Timely Thoughts

David Selis and Zvi Erenyi share their memories of JTS Librarian Professor Menahem Schmelzer for his sheloshim.

Meir Ekstein contransts Rav Soloveitchik’s and Rav Lichtenstein’s respective approaches to Teshuva.

Israel is at war, and the suffering is difficult to bear. To better appreciate this transformation and the pressures of this moment, we have assembled a symposium of community leaders and thinkers to address the effect of the crisis on Diaspora Jewry.

In this thoughtful essay, Cypess reflects on the melody that is carrying Israel in the wake of October 7th.

A new poem from Zohar Atkins offers a poetic meditation on life in the COVID world.

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.

Ranana Dine explores the depictions of suffering in haggadot.

Alex Ozar explores wartime law in the Rambam.

Yakov Ellenbogen reviews Susan Weingarten's Haroset: A Taste of Jewish History.

Several reasons are given in our tradition about the reason for the fast on the Tenth of Tevet. The liturgy for the day takes a stand on what the true reasons are, but Yaakov Jaffe questions whether this stand is the right one.