Questioning Belief and Belief in Questions

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

The Tension that is Tanakh

Yaakov Beasley looks at Hayyim Angel's scholarship and evaluates it as an exemplar of Modern Orthodox Bible study.

Priests and Prejudice: Disability in Parashat Emor

Joshua Stadlan carefully explores the “blemishes” that invalidate a kohein for service in the Mishkan to argue that they were not an original part of God’s plan.

Curriculum, Crisis, and Change: Towards a Talmud Curriculum Grounded in Educational Theory

David Stein with a fresh look at the methods and priorities of teaching Talmud in Modern Orthodox day schools.

Should American Orthodox Jews Have Fasted on July 12, 2024?

Yaakov Jaffe and Menachem Butler explore the Halakhot of when fasting is proper and when it’s not.

In the Shadow of God: The Mishkan’s “Constructive” Theology

Ranana Dine compares Christian and Jewish views on the value of having a beautiful Temple.

The Fourth Chapter of Avot as an extended reflection on Epicurean Philosophy

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.

20/20 vision for hilkhot Shabbat: A Glance at Rav Yosef Zvi Rimon’s Newest Sefer

In our saturated environment, can any contemporary work on hilkhot Shabbat break new ground? Ezra Schwartz explains that Rav Rimon's newest work does precisely this.

Man is not God: The Limits of Imitatio Dei

David Fried clarifies the concept of imitating God through Rashi's oft-neglected reading of “It is not good for man to be alone”

Aleinu and Genesis: Against the Twin Idolatries of Universalism & Ethnonationalism

Does the Torah support a universalist or ethnonationalist political orientation? In this timely essay, Ezra Zuckerman Sivan explores the meaning behind key stories in Genesis through the framework of the Aleinu prayer.