Jewish Thought and History

Yaakov Jaffe analyzes the multiple meanings of a medieval Jewish poem and popular Shabbat table song.

What theological language can we use to describe our current pandemic moment? In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, Jeremy Brown takes scope of the ancient and modern notions of plague theodicy and reviews some ideas from the 2021 National Jewish Book Award Winner Torah in a Time of Plague.

Ari Lamm on the Bat Kol in rabbinic literature and its implications for Orthodox discourse

Is Jewish stubbornness a stereotype or a source of pride? In the Torah, it appears as a criticism, but also as a veiled praise for the people of Israel’s unique power of commitment. Zach Truboff highlights this strength in an application of the words of the Piaseczner Rebbe to our current moment of crisis.

Ayelet Wenger weaves together the personal, historical and exegetical in advance of reading Sefer Shemot.

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.

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.

In this essay, written in honor of Yom Yerushalayim, Bezalel Naor explores the differing visions for the ideal state held by Plato and the Rabbis, Maimonides and Rabbi Nahman of Breslov.

Francis Nataf explores Malbim’s sophisticated engagement with Kantian ethics.

Batya Hefter uses the case of Isaac to illuminate how hasidic masters read the Bible.