Jewish Thought and History

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

Shlomo Spivack discusses the anti-spirituality of his teacher, Rav Menachem Froman.

Shlomo Zuckier presents Rav Aharon Lichtenstein's own thoughts on academic Talmud.

Ariel Evan Mayse discusses Neo-Hasidism through the eyes of Abraham Joshua Heschel and Zelda Schneurson Mishkovsky.

Shlomo Zuckier reviews Rav Aharon Lichtenstein's just-released book on teshuvah

Purim - Armed with feminist and political theory, Don Seeman probes the depths of Malbim's Esther commentary.

How successful is the new book, Reclaiming Dignity: A Guide to Tzniut for Men and Women, at setting forth a new Torah-based vision for modesty? Laurie Novick offers a careful review, carefully considering both the personal essays and halakhic/hashkafic analyses set forward in this important work.

Is the Mishnah racist? To answer the question, begs Elli Fischer, is to get a better understanding of both Judaism and Race

What motivated the first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rav Herzog, to work tirelessly on the seemingly quixotic project of running the modern State of Israel on the basis of Halakhah? Reviewing Alexandar Kaye's new book on the subject, Rabbi Shalom Carmy explains.

Louis Jacobs, the controversial British rabbi and theologian, died 15 years ago. Steven Gotlib reviews Harry Freedman’s new book on Jacobs’ life, and considers how what happened to Jacobs should inform the way we draw the boundaries of Orthodoxy today.