Timely Thoughts

Jackson Gardner offers a new reading of the Kuzari’s Inyan Ha-Elohi.

In a lyrical meditation on his wife's suffering, Mel Waldman reflects on the compassion of the rabbis who brought divinity into their lives

Eliyahu Freedman compares hospital chaplains to the Kohanim.

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

It has been six years since Rav Aharon Lichtenstein passed away. In reviewing a 2018 collection of essays by Rav Lichtenstein’s students, Alan Jotkowitz reflects on what we have lost and the void that remains.

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.

Roberta Kwall weighs in on the state of non-Orthodox Judaism and how it affects Orthodoxy.

Alan Jotkowitz shares insights into Rambam’s Hilkhot Teshuvah

Drawing upon his expertise in Anglo-Jewish history, Benjamin Elton traces the intellectual journey and career of the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks zt"l. As a brilliant young scholar, Rabbi Sacks rose to prominence through the British Chief Rabbinate, but he transcended that role to become a global phenomenon.

Judah Kerbel explores how differing approaches to listening to music during Sefirat ha-Omer balance the appropriate role for subjectivity in halakhic decision-making.