Scholarship

Ezra Sivan follows up last year's piece about how the Exodus leveled social boundaries with an article about what the Pesah story teaches us about social distancing today.

Shimon Laufer examines how Rabbinic understanding of the holiday of Passover influenced the holiday of Purim, and how one of the oldest manuscripts of the Mishnah hints that the converse may be true as well.

Tehila Wenger offers a short story on loss, eternity, and olive trees .

Jerome Marcus on the Akeidah: It's not about ethics vs. divine command, but about Hashem versus Elokim!

This week's Parashah introduces us to the city of Shechem. Tamar Weissman examines the various appearances of this city throughout Tanakh, explaining that while it is a city of rupture, it is also one of covenant and fraternity.

This essay by Aaron Zeitlin—originally published in Yiddish in 1967 and translated here into English by Daniel Kraft—explores Aaron’s father Hillel Zeitlin’s approach to anti-semitism by way of the Book of Jonah.

Yakov Z. Mayer reflects on the life of a remarkable Hasidic academic.

Elli Fischer reads one of Rashi's most famous comments against the grain.

Daniel Goldberg examines how four versions of a Midrash about Shemini Atzeret reflect different aspects of the Jewish people's relationship with God.

Avraham’s challenge to God’s planned destruction of Sodom raises the fundamental ethical problem of collective punishment. The resolution of this challenge, Sruli Fruchter explains, enables Avraham to realize God’s highest ideals and to confront the conflict between compassion for oppressors and consideration for their victims.