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.
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."
Peshat and Beyond: The Emergence of A Reluctant Leader
Batya Hefter explores Moses' development as a leader
The Soul of Man Under Postmodernism: Further comments on Rav Shagar’s contribution
Shalom Carmy
The last couple of weeks have brought two worthwhile assessments of Rav Shagar’s Faith Shattered and Restored: Judaism in the Postmodern Age, Matt Lubin’s...
Of Divine Nostrils and the Primordial Altar: A Pipeline of Sanctity
What does the makeup of the altar drainage pipes tell us about the nature of holiness? Shlomo Zuckier explores!
Philosophy and Exegesis: Which Leads? A Review of Aaron Koller’s Unbinding Isaac
Zvi Grumet reviews Aaron Koller’s new book on the Akedah and evaluates his surprisingly novel approach to this formative biblical story.
Shavuot: The Wakeup Call
Batya Hefter explores a Hasidic understanding of “Sinai consciousness” and proposes a way to re-experience it on Shavuot.
Questioning Belief and Belief in Questions
Steven Gotlib reviews Raphael Zarum’s Questioning Belief: Torah and Tradition in an Age of Doubt.
Between Shabbat and Lynch Mobs
Ezra Sivan asks what light the narratives of Shabbat and the scouts shed on some critical social questions.
From Polemic to Pandemic: The Past, Present, and Future of Hazarat ha-Shatz
Post-pandemic proposals to omit hazarat ha-shatz on a permanent basis have been soundly rejected by halakhic authorities. Is this due exclusively to halakhic considerations, or are additional factors at play? Yosie Levine contends that Ashkenazic rabbinic opposition to 19th-century attempts to eliminate hazarat ha-shatz may still be shaping halakhic discourse today.