Timely Thoughts

Matt Lubin reflects on the holiday of Shavuot.

In honor of the yahrtzeit of Dolce, the wife of Rabbi Eleazar of Worms, Chaya Sima Koenigsberg explores Rabbi Eleazar's moving elegy for his wife and reflects upon Dolce's character as a model for Koenigsberg's own life and the lives of Jewish women today.

Two letters to the editor provide alternative perspectives on the question of what Jewish law wants American abortion law to be.

Having just passed our one year anniversary, we have updated our website so that you can more easily engage the great content we are committed to bring our readership week in and week out.

Sarah Rindner asks what the Book of Leviticus, Leonard Cohen and the Liberty Bell all have in common.

Yisroel Ben-Porat offers historical, hashkafic, and personal reflections on what’s often called the “Judeo-Christian” tradition and whether a Torah u-Madda outlook can embrace the study of Christianity.

In the spirit of Hanukkah, Yaakov Jaffe offers an intriguing thesis tying together a series of Mishnayot in the fourth chapter of Pirkei Avot: they are all responding to various aspects of Epicurean philosophy.

Moshe Kurtz explores halakhic and hashkafic considerations surrounding bringing young children to shul.

When we boil matters down to their essence, what is the underlying difference between a yeshivish and centrist Orthodox worldview? Tzvi Goldstein argues that it’s not Torah Umada, Zionism, or women’s roles; these are all symptomatic of a deeper debate about this world and the World to Come.

Yaakov Jaffe explores Yehuda Ha-Levi's Yom Le-Yabasha.