The Dark Side of Torah u-Madda: Chaim Potok and Core-to-Core Cultural Confrontation
The debate about Torah u-Madda and pop culture continues. Noah Marlowe argues that Chaim Potok's literature offers a useful conceptual framework for, and embodiment of, a profound confrontation between Judaism and elite elements of general culture.
Subjective Experience in Halakhah: Music During Sefirah as a Case Study
Judah Kerbel explores how differing approaches to listening to music during Sefirat ha-Omer balance the appropriate role for subjectivity in halakhic decision-making.
Tanakh, Chapter by Chapter
Susan Jablow on reading Tanakh through the eyes of a ba'alat teshuva
Puritan Purim
How did Esther shape the way Puritans saw the ideal role of the contemporary woman? Cotton Mather, a major player in the Salem Witch Trials, had much to say in his Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion. Stuart Halpern of Yeshiva University explains, wishing us all a Puritan Purim.
Hevel: The Journey of an Intangible Word
Benjamin Barer traces the word Hevel through Jewish texts, showing how the use of the same word can teach us both about the wisdom of Kohelet we read this past Shabbat and the character of Hevel who we will read about in this week's Parashah.
Of Sages, Prophets, and Politics from the Pulpit
Jason Herman examines whether or not rabbis should talk politics in shul.
Who Knows? Jewish Leadership in Times of Uncertainty
"Who Knows" seems to have become a recurring question for so many of us. Erica Brown shares personal and biblical reflections on the meaning of this phrase for the age of coronavirus.
Rabbi Norman Lamm and His Crusade for the Jewish Home
Zev Eleff explores how the Jewish family anchored Rabbi Norman Lamm's sermons and thought during the destabilizing 1960s.
The Torah of Rashbi and the Healing of the World
Eli Rubin presents a stirring passage from the Zohar, with the Lubavitcher Rebbe's commentary.
Hebrew Bible or Old Testament? Evaluating the American Biblical Tradition
Did the Founding Fathers derive their biblical values from the Hebrew Bible, or just the Old Testament? Yisroel Ben-Porat reviews "Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land."