Jewish Thought and History

The Mei Ha-Shiloah’s statements on predetermination pose a theological challenge to foundational Jewish doctrines. In an analysis weaving together several Torah narratives and Izhbitzer commentaries, Reuven Boshnack proposes an empowering interpretation of the Mei Ha-Shiloah.

Tzvi Goldstein's recent piece on Centrist and Haredi Orthodoxy has generated many responses from our readers. Today we present two stimulating letters by R.A. Alpert and Yaakov Resnik, who examine Goldstein's analysis from the perspectives of Hirschian Torah im Derekh Eretz and his analysis of the underpinnings of the Haredi hashkafa, respectively.

Bezalel Naor responds to Bezalel Safran's Straussian reading of the Rambam.

Through an analysis of Hanukkah ads, Yael Buechler explains how Yiddish newspapers used the Old Country language to acculturate Jews to the New Country.

In his newest review, former Lehrhaus webmaster Steve Gotlib looks at Hasidim, Suffering and Renewal: The Prewar and Holocaust Legacy of Rabbi Kalonymus Kalman Shapira and examines scholars’ differing views on whether the Aish Kodesh experienced a crisis of faith due to the Holocaust.

In this essay, Weinberg reflects on the symbolic significance of tefillin and its message for our Jewish future.

Tzvi Sinensky on the lost Menorah, the Vatican theory, and the ideology of the search and mythology.

Zev Eleff explores the enduring legacy of the recently destroyed Beth Hamedrash Hagadol on Norfolk Street.

Hasdai Crescas criticized Maimonides for counting belief as a Mitzvah, arguing that we have no control over what we believe. Dovid Campbell explores a surprisingly common defense of Maimonides that places his views closer to those of Crescas than we might have initially imagined.

With the aid of some new primary sources, David Curwin offers a fresh view of the Rav's embrace of Rambam and his most important writings.