Timely Thoughts

Aton Holzer explores the changing nature of Jewish interactions with Rome from Maccabees through the Rabbinic period.

David Schwartz explores thematic similarities between the Hanukkah miracle and Pharaoh’s dreams.

  The Lehrhaus Editors Over the course of another tumultuous year, we have once again taken refuge in our Torah. We at The Lehrhaus are proud...

In this collection of poems, Owen Lewis explores the human desire for connection with the divine while navigating an early world.

Did the English Puritans of New England emulate Jewish prayers and practices? Yisroel Benporat investigates the common claim and its complexities--as well as what the myth itself tells us about Jews in America.

Yitzchak Blau and Michael Broyde respond to recent articles that have driven conversation.

Chaim Trachtman shows how a careful examination of debates between Shammai and Hillel challenge our preconceived notions about them.

  Zach Truboff In 1933, as the month of Elul approached, the Jewish people faced a frightening array of dangers. That year, Hitler consolidated power as...

The Ne’ilah prayer, which we recite only once a year, clearly represents a moment of great religious drama, but its precise nature and purpose are somewhat mysterious. Alan Jotkowitz presents four different models for understanding Ne’ilah, drawing upon the teachings of Rav Yehuda Amital, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein, and Rav Ya’akov Medan.

Aton Holzer explores the role of free will and its limits in the Yom Kippur liturgy.