Jewish Thought and History

Before modern medicine, how did Jews combat outbreaks such as the coronavirus? Jeremy Brown introduces us to a long-forgotten wedding ceremony that was used as an antidote.

Leslie Ginsparg Klein examines a new case of Orthodox censorship, contextualizing it within recent trends and religious culture.

Gil Perl argues that Modern Orthodox currently lacks a “Hedgehog Concept,” namely something at their core that they passionately believe they do better than anyone else in the world. He argues that Or Goyim, as articulated by 19th century luminaries like Netziv and Hirsch, is the Hedgehog concept that can engage Modern Orthodox Youth in a postmodern world.

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.

Leah Sarna addresses the perceived disconnect between the ideal Torah U-Madda lifestyle and the gendered reality of advanced Torah study for women.

In his first and last foray in this field, Zev Eleff tries his hand at some Modern Orthodox counter-history.  

Did Rav Soloveitchik buy into Nietzsche’s critique of religion? Alex Ozar reviews Daniel Rynhold and Michael Harris’s book, which surprisingly argues that the answer to this question is yes.

Zev Eleff on a perennially interesting portion of the liturgy.

In this thoughtful essay, Cypess reflects on the melody that is carrying Israel in the wake of October 7th.

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