Jewish Thought and History

Lawrence Kaplan responds to AJ Berkovitz’s article on the many conflicting interpretations of a passage in Midrash Tehillim, highlighting two different approaches advanced by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.

The Hasidic work, Aish Kodesh, under the scholarly microscope, by Henry Abramson.

Dr. Tovah Lichtenstein responds to the details of the previously published Rav timeline.

In commemoration of Rav Amital's seventh Yahrtzeit, Shlomo Zuckier shares Rav Amital's teachings on Jewish continuity, in Derasha form.

The zogerke or firzogerin, once the vernacular translator in the women’s section of the synagogue, has faded into distant memory. Dalia Wolfson reimagines her for our times.

Lehrhaus editor Yehuda Fogel asks: What does R. Nosson Bratslaver's understanding of controversy have to do with Hegel?

Steven Gotlib reviews Raphael Zarum’s Questioning Belief: Torah and Tradition in an Age of Doubt.

Philo of Alexandria may rightly be called the first systematic Jewish philosopher, yet for many centuries his work was totally unknown to Jewish audiences. Dovid Cambpell argues for his continued relevance to modern Judaism.

In older times, Christian New Year’s Day celebrations were sometimes marked by antisemitic incidents. Although such days are behind us, Tzvi Sinensky recalls the antisemitic canard that Jewish men menstruated, a pervasive and disturbing myth that demeaned Jews and all women.

In the spirit of Hanukkah, Yaakov Jaffe offers an intriguing thesis tying together a series of Mishnayot in the fourth chapter of Pirkei Avot: they are all responding to various aspects of Epicurean philosophy.