Scholarship

Why do biblical and rabbinic texts preserve so many names, places, and seemingly unnecessary details? Chaim Trachtman argues that these textual additions are more than literary embellishments: they strengthen communal memory, reinforce covenantal identity, and help transform religious tradition into lived history.

In this essay, Aviva Lauer analyzes the Biblical prohibition against cutting down fruit trees in wartime, and connects it to messages about human dignity.

In this essay, Michael Kurin analyzes the book of Esther in the context of the Second Temple and the diaspora.

Dina Brawer explores "certainty" and "doubt" in rabbinic tradition.

No two Orthodox rabbis think exactly the same way, particularly on the matter of Darwinism in the wake of the Scopes Trial. 

As part of his Legal Fictions creative project, Dovid Campbell reimagines the content of Mishna Yevamot 16:6 in an evocative narrative.

Jonathan Muskat responds to Jonathan Sarna regarding a proposed change in the text of the Orthodox Jewish prayer for the government.

Ari Hoffman explores the expansive visions of Jewish peoplehood embedded in two major, recently published novels

Sam Glauber examines Abraham's place in his society.

Ari Lamm on The Boss and The Bible