Timely Thoughts

Erica Brown explores the deeper meaning of joy in Megillat Esther and beyond.

After six months suspended between quarantine, isolation, and uncertainty, it’s natural to want to run away from home, especially as Yom Kippur looms and we realize it’s time for a change. But, as Matthew Nitzanim explains, this understandable reaction would miss the point of Teshuvah: everything we need to work on is right here, wherever it is we find ourselves.

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.

Yitzhak Szyf explores the piyyut of Shnei Zeitim, a once well-known addition to the Shabbat Hanukkah services that subtly critiques the Hasmoneans for usurping the kingship while serving as priests.

Erica Brown considers the little-discussed prohibition on planting during the Nine Days and what it teaches about the nature of mourning and joy.

Alex Ozar explores wartime law in the Rambam.

This past Shabbat, Rivkah took center stage, making a dramatic decision that altered the course of her descendants’ histories. Sruli Fruchter examines the angst that preceded Rivkah’s fateful actions.

In this letter to the editor, Perry Dane asks further questions about Steve Lipman's essay "An Empty Place at the Jewish Table: Why Are Young Jews Dropping Out?"

Akiva Shapiro offers reflections on Naomi Shemer's culture-changing song.

Elli Fischer Just over a month ago, the Jewish world lost Rabbi Professor David Weiss Halivni, one of its greatest and most creative Talmudic minds...