Jewish Thought and History

Those of us who feel deeply connected and indebted to Hasidism should ask ourselves a difficult and perhaps painful question: Is Netivot Shalom the sefer that we want to represent us to the rest of Am Yisrael?

Elinatan Kupferberg argues that the boundaries between Torah and Madda have blurred and evolved throughout Jewish intellectual history. This erudite analysis upends our assumptions about Torah u-Madda and breathtakingly reimagines its past, present, and future.

Yaakov Taubes explores the background to Maimonides’s explanation for how the Mishnah is ordered.

What was Alexander Hamilton's relationship to Judaism? In his review of a new book about Hamilton's Jewish world, Lehrhaus editor Yisroel Ben-Porat explores the arguments to be made for a "Jewish" founding father.

Chaim Saiman on halakhic change and the observance of Tisha Be-Av.

Zev Eleff on an endangered species, the so-called Non-Observant Orthodox Jew.

Steven Gotlib reviews the magnum opus of legendary Jewish thinker Yitz Greenberg, considering ways in which Greenberg’s newest synthesis of his ideas bring him back into conversation with the Modern Orthodox community.

William Gewirtz continues to offer his thoughts on the meaning of bein ha-shemashot.

Gil Perl draws from Rav Shagar to argue that "Postmodern Orthodoxy turns its gaze inward toward the conflicts raging within the individual as he or she seeks out meaning and strives for relevance.

Shmuel Lamm examines Rabbi Norman Lamm's sermons for insights on a crucial issue.