Scholarship

In these difficult times for Israel, Aharon Frazer of Alon Shvut is thinking about the fundamental sanctity of human life and the long game. Can war and weapons really take us toward the messianic age?

Steven Gotlib reviews Yehuda (Jerome) Gellman’s book on neo-traditional Jewish theology.

Philo of Alexandria may rightly be called the first systematic Jewish philosopher, yet for many centuries his work was totally unknown to Jewish audiences. Dovid Cambpell argues for his continued relevance to modern Judaism.

Historian Malka Simkovich explores ancient diasporic responses to collective trauma and what they can tell us about our responses to the aftermath of October 7th.

Tzvi Goldstein's recent piece on Centrist and Haredi Orthodoxy has generated many responses from our readers. Today we present two stimulating letters by R.A. Alpert and Yaakov Resnik, who examine Goldstein's analysis from the perspectives of Hirschian Torah im Derekh Eretz and his analysis of the underpinnings of the Haredi hashkafa, respectively.

A growing list of dati le’umi leaders and thinkers frame war as a desirable state and even an opportunity for spiritual elevation. Religious Israeli activist Ariel Shwartz traces this trend with alarm and argues that it contradicts deep-rooted Torah values. Translated by Mordechai Blau.

Joshua Shapiro explains how close readers of the Biblical text can find a unifying theory for reason behind the ten plagues.

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.

Just in advance of the shloshim for David Ellenson, the former president of Hebrew Union College, Jonathan D. Sarna pays tribute to a man whose life, work, and friendships spanned the Jewish denominational divide.

In his latest for Lehrhaus, Steven Gotlib considers Neo-Hasidism’s continued inroads into Orthodox thought and practice in his review of Contemporary Uses and Forms of Hasidut, the Orthodox Forum volume edited by Shlomo Zuckier.