's experience of Kristallnacht in Nentershausen.

Tzvi Sinensky reimagines the utilitarian case for Torah u-Madda. Far from seeing the study of Madda as a concession to the need to earn a livelihood, the new utilitarianism uses cutting-edge scholarship to solve some of the most pressing problems in our schools and communities.

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.

On Yom Ha'atzmaut, Zach Truboff reflects on Rav Shagar's insistence that the Israeli present must be rooted in the past, and explores the redemptive power of Torah as an answer for modernity.

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. 

In this essay, Eileen Watts draws parallels between Daniel Deronda and the book of Exodus

Natan Oliff explores the theological implications of teshuva in a world that is God’s prescripted story.

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.

In this essay, Danny Groner reflects on the elements that make a synagogue a true house of worship.

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