Timely Thoughts

This short story by Benjamin Guggenheim reimagines Moses after the sin of the Golden Calf: powerful yet powerless, dutiful yet embittered, so close to God yet so distant from His people.

  Mark Glass I. It is fair to say that Sefer Vayikra is not known for its narratives. It is devoted, for the most part, to the...

Historian Henry Abramson, who is currently releasing a series of video lectures contextualizing Israeli history and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, asks hard questions about how to understand the post-October 7th world.

Merri Ukraincik contemplates G-d's role in our lives.

Zach Truboff argues that Purim reminds us of our vulnerability even with the State of Israel.

Aton Holzer reflects on the loss of faith Israelis are going through following the events of October 7.

Shana Strauch Schicks's reflection commemorating the passing of Yaakov Elman, ob"m.

As 2021 comes to a close, the Lehrhaus team is delighted to highlight many of the thought-provoking essays we’ve published this year, with a diverse array of incredible thinkers and writers.

In unpacking the meaning of a tricky verse from Eikhah that we say as part of the Shofar service on Rosh Hashanah, Mitchell First introduces us to the literary principle called hendiadys, which can help us understand various phrases throughout Tanakh.

Is true forgiveness possible? Michael Kurin explores the doubts raised by prominent twentieth century philosophers and considers how Jewish tradition offers a radically different conception of repentance and forgiveness, one that enables people to alter their reality vis-à-vis God and one another.